A Florida Senate Panel has voted down a plan to allow recovery care centers in Florida. The facilities provide nursing care for people recently discharged from hospitals or those in need of post-operative care.
House Speaker Richard Corcoran has pushed recovery care centers as a more effective, low-cost option for extended hospital stays.
A House measure allows patients to stay up to 72 hours in the facilities following procedures. But Tuesday a Senate panel decided to strike the recovery care center language out of a larger bill expanding ambulatory care centers. The Senate’s plan lets those facilities keep patients up to 24 hours following a procedure. The longer stays at both recovery care and ambulatory care centers have for years been floated as alternatives to hospitals where procedures are often more costly.
Supporters say they’re needed to lower healthcare costs, while opponents, including hospitals, argue moving patients out of their care could hurt health outcomes.
