DSP training for Florida's iBudget HCBS waiver is set by the Agency for Persons with Disabilities (APD) under Rule 59G-13.070, F.A.C. (the iBudget handbook rule) and APD's own rule chapters at 65G-2, 65G-7, and 65G-8. The requirements apply to direct care staff of iBudget waiver providers across residential, in-home, and day services, and compliance is audited by Qlarant, APD's quality-improvement contractor.

The core curriculum is state-authored. Every direct care employee must complete APD's Direct Care Core Competencies course within 90 days of hire, the Zero Tolerance course (abuse, neglect, and exploitation) before service delivery with renewal every three years, HIPAA training within 30 days and annually thereafter, and the Requirements for All Waiver Providers course. All four are APD-developed courses, completed either free of charge on TRAIN Florida — the state's public-health learning management system — or in a classroom taught by an APD-certified trainer. Qlarant reviews check that staff are registered on TRAIN Florida, so provider agencies should treat TRAIN Florida enrollment itself as a compliance item.

Several requirements sit outside the APD-authored core and are open by design. AIDS/HIV and bloodborne-pathogen training and CPR/First Aid may come from recognized national certifying bodies. Most importantly for training planning, the in-service continuing-education hours attached to iBudget service handbook requirements are explicitly not limited to APD courses — providers may source annual in-service training from any qualified vendor.

Medication administration and behavioral programming are separately gated. Under Chapter 65G-7, F.A.C., unlicensed staff may administer medication only after training and in-person validation delivered by APD-approved RN or LPN trainers, with periodic revalidation. Reactive strategies (physical intervention) are governed by Chapter 65G-8 and must use APD-approved techniques and training.

The delivery model, plainly stated: Florida's marquee DSP courses are state-run — written by APD, hosted free on TRAIN Florida, and tied directly to Qlarant audit checklists. An outside vendor cannot substitute its own version of Core Competencies or Zero Tolerance; the existing crosswalk path only allows a vendor to become an approved deliverer of APD's curriculum, as a handful of training companies have historically done. Providers should be skeptical of any vendor claiming its own courses satisfy Florida's core requirements.

Where a training partner genuinely helps in Florida is everything around that core. Training and eTracking Solutions provides the in-service continuing-education content that Florida explicitly leaves open to outside sources, plus the tracking layer Florida providers most often get cited on: expiration management for Zero Tolerance three-year renewals, annual HIPAA, CPR/First Aid cards, and med-administration revalidations — renewal lapses being among the most common Qlarant findings — with documentation organized for review. The APD core stays on TRAIN Florida, where it belongs; TeTS keeps the rest of the compliance calendar from slipping.