CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.





                                                  SENATE AMENDMENT

    Bill No. SB 2502

    Amendment No.    

                            CHAMBER ACTION
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11  Senator Gutman moved the following amendment:

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13         Senate Amendment (with title amendment) 

14         On page 7, between lines 21 and 22,

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16  insert:

17         Section 6.  In order to implement Specific

18  Appropriation 474 of the 1998-1999 General Appropriations Act,

19  the sum of $2 million is transferred from the unallocated

20  balance in the Medical Quality Assurance Trust Fund to the

21  Department of Health to allow the department to develop the

22  examination required for foreign-licensed physicians in

23  section 458.3115(1)(a), Florida Statutes, through a contract

24  with the University of South Florida. The department shall

25  charge examinees a fee that, in the aggregate, will reimburse

26  the Medical Quality Assurance Trust Fund for the amount

27  advanced to the department under this section.  This section

28  expires July 1, 1999.

29         Section 7.  Paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section

30  458.3115, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:

31         458.3115  Restricted license; certain foreign-licensed

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                                                  SENATE AMENDMENT

    Bill No. SB 2502

    Amendment No.    





 1  physicians; United States Medical Licensing Examination

 2  (USMLE) or agency-developed examination; restrictions on

 3  practice; full licensure.--

 4         (1)(a)  Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the

 5  agency shall provide procedures under which certain physicians

 6  who are or were foreign-licensed and have practiced medicine

 7  no less than 2 years may take the USMLE or an agency-developed

 8  examination to qualify for a restricted license to practice

 9  medicine in this state. The agency and board-developed

10  examination shall test the same areas of medical knowledge as

11  the Federation of State Medical Boards of the United States,

12  Inc. (FLEX) previously administered by the Florida Board of

13  Medicine to grant medical licensure in Florida. Said

14  examination shall be in the same form and content and shall be

15  administered in the same manner as the FLEX. The

16  agency-developed examination must be made available no later

17  than September 1, 1999 1998, to a physician who qualifies for

18  licensure. A person who is eligible to take and elects to take

19  the agency and board-developed examination, who has previously

20  passed part 1 or part 2 of the previously administered FLEX

21  shall not be required to retake or pass the equivalent parts

22  of the agency-developed examination, and may sit for the

23  agency and board-developed examination five times within 5

24  years.

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26  (Redesignate subsequent sections.)

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29  ================ T I T L E   A M E N D M E N T ===============

30  And the title is amended as follows:

31         On page 1, line 19, after the semicolon,

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                                                  SENATE AMENDMENT

    Bill No. SB 2502

    Amendment No.    





 1  insert:

 2         providing an advance of funds from the Medical

 3         Quality Assurance Trust Fund to the Department

 4         of Health to allow the department to develop an

 5         examination for foreign-licensed physicians;

 6         providing for reimbursement of the trust fund

 7         through examination fees; amending s. 458.3115,

 8         F.S.; changing the date for availability of the

 9         examination for foreign-licensed physicians;

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    6:03 PM   03/18/98                                s2502c-34m0c