How to start a medical practice in Florida

To start a medical practice in Florida, confirm the clinician's license and scope, select a permitted ownership structure, determine whether the clinic needs an AHCA license or qualifies for an exemption, and arrange financial responsibility and patient workflows. NPs and PAs have different physician-relationship requirements. Review those decisions before signing a lease, advertising services, or relying on a launch date.

This guide summarizes selected Florida requirements checked October 12, 2026. It is general information, not legal advice. Have Florida healthcare counsel apply the complete statutes and board rules to your services, owners, and locations.

What is the right order to start a medical practice in Florida?

Start with the people and services, then settle the entity and location. A clinician's license, a business filing, and a clinic license answer different questions. Record each decision and the document that supports it so the practice is ready for more than its first appointment.

1. Define the services and clinicians. List professional licenses, patient populations, prescribing plans, and visit locations.
2. Resolve clinical authority. Confirm any APRN protocol, autonomous registration, or PA supervision requirements.
3. Choose the entity and ownership. Review professional-entity rules and any proposed management agreement with counsel.
4. Determine clinic licensure. Check whether the entity falls within AHCA's clinic definition and whether a specific exemption applies.
5. Arrange coverage and operations. Confirm financial responsibility, records, results, referrals, and emergency procedures.
6. Confirm the payment model. Complete relevant enrollment and review cash-pay obligations before taking payment.

Use the private practice launch guide for federal identifiers and the wider business sequence. The sections below cover Florida-specific decisions.

Can a nurse practitioner practice independently in Florida?

Florida has an autonomous APRN registration pathway, but an NP license alone does not confer it. Without the applicable registration and scope, section 464.012 requires a protocol maintained at the practice location and supervision by the professional specified in the statute. For registered autonomous NPs, section 464.0123 limits practice to primary care as defined by the statute and board rules. Sections 464.012 and 464.0123

For autonomous registration, the statute requires an active, unencumbered APRN license, the specified disciplinary history, at least 3,000 qualifying supervised clinical hours within the preceding five years, and qualifying graduate education in differential diagnosis and pharmacology within that period. The board may add registration requirements by rule. Confirm eligibility with the Board of Nursing before designing a practice around this pathway. Section 464.0123(1)

The statute separately authorizes specified certified nurse-midwife activities and imposes additional requirements for out-of-hospital intrapartum care. That provision should not be read as a general NP specialty-practice expansion. Section 464.0123(3)

For the agreement itself, use the collaborating physician checklist. Prescribing authority and controlled-substance limits still need their own review under section 464.012.

What supervision does a Florida PA need?

A Florida physician assistant practices under physician supervision. The statutes allow easy availability through telecommunications; they do not make constant physical presence the general definition. The supervising physician must be qualified in the relevant medical areas and is responsible for the PA's acts and omissions. The statutory cap is ten currently licensed PAs at one time. Sections 458.347 and 459.022

Separate office-location rules can apply when an allopathic physician supervises an APRN or PA away from the physician's primary practice without onsite supervision. Section 458.348 distinguishes primary-care, specialty, and dermatologic offices and lists exceptions. Check that section before treating remote availability as the only location requirement. Section 458.348

Who may own the practice, and does it need an AHCA license?

Ownership and clinic licensure are separate reviews. Florida's professional corporations and professional LLCs under Chapter 621 have owner-qualification requirements. The health care clinic statutes separately define which entities need AHCA licensure and which are exempt. Neither question can be answered by an ordinary business filing alone.

Decision	Rule to review	Practical question
Professional corporation or PLLC	Owners must be licensed or otherwise legally authorized to render the same professional service, within the statutory definitions.	Does every proposed owner qualify for this entity and service?
Health care clinic status	Section 400.9905 defines a clinic as an entity providing healthcare and tendering charges for reimbursement, subject to exclusions.	Does the planned entity and billing model meet the definition?
Exemption	The definition lists specific exclusions, including qualifying practitioner-owned entities with conditions.	Which exact exclusion applies, and how will the practice continue to meet it?
Multiple locations	Section 400.991 provides for separate licensing of clinic locations.	Does each proposed site need its own license?

Sources: section 621.03, section 621.09, section 400.9905, and section 400.991.

Do not assume that calling a practice cash-pay settles the clinic analysis. Give counsel the actual ownership, services, and payment flow. For business support arrangements, the MSO guide provides questions about responsibilities and clinical control.

What malpractice or financial responsibility is required?

Florida's physician and autonomous APRN statutes set financial-responsibility requirements with alternative methods and exceptions. The amounts below summarize the coverage method; they are not insurance quotes or a complete account of eligibility. Ask counsel and the insurer which provision applies to your license, privileges, procedures, and practice setting.

Clinician or setting	Coverage figures stated in the statute	Source
MD, general active-license rule	At least $100,000 per claim and $300,000 annual aggregate	458.320(1)
MD with hospital staff privileges or performing surgery in a licensed ambulatory surgical center	At least $250,000 per claim and $750,000 aggregate	458.320(2)
DO	Corresponding $100,000/$300,000 and $250,000/$750,000 tiers	459.0085
APRN registered for autonomous practice	At least $100,000 per claim and $300,000 annual aggregate	464.0123(2)

Physician provisions include escrow and letter-of-credit alternatives; the autonomous APRN provision includes a letter-of-credit alternative. Each statute has exceptions with conditions. A payer or facility contract may require a separate coverage review. Also determine whether the current job leaves a tail coverage obligation.

Can Florida clinicians use telehealth?

Section 456.47 permits telehealth through the licensing or registration pathways it describes and holds providers to applicable scope and standards. Certain out-of-state professionals can register to serve Florida patients remotely. That registration does not permit a Florida office or in-person care. Confirm the patient's location and your authority before scheduling. Florida telehealth statute

The statute also contains limited exceptions to registration and restricts Schedule II prescribing by telehealth to specified circumstances, including psychiatric disorders and certain inpatient, hospice, and nursing-home care. It does not grant authority to treat a patient located in another state. Section 456.47

Are Florida physician non-competes enforceable?

Florida can enforce written restrictive covenants that meet section 542.335, including its reasonableness and legitimate-business-interest requirements. Do not assume the state's newer CHOICE Act eliminates or expands a clinician's covenant: its covered-employee definition excludes health care practitioners. The actual contract and applicable provisions still need review. Section 542.335 and section 542.43

A narrower physician exception appears in section 542.336 for a specialty in a county where one entity employs or contracts with all physicians practicing that specialty. Its protection continues for three years after a second qualifying entity begins offering those services. It is not a blanket ban on Florida physician non-competes. Section 542.336

Review the covenant, notice, outside work, patient communications, records, and coverage before resigning. The non-compete guide helps organize that review.

What should you bring to a launch-planning meeting?

Bring a service list, clinician credentials, proposed owners and locations, the current employment contract, a payment-model outline, and insurance documents. These let an attorney identify the applicable Florida pathway and let you build a budget around the actual practice. Unresolved licensing or ownership questions should be settled before the plan depends on them.

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