State Senator Mike Fasano and State Representative Richard Corcoran announce that SB 694 has passed both the House and Senate with unanimous votes in each chamber.  

The purpose of the bill is to establish standards of care for adult day care centers that promote their facility as providing specialized care to persons with Alzheimer’s disease or related disorders.  These standards will ensure that individuals and families affected by Alzheimer’s disease or related dementia disorders receive dignified and appropriate care, support and intervention, enabling them to remain in their home and community and mitigating premature institutionalization that is costly to the family and to the state of Florida. 

“There are over 523,000 Floridians with probable Alzheimer’s, and it is projected that there will be a 64% increase in the number of Floridians suffering with Alzheimer’s disease by 2025,” Senator Fasano states.  “With our elder population being the second largest economic engine in the state, we owe this acknowledgement of need and commitment to provide appropriate care to all Florida citizens affected by Alzheimer’s disease.” 

“With the passage of this legislation Florida has become the first state in the nation to establish a specialty license for adult day care centers providing specialized services to individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and their caregivers,” states Representative Corcoran.  “The needs of this vulnerable part of our population have been acknowledged and will be met through the higher standards that have been established.” 

This bill provides enhanced standards to meet the needs of adult day care participants and their caregivers by requiring increased supervision, higher level of training, education and experience for direct care service staff, increased presence of nursing staff for clinical care and health management, comprehensive safety and security requirements, provision of caregiver education and support, implementation of  disease specific health promotion practices and provision of  disease specific assessments and documentation. 

The bill now heads to the governor for his signature.