The Florida Senate

The extent and nature of illness and disability of the state population, including life expectancy, the incidence of various acute and chronic illnesses, and infant and maternal morbidity and mortality.

The impact of illness and disability of the state population on the state economy and on other aspects of the well-being of the people in this state.

Environmental, social, and other health hazards.

Health knowledge and practices of the people in this state and determinants of health and nutritional practices and status.

Health resources, including physicians, dentists, nurses, and other health professionals, by specialty and type of practice and acute, long-term care and other institutional care facility supplies and specific services provided by hospitals, nursing homes, home health agencies, and other health care facilities.

Utilization of health care by type of provider.

Health care costs and financing, including trends in health care prices and costs, the sources of payment for health care services, and federal, state, and local expenditures for health care.

Family formation, growth, and dissolution.

The extent of public and private health insurance coverage in this state.

The quality of care provided by various health care providers.

Coordinate the activities of state agencies involved in the design and implementation of the comprehensive health information system.

Undertake research, development, and evaluation respecting the comprehensive health information system.

Review the statistical activities of state agencies to ensure that they are consistent with the comprehensive health information system.

Develop written agreements with local, state, and federal agencies for the sharing of health-care-related data or using the facilities and services of such agencies. State agencies, local health councils, and other agencies under state contract shall assist the center in obtaining, compiling, and transferring health-care-related data maintained by state and local agencies. Written agreements must specify the types, methods, and periodicity of data exchanges and specify the types of data that will be transferred to the center.

Establish by rule the types of data collected, compiled, processed, used, or shared. Decisions regarding center data sets should be made based on consultation with the State Consumer Health Information and Policy Advisory Council and other public and private users regarding the types of data which should be collected and their uses. The center shall establish standardized means for collecting health information and statistics under laws and rules administered by the agency.

Establish minimum health-care-related data sets which are necessary on a continuing basis to fulfill the collection requirements of the center and which shall be used by state agencies in collecting and compiling health-care-related data. The agency shall periodically review ongoing health care data collections of the Department of Health and other state agencies to determine if the collections are being conducted in accordance with the established minimum sets of data.

Establish advisory standards to ensure the quality of health statistical and epidemiological data collection, processing, and analysis by local, state, and private organizations.

Prescribe standards for the publication of health-care-related data reported pursuant to this section which ensure the reporting of accurate, valid, reliable, complete, and comparable data. Such standards should include advisory warnings to users of the data regarding the status and quality of any data reported by or available from the center.

Prescribe standards for the maintenance and preservation of the center’s data. This should include methods for archiving data, retrieval of archived data, and data editing and verification.

Ensure that strict quality control measures are maintained for the dissemination of data through publications, studies, or user requests.

Develop, in conjunction with the State Consumer Health Information and Policy Advisory Council, and implement a long-range plan for making available health care quality measures and financial data that will allow consumers to compare health care services. The health care quality measures and financial data the agency must make available shall include, but is not limited to, pharmaceuticals, physicians, health care facilities, and health plans and managed care entities. The agency shall update the plan and report on the status of its implementation annually. The agency shall also make the plan and status report available to the public on its Internet website. As part of the plan, the agency shall identify the process and timeframes for implementation, any barriers to implementation, and recommendations of changes in the law that may be enacted by the Legislature to eliminate the barriers. As preliminary elements of the plan, the agency shall:

The center shall provide technical assistance to persons or organizations engaged in health planning activities in the effective use of statistics collected and compiled by the center. The center shall also provide the following additional technical assistance services:

The agency shall administer, manage, and monitor grants to not-for-profit organizations, regional health information organizations, public health departments, or state agencies that submit proposals for planning, implementation, or training projects to advance the development of a health information network. Any grant contract shall be evaluated to ensure the effective outcome of the health information project.

The agency shall initiate, oversee, manage, and evaluate the integration of health care data from each state agency that collects, stores, and reports on health care issues and make that data available to any health care practitioner through a state health information network.

The center shall publish and make available periodically to agencies and individuals health statistics publications of general interest, including health plan consumer reports and health maintenance organization member satisfaction surveys; publications providing health statistics on topical health policy issues; publications that provide health status profiles of the people in this state; and other topical health statistics publications.

The center shall publish, make available, and disseminate, promptly and as widely as practicable, the results of special health surveys, health care research, and health care evaluations conducted or supported under this section. Any publication by the center must include a statement of the limitations on the quality, accuracy, and completeness of the data.

The center shall provide indexing, abstracting, translation, publication, and other services leading to a more effective and timely dissemination of health care statistics.

The center shall be responsible for publishing and disseminating an annual report on the center’s activities.

The center shall be responsible, to the extent resources are available, for conducting a variety of special studies and surveys to expand the health care information and statistics available for health policy analyses, particularly for the review of public policy issues. The center shall develop a process by which users of the center’s data are periodically surveyed regarding critical data needs and the results of the survey considered in determining which special surveys or studies will be conducted. The center shall select problems in health care for research, policy analyses, or special data collections on the basis of their local, regional, or state importance; the unique potential for definitive research on the problem; and opportunities for application of the study findings.

The Legislature intends that funding for the Florida Center for Health Information and Policy Analysis be appropriated from the General Revenue Fund.

The Florida Center for Health Information and Policy Analysis may apply for and receive and accept grants, gifts, and other payments, including property and services, from any governmental or other public or private entity or person and make arrangements as to the use of same, including the undertaking of special studies and other projects relating to health-care-related topics. Funds obtained pursuant to this paragraph may not be used to offset annual appropriations from the General Revenue Fund.

The center may charge such reasonable fees for services as the agency prescribes by rule. The established fees may not exceed the reasonable cost for such services. Fees collected may not be used to offset annual appropriations from the General Revenue Fund.

There is established in the agency the State Consumer Health Information and Policy Advisory Council to assist the center in reviewing the comprehensive health information system, including the identification, collection, standardization, sharing, and coordination of health-related data, fraud and abuse data, and professional and facility licensing data among federal, state, local, and private entities and to recommend improvements for purposes of public health, policy analysis, and transparency of consumer health care information. The council shall consist of the following members:

Each member of the council shall be appointed to serve for a term of 2 years following the date of appointment, except the term of appointment shall end 3 years following the date of appointment for members appointed in 2003, 2004, and 2005. A vacancy shall be filled by appointment for the remainder of the term, and each appointing authority retains the right to reappoint members whose terms of appointment have expired.

The council may meet at the call of its chair, at the request of the agency, or at the request of a majority of its membership, but the council must meet at least quarterly.

Members shall elect a chair and vice chair annually.

A majority of the members constitutes a quorum, and the affirmative vote of a majority of a quorum is necessary to take action.

The council shall maintain minutes of each meeting and shall make such minutes available to any person.

Members of the council shall serve without compensation but shall be entitled to receive reimbursement for per diem and travel expenses as provided in s. 112.061.

The council’s duties and responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following: