Helpful tips: Florida Approved Advanced Cardiac Life Support and Basic Life Support Certification Required for Office Surgery Registration

Medical personnel in registered office surgery facilities in Florida are required to have either Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) certification or Basic Life Support (BLS) certification by a Board approved certification agency.

The Florida Boards of Medicine and Osteopathic Medicine (Boards) are the entities responsible for approving the agencies that provide ACLS and BLS certification. By rule, the surgeon, anesthesia provider and recovery personnel must have current ACLS certification and other personnel may have current BLS certification.

Before sending your personnel for ACLS or BLS certification, know which personnel are required to have ACLS training and which personnel are required to have BLS training.  The next step is to determine which ACLS and/or BLS provider organizations are approved by the Boards to provide ACLS and BLS certification for personnel in a Florida registered office surgery facility.  Once your personnel have their required certification, we recommend that you maintain a tracking system to ensure no certification expires before the personnel are re-certified. An expired certification is a violation of Florida rule.

Currently, the approved organizations include:

• American Heart Association
• American Safety and Health Institute
• American Red Cross
• Pacific Medical Training
• ACLS Certification Institute

Failing to use a Board approved certification agency can result in a delay in registering your facility or a delay in registering a health care provider in the office surgery facility, not to mention the time and money spent being trained by an agency that has not been approved by the Boards.