License Defense for Health Care Professionals in Miami

We help licensed health care professionals respond to the department, challenge the administrative complaint, and take disputed cases to an independent administrative law judge.

Dennis Gonzalez Jr. is a former Miami-Dade prosecutor who has been defending people since 2012. If an arrest is part of the picture, we handle the criminal case and the license case together. Our office answers 24 hours a day.

Who Regulates Your Profession

All of these boards sit within the Florida Department of Health, and all of these professions are also covered by Chapter 456, the general law for health care practitioners.

Other Department of Health professions follow the same Chapter 456 process described below. Call us about your specific license.

Common Grounds for Discipline, by Profession

Pharmacists (s. 465.016):

• Dispensing on a prescription you know or have reason to believe is not based on a valid practitioner-patient relationship.
• Errors or omissions in prescription processing, such as entering data, verifying, calculating, drug review, or counseling.
• Violating Florida or federal drug laws, including the controlled substances law.
• Compounding or dispensing a legend drug outside the course of professional practice.
• Letting an unlicensed person fill prescriptions, or an intern work without required supervision.
• Using or releasing patient records except as the law allows.
• False reports or records.
• A crime that directly relates to pharmacy. A no contest plea counts as a conviction for this ground.

Massage therapists (s. 480.046):

• Advertising to draw a client into unlawful sexual misconduct, or making deceptive representations in the practice.
• Gross or repeated malpractice, or failing to practice with the care a reasonably prudent massage therapist would.
• Practicing at a location that is not a licensed massage establishment, except as the board's rules allow.
• Refusing to let the department inspect the business during regular hours; unsanitary premises.
• A crime that directly relates to massage therapy. A no contest plea counts as a conviction.
• Establishments: the board must revoke or suspend an establishment's license if the owner, manager, or anyone providing massage there has had a final order or other disciplinary action for sexual misconduct involving prostitution or for prostitution-related crimes in the practice of massage, or a conviction or plea to prostitution or related acts, regardless of adjudication.

Physical therapists and assistants (s. 486.125):

• Fraud in the practice or deceit in getting the license.
• Splitting, rebating, or refunding fees with someone who refers patients, or profiting from unearned commissions or similar arrangements tied to referrals.
• Failing to maintain acceptable standards of practice set by board rule.
• Treating ailments by means other than physical therapy, or practicing beyond your scope.
• False reports or records signed as a physical therapist.
• A crime that directly relates to physical therapy. A no contest plea counts as a conviction.

Clinical social workers, marriage and family therapists, and mental health counselors (s. 491.009):

• Failing to respond within 30 days to a written communication from the department or the board about an investigation, or failing to make relevant records available. This ground surprises many therapists. Do not ignore the letter.
• Breaching the confidentiality of a client communication, except as the law allows.
• Sexual misconduct or sexual battery with a client.
• Kickbacks or other payments for referrals.
• Failing to meet minimum standards of performance compared to generally prevailing peer performance.
• False or misleading advertising, including promising guaranteed results.
• A crime that directly relates to the profession, including a no contest plea. For a no contest plea, the board must let you present evidence in mitigation about the charges and the circumstances of the plea.

For all Chapter 456 professions (s. 456.072): being unable to practice with reasonable skill and safety; testing positive on a confirmed pre-employment or employer-ordered drug test without a lawful prescription and legitimate medical reason; sexual misconduct; health care fraud; filing personal injury protection (PIP) claims that are upcoded or for services not rendered; and failing to report a conviction or plea to the board in writing within 30 days.

How a Complaint Becomes an Administrative Complaint

Under s. 456.073:

1. Complaint and investigation. The department investigates a written, signed, legally sufficient complaint, or opens its own case. Withdrawing a complaint does not end it.
2. Notice and response. With limited exceptions, the department must promptly send you or your lawyer a copy of the complaint or document that started the investigation. You may submit a written response within 20 days after service. (Counselors and therapists should also keep the separate 30-day rule above in mind.) If the conduct is a criminal offense, the department can investigate without notice.
3. Minor violations can be handled with a notice of noncompliance instead of discipline.
4. Probable cause. A panel of the board decides, or issues a letter of guidance instead. If probable cause is found, the department files an administrative complaint.
5. Confidentiality lasts until 10 days after probable cause, unless you waive it.
6. Time limit. Generally 6 years from the incident, with exceptions for criminal actions, controlled-substance diversion, sexual misconduct, and impairment.

Choosing Your Hearing: The Election of Rights Form

The administrative complaint must tell you that you have the right to request a hearing and to have a lawyer. The hearing-request form served with the complaint is commonly called an election of rights. That is the name used in practice; the phrase does not appear in the statutes or the uniform rules. You can generally choose a formal hearing before an administrative law judge of the Division of Administrative Hearings (DOAH) if you dispute the facts, an informal hearing if you do not, or a settlement approved by the department.

The deadline is in your papers. Your papers state the deadline that applies to you. Under Florida's uniform rules for agency hearings, it is 21 days from written notice, unless another law sets a different period, and missing it can waive the hearing.

The judge issues a recommended order, each side has 15 days to file exceptions, and the board issues the final order. The board cannot reject the judge's findings of fact unless, after reviewing the entire record, it states with particularity that they were not based on competent substantial evidence or that the proceedings did not comply with the essential requirements of law. A party adversely affected by the final order is entitled to judicial review in a Florida district court of appeal. See Administrative Hearings & License Defense for the full process.

Possible penalties under s. 456.072(2) include a reprimand or letter of concern, a fine of up to $10,000 per count, probation, restrictions, remedial education, suspension, and permanent revocation. Revocation under Chapter 456 is permanent, although a board may set rules for reapplication.

Emergency Suspension

The agency can suspend or restrict a license by emergency order, before a hearing, when it finds an immediate serious danger to the public health, safety, or welfare. It must state the specific facts and reasons in writing, a regular proceeding must also be promptly started, and the order can be challenged in court right away.

Under s. 456.074, an emergency suspension is mandatory when:

• any health care practitioner pleads guilty or no contest to, or is convicted or found guilty of, regardless of adjudication: a felony under Chapter 409 (social and economic assistance, which includes Medicaid), Chapter 817 (fraudulent practices), or Chapter 893 (drug abuse prevention and control), or under listed federal drug and Medicare and Medicaid laws; listed federal offenses relating to the Medicaid program; a felony reproductive battery; or a homicide felony under Chapter 782;
• any health care practitioner is arrested for committing, attempting, soliciting, or conspiring to commit any of the offenses listed in the statute, which include sexual misconduct and sexual battery, kidnapping and false imprisonment, human trafficking and smuggling, child-exploitation offenses, and related crimes;
• the State Surgeon General finds probable cause that a licensee committed sexual misconduct and that it is an immediate danger to the public; or
• for massage therapy, the department receives information that the therapist, or the establishment's manager, an employee, or an owner, was arrested for prostitution and related acts under s. 796.07 or for listed felonies such as human trafficking, kidnapping, sexual battery, and lewd offenses, or was convicted of or pleaded to them. The suspension reaches both the therapist and the establishment.

The department may also suspend or restrict after a positive employer or pre-employment drug test without a lawful prescription. You get 48 hours from notice of the confirmed result to produce one.

When There Is Also a Criminal Case

• An arrest alone can cost a massage therapist the license, through the mandatory emergency suspension. Call us before you talk to anyone.
• Pharmacists and drug cases: a guilty or no contest plea to a Florida drug (Chapter 893) or fraud (Chapter 817) felony, or to a federal controlled-substance felony, triggers mandatory emergency suspension, and a Chapter 465 no contest plea counts as a conviction.
• Billing cases (Medicaid, Medicare, PIP, private insurance) can lead to criminal charges, emergency suspension, and, under s. 456.0635, refusal to renew the license after certain felony pleas or convictions.
• Report any conviction or plea to the board in writing within 30 days.

See Health Care Fraud, Medicaid Fraud, Medicare Fraud, Insurance Fraud, Drug Crimes, Sex Crimes, and Practicing Without a License.

What to Do Right Now

1. Do not ignore any letter from the department or your board. For counselors and therapists, silence for 30 days is itself a violation.
2. Do not explain things to an investigator on the phone or in person before you talk to a lawyer.
3. Preserve records (prescription logs, treatment notes, appointment books, billing). Change nothing.
4. If you were arrested, tell us right away. For massage therapists, the license may already be at risk.
5. Call us.

Want to File a Complaint Against a Health Care Professional?

You can file a complaint with the Florida Department of Health. It must be in writing, signed, and legally sufficient, meaning it states facts showing a violation. The department must keep you informed of the status, give you a copy of the administrative complaint if probable cause is found, and tell you if it is not (you can send more information within 60 days). You can present oral or written communication at the hearing. Good-faith complainants are protected from civil liability. If you were injured, a civil claim is separate from the board complaint. Call us to discuss it.

Why Choose Dennis Gonzalez Law, P.A.

• Former Miami-Dade prosecutor.
• Defending people since 2012.
• License case and criminal case handled together.
• Super Lawyers recognition and an Avvo Rating of 10.0.
• Bilingual office — se habla español.
• We answer 24 hours a day. Call (305) 209-0384.

Frequently Asked Questions

I am a massage therapist and I was arrested. Is my license suspended?

For an arrest under the prostitution statute or the listed felonies, the law requires the department to issue an emergency suspension. Call us immediately; there are steps to take in both cases.

I am a counselor. What if I just don't answer the board's letter?

Failing to respond within 30 days to a written communication about an investigation is a separate ground for discipline under Chapter 491.

Does a no contest plea count?

For pharmacists, massage therapists, and physical therapists, the practice act treats it as a conviction. For Chapter 491 professionals it counts, but the board must let you present mitigation.

Are other Department of Health licenses handled the same way?

The Chapter 456 process applies to every profession the department regulates, but each profession has its own practice act and grounds. Call us about yours.