Florida District Courts of Appeal, 2007

Orthopaedic Medical Group of Tampa Bay/Stuart A. Goldsmith, P.A. v. Agency for Health Care Administration

Orthopaedic Medical Group of Tampa Bay/Stuart A. Goldsmith, P.A. v. Agency for Health Care Administration
Florida District Courts of Appeal · Decided April 9, 2007 · Allen, Roberts, Webster
957 So. 2d 18; 2007 Fla. App. LEXIS 5191; 2007 WL 1038114 (Southern Reporter, Second Series)

Orthopaedic Medical Group of Tampa Bay/Stuart A. Goldsmith, P.A. v. Agency for Health Care Administration

Opinion of the Court

PER CURIAM.

This is an appeal from a final order of the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA). In that order, AHCA re-characterized numerous findings of fact by the administrative law judge (ALJ) as conclusions of law and rejected them. AHCA’s purported rationale for doing so was its determination that the appellant’s expert witness on Medicaid coding was not competent to give such testimony. The determination of a witness’s qualifications to express an expert opinion is within the discretion of the ALJ and will not be reversed absent a showing of clear error. Cf. Dorta-Duque v. Dorta-Duque, 791 So.2d 1148, 1150 (Fla. 3d DCA 2001) (quoting Ramirez v. State, 542 So.2d 352, 355 (Fla. 1989)). AHCA failed to establish that the ALJ’s determination constituted clear error. Therefore, we REVERSE and REMAND with instructions to AHCA to enter a final order in accordance with the ALJ’s recommended order.

ALLEN, WEBSTER, and ROBERTS, JJ., concur.

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