The Florida Senate

381.736  Florida Healthy People 2010 Program.--

(1)  The Department of Health shall, using existing resources, monitor and report Florida's status on the Healthy People 2010 goals and objectives currently tracked and available to the department. The federal Healthy People 2010 goals and objectives are designed to measure and help to improve the health of all Americans by advancing the following goals:

(a)  Increase the quality and years of healthy life.

(b)  Eliminate health disparities among different segments of the population.

(2)  The department shall report to the Legislature by December 31 of each year on the status of disparities in health among minorities and nonminorities, using health indicators currently available that are consistent with those identified by the federal Healthy People 2010 goals and objectives.

(3)  To reduce negative health consequences that result from ignoring racial and ethnic cultures, the department shall work with minority physician networks to develop programs to educate health care professionals about the importance of culture in health status. These programs shall include, but need not be limited to:

(a)  The education of health care providers about the prevalence of specific health conditions among certain minority groups.

(b)  The training of clinicians to be sensitive to cultural diversity among patients and to recognize that inherent biases can lead to disparate treatments.

(c)  The creation of initiatives that educate private sector health care and managed care organizations about the importance of cross-cultural training of health care professionals and the effect of such training on the professional-patient relationship.

(d)  The fostering of increased use of interpreter services in health care settings.

(4)  The department shall work with and promote the establishment of public and private partnerships with charitable organizations, hospitals, and minority physician networks to increase the proportion of health care professionals from minority backgrounds.

(5)  The department shall promote research on methods by which to reduce disparities in health care at colleges and universities that have historically large minority enrollments, including centers of excellence in this state identified by the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities, by working with those colleges and universities and with community representatives to encourage local minority students to pursue professions in health care.

History.--s. 1, ch. 2004-365.