Changing Your Practice Owner? Change of Ownership Filings Required

If you have a business change that impacts the ownership of your practice you’ll be wise to read what’s required according to the Agency for Healthcare Administration (AHCA) to protect both your license and your business.

Just filing Amended Articles of Incorporation with the Florida Division of Corporations or Sunbiz.org is not enough if you have an organizational change in ownership for your health care business if you have a change of 51 percent or more of the ownership or if a licensee sells or transfers ownership to a different individual or entitiy. Without filing a Change of Ownership with AHCA could leave you vulnerable.   

What is Required for a Change of Ownership?

In many cases, AHCA licensed facilities require a Change of Ownership application to be filed. Whether you are retiring, changing due to financial necessity, or even in response to disciplinary action, the AHCA, in many cases, will require a facility to be sold in a Change of Ownership and require an application to be filed.

Let’s Dig Into Change of Ownership Application Requirements

Change of Ownership Application.  It starts with the application and the AHCA will treat this as an initial application. Thus will require:

• Application
• Addendums
• Zoning
• Department of Health Inspections
• Insurance
• Sales document
• Financial Ability to Operate

Sales Documents/Instruments. Drafting this sales document can take the assistance of an experienced attorney. Whether this is a stock purchase, asset purchase, or other agreed-upon sales method, our legal team ensures the sales document meets AHCA standards and that submission requirements are met in a timely manner. 

The Closing. If you are selling your practice or ownership, the legal counsel is a smart move to assist with your closing. The closing can come before the actual “CHOW” is done by AHCA. However, we can also assist with the management agreement to allow the current (old) licensee to continue to operate the facility until AHCA approves the CHOW and issues a new application. AHCA requires the application for CHOW to be filed 60 days prior to the actual closing.  Thus, these all must be done in a timely manner.

Financial Ability to Operate. Proving financial ability to operate is best prepared by experienced CPAs. Our firm employs a CPA who is familiar with this process to do the financial projections. 

Omissions Notices or Notices of Intent to Deny. This is a topic that demand attention. We assist with responding to any Omissions Notices and Notice of Intent to Deny Change of Ownership application. To learn more about this process and what a NOID is, visit this article: Received a NOID in Florida? What to Expect.

Trusting Experts as You Change Ownership  

Our team of legal experts have assisted business owners with the tedious and complicated process of drafting the necessary legal documents to prepare for a Change of Ownership application. We are experienced in working directly with AHCA requirements, preparing the necesary documents and meeting the timelines required so you can confidently change your ownership in your business or practice, knowing the process is in qualified hands.

Need Legal Advice? Let’s Talk

Contact the law offices of Howell, Buchan & Strong; Attorneys at Law for your free consultation at any one of our locations:

Orlando (407) 717-1773 |Tallahassee (850) 877-7776 | Tampa (813) 833-6726 | Sarasota (941) 779-4348