In 2020, Florida lawmakers approved a bill requiring ASCs to survey staff members about workplace culture and report the information to the state. Three years later, the surveys are set to begin, according to an Oct. 17 report from Florida Politics.
While the law passed in March 2020, the state has been slow to implement the surveys. Kimberly Smoak, deputy secretary of the state's Agency for Health Care Administration, said enforcement has lagged due to the public health emergency associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ms. Smoak told the House Select Committee on Health Innovation that ASCs can begin surveying staffers in 2023 with an end date of 2024.
The state's 479 licensed ASCs must report survey information to the state by August 2025. It is estimated that it will take the state six to nine months to analyze the survey data and make it available to the public, according to the report.
The survey is intended to judge ASCs' patient safety culture while gauging the likelihood of staff members to seek care for themselves or their families at the facility.