Group Care Facilities Program

The Group Care Facilities program is designed to ensure that group care facilities comply with minimum standards relating to the health, safety, and well-being of those using these facilities. This includes both residential and non-residential facilities.

The Department of Health (DOH)  does not license various residential group care facilities. Licensing is done by one of three state agencies referred to as the primary licensing agency. The three primary licensing agencies for residential group care facilities are the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) and the Agency for Persons with Disabilities (APD).

The DOH residential group care facilities list includes the following: assisted living facility, adult family-care home, short-term residential treatment center, residential treatment facility, home for special services, transitional living facility, crisis stabilization unit, hospice, and intermediate care facility for persons with developmental disabilities. 

Residential Facilities

Examples of residential facilities include assisted living facilities, drug treatment centers, or other treatment-based group homes.

Non-Residential Facilities

Non-residential facilities include adult day care centers, public schools, and private schools.

The elderly, children, and immuno-compromised population living in group care facilities are more susceptible to disease. Therefore, group care facilities are inspected on a regular basis by the Division of Environmental Public Health in order to reduce the risk of disease transmission to residents, workers, and visitors. Environmental Public Health personnel inspect the sanitation, operation, maintenance and food hygiene of group care facilities.

Environmental Public Health Bill Pay

Environmental Public Health bills and fees can be paid in person at the Environmental Public Health office in Milton, by mail, or you can visit MyFloridaEHPermit.com to pay online (service fees will apply for use of online bill pay).

If fees are paid online, please send confirmation of payment and any required paperwork to EHealth@flhealth.gov.

Disaster Preparedness

Disasters can happen at any time of the year, so to adequately prepare, the Group Care Facilities program recommends using the residential group care preparedness toolkit. The Group Care Preparedness Toolkit is designed as a completely customizable preparedness planning tool for any type of residential facility, but especially those serving the disabled and/or vulnerable populations. Its purpose is to assist facility owners, operators, managers and/or administrators in preparing for and responding to issues that arise as a result of a disaster or emergency. While this toolkit is designed to be as comprehensive as possible, it is not an all inclusive toolkit, but one that can be tailored to each facility by providing a one-stop resource of emergency preparedness forms, procedures, assessments and checklists.

The assessment questionnaires were created based on identified environmental and public health issues, which were recognized by various preparedness resources nationwide, as key needs from previous disaster events. Using this tool will enable a residential facility to be better prepared and better able to respond in the case of a disaster and be prepared to keep their residents and employees protected. This toolkit is not part of any regulatory standard, but is available and encouraged to be used by anyone who may benefit from it use.