MQA FY 13/14 Annual Report

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Lucy C. Gee, M.S.
Division Director
Through initiatives like these, MQA strives to become the
leader in health care quality regulation and to make Florida
the healthiest state in the nation. We pride ourselves on a
customer-centric focus, working to expedite licenses and
inspections so Floridians can get to work.
When MQA converted to CE/ in January 2013,
a three-pronged campaign was launched to educate health
care practitioners, their employers and CE/CME providers.
More than 11,000 people have viewed a webinar tutorial this
year. Previously, health care professionals were required to
complete continuing education hours, but were not required to
report hours to renew a license, except in the case of a post-
renewal audit. CE tracks the licensee’s credits
and prompts completion of the paperwork before renewal,
integrating CE tracking with license renewal. The new system is
estimated to save as much as $500,000 annually through audit
and enforcement reductions.
The Division also completed a two-year effort to make sterile
compounding pharmacies safe for Floridians. Legislation that
requires non-resident facilities to get a permit to deliver or
dispense compounded products in Florida, and authorizes
the Board of Pharmacy to inspect those facilities is currently
being implemented. Because a non-resident facility was the
cause of a contamination in 2012 that resulted in seven deaths
in Florida, MQA sought the authority to inspect out-of-state
compounding pharmacies. The law went into effect Oct. 1,
2014.
As Director for the Division of Medical Quality Assurance
(MQA), it is my pleasure to present our 2013-2014 Annual
Report. MQA strives to uphold Florida’s 125-year legacy of
public health by pursuing excellence and producing superior
services. Our employees perform with integrity and respect,
and MQA has achieved several measures this year that
highlight the Division’s accountability to its key customers:
license applicants, health care practitioners, and health care
consumers across the state.
In the past year, MQA has reduced the time it takes to
renew a license for qualified applicants from 3.76 days to
6 hours. License holders can now renew online using a
credit card, and this service helped decrease application
processing time of up to 93 percent, keeping practitioners
at work and providing uninterrupted health care services.
MQA’s System Support Services and Application Team won
a 2014 Prudential Davis Productivity Award for this project,
demonstrating creativity, innovation and excellence by
implementing a technology solution that reconciles credit
card payments in near real-time. MQA also expedited
licensing for military veterans with the VALOR: Veterans
Application for Licensure Online Response initiative
that started Oct. 1, 2014, which shows our continued
commitment to making Florida a welcome place to live and
work for our Armed Forces.