Florida Statute 456.0135: Screening, Exemptions, and Costs

If you’re applying for an initial healthcare license in Florida, the background screening required under Florida Statute 456.0135 is a Level 2 electronic fingerprint check that you pay for yourself, that searches state and national criminal records, and that can block your license if it turns up certain offenses.¹ The screening applies to applications received on or after January 1, 2013, and the results feed a database that keeps monitoring you for new arrests throughout your career.

Who Has to Be Screened

The statute reaches more than two dozen regulated professions. Initial applicants in medicine, osteopathic medicine, chiropractic, podiatry, naturopathy, optometry, nursing, dentistry, midwifery, electrology, massage therapy, clinical laboratory work, opticianry, physical therapy, psychology, and clinical social work and counseling all have to be fingerprinted. Certain pharmacy applicants are covered, as are several practitioner types under Chapter 468, including respiratory therapy and occupational therapy.¹

Renewals that require a national criminal history check can reuse fingerprints already retained by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, as long as those prints are enrolled in the national retained print arrest notification program. You do not have to be reprinted every cycle.²

What the Screening Checks

Fingerprints are processed under the Level 2 standards in Florida Statute 435.04, the state’s most thorough screening tier. That means a search of FDLE’s criminal records, the FBI’s national criminal history database, and local law enforcement records. It also pulls sexual predator and sexual offender registries for every state you lived in during the preceding five years.³

Fingerprints, the ORI Number, and the Photo

Prints have to be submitted electronically through a Livescan vendor registered with FDLE.⁴ Before your appointment, get your Originating Agency Identifier (ORI) number. That number tells FDLE which licensing board should receive your results. Online applicants see it prepopulated on a printable form; paper applicants can find it in the application instructions or on the FL HealthSource website under Screened Professions.⁵

Give the vendor the wrong ORI and the results never reach your board. You will pay again for a new screening.⁶ The name and Social Security number you give the vendor also have to match your license application exactly.

The vendor will take your photograph at the same appointment. This is not optional. Without a photo, your screening cannot be entered into the Care Provider Background Screening Clearinghouse, which means your results cannot be shared among state agencies. A compliant screening needs retained fingerprints, a photograph, and a signed privacy policy.⁷

What It Costs

You pay for the whole thing.² FDLE charges a $24 state processing fee and a $36 FBI fee for a Level 2 check, so $60 in government fees.⁸ Livescan vendors add their own service fee, typically $20 to $50, putting most applicants at roughly $75 to $100 out the door. Renewing retained prints later costs $43.25.⁹

Offenses That Can Block Your License

Florida Statute 435.04 lists dozens of disqualifying offenses. The check looks at whether you were found guilty, entered a no-contest plea, or have a pending arrest for any of them. A withheld adjudication still counts unless the record has been sealed or expunged.³

The major categories:

Violent crimes, including murder, manslaughter, aggravated assault, aggravated battery, kidnapping, and human trafficking.
Sexual offenses, including sexual battery, lewd conduct, and sexual misconduct with a patient, a developmentally disabled client, or a mental health patient.
Crimes against vulnerable people, including child abuse, neglect, or exploitation; abuse or exploitation of elderly or disabled adults; and failure to report child abuse.
Any felony under Chapter 893 (drug abuse prevention and control), or any drug offense involving a minor.
Felony fraud and exploitation of a protected person.
Certain weapons offenses, such as exhibiting a firearm within 1,000 feet of a school.

Section 456.0135 adds one offense beyond the 435.04 list: battery under Section 784.03 where the victim was a vulnerable adult or a patient or resident of a hospital, nursing home, or assisted living facility. This add-on applies to every screened healthcare practitioner except pharmacies licensed under Section 465.022.² Attempts, solicitation, and conspiracy to commit any listed offense count, and so do comparable convictions from other states.³

Getting an Exemption

A disqualifying offense on your record is not automatically the end of the road. Florida Statute 435.07 lets the head of the licensing agency grant an exemption if you demonstrate rehabilitation by clear and convincing evidence. The decision is discretionary. Meeting the technical requirements does not force the agency to approve you.

Waiting periods before you can even request an exemption:

Felonies: at least two years since you completed confinement, supervision, or any other court-imposed condition.
Misdemeanors: no waiting period beyond completing all court-imposed conditions.
Juvenile felony adjudications: at least three years since completing all court-imposed conditions, and the record cannot have been sealed or expunged.

You also have to have paid in full any court-ordered fines, fees, restitution, or costs tied to the disqualifying offense before you apply.¹⁰

A petition typically addresses the circumstances of the original offense, how much time has passed, the harm caused, and your conduct since. Strong petitions include employer letters on job performance, proof of completed education or training, letters from counselors or treatment programs, letters from probation or parole officers, records of community volunteer work, and a personal statement explaining what has changed.

Do Not Hide a Record on the Application

Failing to disclose criminal history is treated as a separate violation under Florida Statute 456.072, which governs discipline across all healthcare professions. The statute makes it a disciplinary offense to obtain or attempt to obtain a license through fraudulent misrepresentation or to make misleading, untrue, or deceptive statements on a licensure application.¹¹

If the board finds fraud or false representation, it must impose a fine of $10,000 per count. It can also deny the application, suspend or permanently revoke a license, restrict practice, or impose probation.¹¹ The underlying offense might have been forgivable. Hiding it usually is not.

Continuous Monitoring After Licensure

Fingerprints submitted under Section 456.0135 go into the Care Provider Background Screening Clearinghouse established by Florida Statute 435.12, a shared database that lets multiple state agencies use the same screening results.¹²

Retained prints are continuously searched against incoming arrest records at both the state and federal level. If you are arrested after your initial screening, FDLE reports that match to the Department of Health. This is ongoing automated monitoring for as long as your prints stay enrolled, not a periodic recheck.² At the federal level the same function runs through the FBI’s Rap Back service, which can also flag events like sex offender registry entries or outstanding warrants.

Keeping Your Prints Active

Fingerprint data stays in the Clearinghouse for five years from the submission date. After that you have to renew retained prints to stay enrolled. The renewal is $43.25, well below the $75 to $100 you paid initially. If your prints lapse, you start over with a full new submission at full price.⁹ Letting them expire also creates a gap in continuous monitoring, which can delay a license renewal.

Federal Exclusion Lists Are Separate

Passing Florida’s Level 2 check does not clear you with the federal government. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General maintains the List of Excluded Individuals and Entities (LEIE), which bars listed people from participating in Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal healthcare programs. Anyone on the LEIE cannot receive payment from federal healthcare programs for items or services they furnish, order, or prescribe.¹³

Employers who hire someone on the LEIE face civil monetary penalties, so most healthcare facilities check it before making an offer. State Medicaid agencies check it monthly and at every new enrollment. Appearing on the LEIE or the federal System for Award Management (SAM) exclusion list will effectively prevent employment at any facility that accepts federal healthcare dollars, even if your Florida screening is clean.¹³

How Long Results Take

Once electronic fingerprints are submitted, results usually reach the Department of Health within 24 to 72 hours.¹⁴ Your application status will not update instantly, though. Board staff manually verify the results before marking the screening complete, which adds time. Applicants with correct information and no criminal history move fastest. Records that require board review take longer while staff decide whether the offense is disqualifying.

1
Florida Senate. Florida Code 456.0135 – General Background Screening Provisions
2
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 456.0135 – General Background Screening Provisions
3
Florida Senate. Florida Code 435.04 – Level 2 Screening Standards
4
Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Registered Livescan Submitters
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FL HealthSource. Where Do I Get the ORI Number to Submit to the Livescan Vendor/Provider?
6
Florida Board of Medicine. Electronic Fingerprinting
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FL HealthSource. What Happens If My Photograph Is Not Taken at Time of Fingerprinting?
8
Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Criminal History Record Check Fee Schedule
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FL HealthSource. Background Screening Fingerprint Retention
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Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 435.07 – Exemptions From Disqualification
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Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 456.072 – Grounds for Discipline, Penalties, Enforcement
12
Florida Senate. Florida Code 435.12 – Care Provider Background Screening Clearinghouse
13
Office of Inspector General. Exclusions Program
14
FL HealthSource. What Is the Processing Time for LiveScan Fingerprints to Be Received by DOH?