Florida Senate - 2014                                     SB 992
       
       
        
       By Senator Bean
       
       
       
       
       
       4-01194-14                                             2014992__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to infectious disease control;
    3         amending s. 381.0011, F.S.; providing duties of the
    4         Department of Health relating to the dissemination of
    5         information regarding treatment-resistant bacterial
    6         infections; providing for the establishment of a
    7         research panel and an interagency task force;
    8         requiring the department to adopt and enforce minimum
    9         standards for infection control practices in certain
   10         licensed facilities; providing an effective date.
   11          
   12  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   13  
   14         Section 1. Section 381.0011, Florida Statutes, is amended
   15  to read:
   16         381.0011 Duties and powers of the Department of Health.—It
   17  is the duty of the Department of Health to:
   18         (1) Assess the public health status and needs of the state.
   19         (2) Administer and enforce laws and rules relating to
   20  sanitation, control of infectious communicable diseases,
   21  illnesses and hazards to health among humans and from animals to
   22  humans, and the general health of the people of the state.
   23         (3) Coordinate with federal, state, and local officials for
   24  the prevention and suppression of infectious communicable and
   25  other diseases, illnesses, injuries, and hazards to human
   26  health.
   27         (4) Provide for a thorough investigation and study of the
   28  incidence, causes, modes of propagation and transmission, and
   29  means of prevention, control, and cure of diseases, illnesses,
   30  and hazards to human health.
   31         (5) Provide for the dissemination of information to the
   32  public relating relative to the prevention, control, and cure of
   33  diseases, illnesses, and hazards to human health, including
   34  information reported by licensed health care practitioners under
   35  subsection (6).
   36         (6) Establish an Internet website for health care
   37  practitioners licensed under chapter 458, chapter 459, or
   38  chapter 464 to report the presence of confirmed treatment
   39  resistant bacterial infections. The website shall require the
   40  practitioner to enter his or her license number, the location of
   41  the confirmed treatment-resistant bacterial infection, and the
   42  type of bacterial infection. The department shall adopt rules
   43  establishing a method to ensure that only one report per
   44  confirmed case is displayed on the publicly accessible part of
   45  the website. The department shall adopt rules requiring that the
   46  identity of the practitioner not be displayed on the publicly
   47  accessible part of the website and that the report not disclose
   48  protected health information but only document the presence,
   49  type, and location of a confirmed treatment-resistant bacterial
   50  infection.
   51         (7)(6) Act as registrar of vital statistics.
   52         (8)(7) Manage and coordinate emergency preparedness and
   53  disaster response functions to: investigate and control the
   54  spread of disease; coordinate the availability and staffing of
   55  special needs shelters; support patient evacuation; ensure the
   56  safety of food and drugs; provide critical incident stress
   57  debriefing; and provide surveillance and control of
   58  radiological, chemical, biological, and other environmental
   59  hazards.
   60         (9) Establish a research panel composed of experts in the
   61  field of treatment-resistant bacterial infections, which shall
   62  make recommendations to state agencies regarding biomedical
   63  research programs designed to improve treatment outcomes and
   64  develop protocols to control the incidence of treatment
   65  resistant bacterial infections.
   66         (10) Establish and lead an interagency task force that
   67  includes representatives from health care providers, interested
   68  trade associations, and other state agencies to:
   69         (a) Identify emergency response protocols for facilities
   70  licensed under part II of chapter 408 when an outbreak of a
   71  treatment-resistant bacterial infection occurs in such a
   72  facility.
   73         (b) Establish a volunteer statewide emergency response team
   74  to investigate, document, and report the presence and outbreak
   75  of a treatment-resistant bacterial infection to the department
   76  and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
   77         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2014.