MQA Annual Report 2019-2020

State Surgeon General As Florida’s Surgeon General, it gives me great pleasure to present the Division of Medical Quality Assurance (MQA) 2019- 2020 Annual Report and Long-Range Plan. MQA personifies the Department of Health’s (Department) values of Innovation, Collaboration, Accountability, Responsiveness, and Excellence in many areas. MQA continues to improve and make great strides in meeting strategic goals of licensure and regulatory efficiency. This past year has proven how incredibly important public health is to the sustainability and growth of the state of Florida. On March 1, 2020, Governor Ron DeSantis signed an Executive Order directing the Department to declare a public health emergency in Florida. As State Surgeon General, I immediately declared a public health emergency across the state to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and protect the citizens of Florida. MQA played an instrumental role during this difficult time, serving as liaison among the public, health care professionals, and health care regulatory bodies to ensure critical information was shared. MQA’s actions ensured access to quality health care services by efficiently and effectively regulating health care professions in order to achieve the Department’s mission of promoting and protecting the health and safety of all Floridians. MQA continued to increase access to health care for Floridians by licensing over 95,000 qualified applicants in fiscal year 2019-2020. Over 79 percent of those practitioners were licensed within one business day. MQA staff worked diligently, improving processes to expedite licensing and implemented strategies to expand the licensure pool during the public health emergency, such as temporarily reactivating qualified inactive health care practitioners. Veterans of the United States Armed Forces are an important part of our workforce and health care system. To increase quality health care practitioners in Florida, MQA’s Veterans Application for Licensure Online Response (VALOR) system expedites and waives fees for qualified military veterans and spouses of active duty service members for most health care professions. During the past fiscal year, 327 military veterans and their spouses were licensed through VALOR. Moving forward, MQA remains focused on providing Floridians access to qualified health care practitioners. I would like to thank MQA’s dedicated staff for continuing to go above and beyond in creating a culture of health in our great state. I am confident the staff will continue their outstanding performance to help accomplish our mission to protect, promote, and improve the health of all people in Florida through integrated state, county, and community efforts. Dr. Scott A. Rivkees State Surgeon General 3 Annual Report 2019-2020