After months of intense criticism, Florida healthcare regulators have quietly announced new rules that could enable hundreds, perhaps even thousands of Floridians to raise their disabled children at home rather than place them in institutions. The biggest change: The state will no longer require that parents — and sometimes teenage siblings and grandparents — perform complex medical tasks “that normally could only be provided by a licensed nurse.” Such medical procedures might include the tube-feeding of children, the suctioning or replacement of breathing tubes and the oversight of ventilators. Instead, a trained professional would provide the services, with the state footing the bill.

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