Inquiry submission from a member.
– “I would like to open a practice that provides house calls only, treating patients in their homes. I will not be accepting insurance or have any employees. The local county Business Tax Office is asking me to determine, according to state regulations, whether I need to have an actual brick and mortar office in order to open this business.
Can you please advise where I can find this information? I have tried the Dept of Health and the Florida Agency for Healthcare Administration.”
FSOMA Advice:
An entity (person/business) that provides mobile services ONLY may be a home-based business or have a non-home-based business address, like a commercial address.
– Florida Acupuncture physicians are not required by statute or rule to maintain a public access clinic.
– As a licensed health care practitioner and business entity, Acupuncturists are responsible for maintaining financial and other business records, like a Biomedical Waste Generator documentation that complies with FL 64E16, as well as patient records whether printed or stored on cloud. So, an “office” space is needed for supplies storage and access to review/inspect your records, as needed.
– You can inform the Business Tax Office that, “No requirement exists under Florida Statute or Florida Administrative Code requiring Licensed Acupuncture Physicians to maintain an office that is open to the public. You have a home-based business that provides remote (telehealth) and mobile services only.” You can use your home address as the “mailing address” for your business. Use that same address for you Biomedical Waste Generator Permit Application. This way the County Health Inspector knows where to find you/your Red Book, Sharp Disposal Plan, and related documentation.
– Reminder: In 2019 the Board of Acupuncture updated FAC 64B1-7.004 (rule), which provides a definition for “place of practice” (see below): so, I reiterate that some “place” needs to exist where you “practice acupuncture”; and the address to that place is the business address for your Florida registered business entity, whether it’s a Sole Prop, Corp, or LLC. You practice acupuncture, while providing remote services via telehealth (as needed), and you travel from this business address (place) to provide mobile acupuncture services in a patient’s home.
64B1-7.004 Notice to the Agency of Mailing Address and Place of Practice of Licensee. (1) It shall be the duty of each licensee to provide written notification to the Department of the licensee’s current mailing address and place of practice. For purposes of this rule, “place of practice” shall mean the address of the primary physical location where the certificate holder practices acupuncture. (2) Any time that the current mailing address or place of practice of any licensee changes, written notification of the change shall be provided to the Department within 10 days of the change.
Written notice should be sent to the following address: Board of Acupuncture, 4052 Bald Cypress Way, Bin C-06, Tallahassee, Florida 32399-3256. Electronic notification to , is acceptable, however, it is the responsibility of the licensee to ensure that the electronic notification was received by the Department. Rulemaking Authority 456.035 FS. Law Implemented 456.035 FS. History–New 4-25-00, Amended 11-3-19.
By Ellen Teeter LAc
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