Florida Home Health Agency AHCA Survey Preparation Checklist

An AHCA survey isn't the time to discover a missing training record or an expired background screening. This checklist helps Florida home health agencies organize what surveyors are likely to review. It points you to AHCA's own published standards rather than a made-up "compliance score."

Start with the standard surveyors actually use

AHCA publishes the State Regulation Set used by surveyors for home health agencies. AHCA says it revised these state survey standards effective October 1, 2013.^[1] The rules behind those standards are in Chapter 59A-8, F.A.C., "Minimum Standards for Home Health Agencies."^[2]

Download the current State Regulation Set from AHCA's Surveys page before you start. Build your internal review around its tags, not around a generic checklist (including this one).

1. Personnel records

For every employee and contractor, have a file you can pull in minutes:

• Position, start date and current status
• Background screening eligibility determination (see Credentialing below)
• Licenses or certifications required for the role, with expiration dates
• Training and competency records
• Any role-specific requirements listed in the State Regulation Set

2. Credentialing and background screening

• Level 2 background screening. AHCA requires background screening for individuals working in AHCA-licensed providers. This is a Level 2 fingerprint-based check started through the Care Provider Background Screening Clearinghouse. The person must receive an eligibility determination before starting employment.^[3]
• A record showing each person's Clearinghouse result was received before their first shift
• A tracking method for upcoming renewals and expirations

3. Home health aides and CNAs

AHCA states that home health aides are not licensed or certified by AHCA or any other Florida state agency or federal agency. Agencies must instead follow the State Regulation Set requirements for home health aides and CNAs, tags H 240 through H 256.^[4] AHCA adds that Medicare- and Medicaid-certified agencies must also follow the federal regulation set.^[4]

• Map each aide/CNA file to tags H 240–H 256
• Training and competency documentation for each aide/CNA
• If you're Medicare/Medicaid certified, also review against the federal requirements

4. Patient records

• Admission documentation
• Plan of care and physician orders, where applicable
• Visit notes that match scheduled and billed visits
• Records organized so a surveyor can follow one patient's care from start to finish

5. Documentation quality

• Visit notes are complete, signed and dated
• Late entries are clearly identified
• Visit documentation agrees with your visit records and EVV data (see #7)

6. Policies and procedures

• Written policies required by the State Regulation Set and Chapter 59A-8^[1][2]
• Evidence that staff were trained on current policies
• A dated review history for each policy

7. Visit records and EVV

If you serve Florida Medicaid patients, your visit records must hold up under EVV. Federal law requires EVV systems to verify six elements for each visit: type of service, individual receiving the service, date, location, individual providing the service, and begin/end time.^[5]

• Spot-check visits: do your notes, schedule and EVV record agree on all six elements?
• Unresolved EVV exceptions are documented with a reason

For details, see Florida EVV Requirements for Home Health Agencies.

8. Emergency management

AHCA keeps a dedicated Home Health Agency Emergency Management Information page, linked from its Home Health Agencies hub.^[6]

• Current emergency management plan
• Staff know their roles
• Patient prioritization approach is documented

9. Training

• A training calendar and completion records for every required topic
• Proof of competency, not just attendance

10. Corrective action readiness

• A process for responding to survey findings
• An owner and target date for each corrective action
• Evidence that corrective actions were completed and are holding

Printable version: use the Print checklist button at the top of this page to print or save it as a PDF.

This page is general information for agency operators, not legal advice. Regulations change; confirm requirements against the current AHCA materials linked above.