The Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) has published its fixed need pool for community nursing home beds for the July 2029 planning horizon, identifying a statewide need of 449 beds. Letters of intent to apply for a Certificate of Need under this cycle are due by 5 p.m. on October 19, 2026.
Bed need is calculated by subdistrict. Cross-referencing the Florida Administrative Register (FAR) notice against AHCA’s own Florida Nursing Home Bed Need Projections by District and Subdistrict utilization report confirms the county (or counties) that make up each subdistrict. Below are the subdistricts where AHCA identified bed need greater than zero for this cycle:
| District | Subdistrict | County(ies) | Bed Need |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Escambia, Santa Rosa | 66 |
| 2 | 3 | Calhoun, Franklin, Gulf, Liberty, Wakulla | 13 |
| 2 | 4 | Leon | 64 |
| 3 | 1 | Columbia, Hamilton, Suwannee | 4 |
| 3 | 6 | Hernando | 3 |
| 4 | 2 | Baker, Clay, Duval (part) | 21 |
| 4 | 3 | St. Johns, Duval (part) | 81 |
| 6 | 1 | Hillsborough | 37 |
| 6 | 3 | Hardee | 5 |
| 6 | 5 | Polk | 2 |
| 7 | 2 | Orange | 22 |
| 8 | 1 | Charlotte | 29 |
| 8 | 2 | Collier | 49 |
| 9 | 1 | Indian River | 35 |
Where the Need Is Concentrated
Three subdistricts account for nearly half the statewide total:
- Subdistrict 4-3 (St. Johns County and part of Duval County): 81 beds — the single largest need in this cycle.
- Subdistrict 1-1 (Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties): 66 beds.
- Subdistrict 2-4 (Leon County): 64 beds.
Southwest Florida’s Charlotte (29 beds) and Collier (49 beds) counties combine for 78 beds, and Hillsborough County alone accounts for 37 beds in District 6.
A Note on Duval County
Duval County is unusual in that it’s split across three separate subdistricts (4-1, 4-2, and 4-3) rather than sitting entirely within one. The portions of Duval tied to Subdistricts 4-2 and 4-3 are included above because those subdistricts carry published need this cycle; the portion in Subdistrict 4-1 (paired with Nassau County) shows no need and isn’t listed.
A Discrepancy Worth Flagging
The individual subdistrict figures above sum to 431 beds, not the 449-bed statewide total printed in the notice — an 18-bed gap. This discrepancy appears to originate in the FAR notice itself rather than in any filtering or lookup performed here: every subdistrict line item was taken directly from the published notice, and the county assignments were independently verified against AHCA’s own utilization report. Possible explanations include a transcription or formatting issue in the scanned notice, a rounding or adjustment step applied at the state total level, or a subdistrict figure that was misread in the original PDF. Anyone relying on this data for a CON filing or competitive analysis should cross-check the raw numbers against AHCA’s source workbook or contact the Certificate of Need Office directly before treating either figure as authoritative.
Procedural Deadlines
The notice was published October 2, 2026. Based on that publication date and the batching cycle schedule, the key deadlines are:
- Error corrections: Within 10 days of publication — by October 12, 2026. Anyone identifying an error in the fixed need pool numbers must notify AHCA by this date, or waive the right to raise the error in subsequent proceedings.
- Letters of intent due: Monday, October 19, 2026, by 5:00 p.m., filed with the Certificate of Need Office, 2727 Mahan Drive, Building 2, Room C-1, MS 28, Tallahassee, Florida 32308.
- Hearing requests (on the fixed need pool notice): Within 21 days of publication — by October 23, 2026. Requests must be filed with the Agency Clerk at 2727 Mahan Drive, Building 3, Room 3431, MS 3, Tallahassee, Florida 32308, and must state with specificity which issues of material fact or law are in dispute. Failure to file by this date waives the right to a hearing.
- Initial CON applications due: Wednesday, November 18, 2026.
- Omissions response (full application) due: Wednesday, December 16, 2026.
- Agency decisions: February 12, 2027.
