Florida Senate - 2022                          SENATOR AMENDMENT
       Bill No. CS for CS for SB 988
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Ì8269249Î826924                         
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
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                Floor: 1/AD/2R         .                                
             03/04/2022 10:24 AM       .                                
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       Senator Garcia moved the following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Delete everything after the enacting clause
    4  and insert:
    5         Section 1. This act may be cited as the “No Patient Left
    6  Alone Act.”
    7         Section 2. Section 408.823, Florida Statutes, is created to
    8  read:
    9         408.823 In-person visitation.—
   10         (1) This section applies to developmental disabilities
   11  centers as defined in s. 393.063, hospitals licensed under
   12  chapter 395, nursing home facilities licensed under part II of
   13  chapter 400, hospice facilities licensed under part IV of
   14  chapter 400, intermediate care facilities for the
   15  developmentally disabled licensed and certified under part VIII
   16  of chapter 400, and assisted living facilities licensed under
   17  part I of chapter 429.
   18         (2)(a) No later than 30 days after the effective date of
   19  this act, each provider shall establish visitation policies and
   20  procedures. The policies and procedures must, at a minimum,
   21  include infection control and education policies for visitors;
   22  screening, personal protective equipment, and other infection
   23  control protocols for visitors; permissible length of visits and
   24  numbers of visitors, which must meet or exceed the standards in
   25  ss. 400.022(1)(b) and 429.28(1)(d), as applicable; and
   26  designation of a person responsible for ensuring that staff
   27  adhere to the policies and procedures. Safety-related policies
   28  and procedures may not be more stringent than those established
   29  for the provider’s staff and may not require visitors to submit
   30  proof of any vaccination or immunization. The policies and
   31  procedures must allow consensual physical contact between a
   32  resident, client, or patient and the visitor.
   33         (b) A resident, client, or patient may designate a visitor
   34  who is a family member, friend, guardian, or other individual as
   35  an essential caregiver. The provider must allow in-person
   36  visitation by the essential caregiver for at least 2 hours daily
   37  in addition to any other visitation authorized by the provider.
   38  This section does not require an essential caregiver to provide
   39  necessary care to a resident, client, or patient of a provider,
   40  and providers may not require an essential caregiver to provide
   41  such care.
   42         (c) The visitation policies and procedures required by this
   43  section must allow in-person visitation in all of the following
   44  circumstances, unless the resident, client, or patient objects:
   45         1. End-of-life situations.
   46         2. A resident, client, or patient who was living with
   47  family before being admitted to the provider’s care is
   48  struggling with the change in environment and lack of in-person
   49  family support.
   50         3. The resident, client, or patient is making one or more
   51  major medical decisions.
   52         4. A resident, client, or patient is experiencing emotional
   53  distress or grieving the loss of a friend or family member who
   54  recently died.
   55         5. A resident, client, or patient needs cueing or
   56  encouragement to eat or drink which was previously provided by a
   57  family member or caregiver.
   58         6. A resident, client, or patient who used to talk and
   59  interact with others is seldom speaking.
   60         7. For hospitals, childbirth, including labor and delivery.
   61         8. Pediatric patients.
   62         (d) The policies and procedures may require a visitor to
   63  agree in writing to follow the provider’s policies and
   64  procedures. A provider may suspend in-person visitation of a
   65  specific visitor if the visitor violates the provider’s policies
   66  and procedures.
   67         (e) The providers shall provide their visitation policies
   68  and procedures to the agency when applying for initial
   69  licensure, licensure renewal, or change of ownership. The
   70  provider must make the visitation policies and procedures
   71  available to the agency for review at any time, upon request.
   72         (f) Within 24 hours after establishing the policies and
   73  procedures required under this section, providers must make such
   74  policies and procedures easily accessible from the homepage of
   75  their websites.
   76         (3) The agency shall dedicate a stand-alone page on its
   77  website to explain the visitation requirements of this section
   78  and provide a link to the agency’s webpage to report complaints.
   79         Section 3. The Division of Law Revision is directed to
   80  replace the phrase “30 days after the effective date of this
   81  act” wherever it occurs in this act with the date 30 days after
   82  this act becomes a law.
   83         Section 4. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.
   84  
   85  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
   86  And the title is amended as follows:
   87         Delete everything before the enacting clause
   88  and insert:
   89                        A bill to be entitled                      
   90         An act relating to in-person visitation; providing a
   91         short title; creating s. 408.823, F.S.; providing
   92         applicability; requiring certain providers to
   93         establish visitation policies and procedures within a
   94         specified timeframe; providing requirements for such
   95         policies and procedures; authorizing the resident,
   96         client, or patient to designate an essential
   97         caregiver; establishing requirements related to
   98         essential caregivers; requiring in-person visitation
   99         in certain circumstances; providing that the policies
  100         and procedures may require visitors to agree in
  101         writing to follow such policies and procedures;
  102         authorizing providers to suspend in-person visitation
  103         of specific visitors under certain circumstances;
  104         requiring providers to provide their policies and
  105         procedures to the Agency for Health Care
  106         Administration at specified times; requiring providers
  107         to make their policies and procedures available to the
  108         agency for review at any time, upon request; requiring
  109         providers to make their policies and procedures easily
  110         accessible from the homepage of their websites within
  111         a specified timeframe; requiring the agency to
  112         dedicate a stand-alone page on its website for
  113         specified purposes; providing a directive to the
  114         Division of Law Revision; providing an effective date.