House Bill 0357e1

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







                                           HB 357, First Engrossed



  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to hospital meetings and

  3         records; amending s. 395.3035, F.S.; defining

  4         the term "strategic plan" for purposes of

  5         provisions which provide for the

  6         confidentiality of such plans and of meetings

  7         relating thereto; providing an exemption from

  8         open meetings requirements for meetings at

  9         which such plans are modified or approved by

10         the hospital's governing board; providing for

11         future review and repeal; providing conditions

12         for the early release of transcripts of

13         meetings at which such plans are discussed;

14         prohibiting public hospitals from taking

15         certain specified actions at closed meetings;

16         requiring certain notice; providing a finding

17         of public necessity; providing an effective

18         date.

19

20  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

21

22         Section 1.  Paragraph (b) of subsection (2) and

23  subsection (4) of section 395.3035, Florida Statutes, are

24  amended, present subsection (6) is renumbered as subsection

25  (9), and new subsections (6), (7), and (8) are added to that

26  section, to read:

27         395.3035  Confidentiality of public hospital records

28  and meetings.--

29         (2)  The following public hospital records and

30  information of any hospital that is subject to chapter 119 and

31  s. 24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution are confidential


                                  1

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






                                           HB 357, First Engrossed



  1  and exempt from the provisions of s. 119.07(1) and s. 24(a),

  2  Art. I of the State Constitution:

  3         (b)  A public hospital's strategic plan the disclosure

  4  of which, in the judgment of the hospital, could be used by a

  5  competitor to frustrate, circumvent, or exploit the purpose of

  6  the plan before it is implemented and which is not otherwise

  7  known or discoverable by the competitor by any means other

  8  than legal process plans, including plans for marketing its

  9  services, which services are or may reasonably be expected by

10  the hospital's governing board to be provided by competitors

11  of the hospital. However, documents that are submitted to the

12  hospital's governing board as part of the board's approval of

13  the hospital's budget, and the budget itself, are not

14  confidential and exempt.

15         (4)(a)  Those portions of a board meeting at which the

16  written strategic plans, including written plans for marketing

17  its services, are discussed, or reported on, modified, or

18  approved by the governing board are exempt from the provisions

19  of s. 286.011 and s. 24(b), Art. I of the State Constitution.

20  This paragraph is subject to the Open Government Sunset Review

21  Act of 1995 in accordance with s. 119.15 and shall stand

22  repealed on October 2, 2004, unless reviewed and saved from

23  repeal through reenactment by the Legislature.

24         (b)  All portions of any board meeting which are closed

25  to the public pursuant to this subsection shall be recorded by

26  a certified court reporter.  The reporter shall record the

27  times of commencement and termination of the meeting, all

28  discussion and proceedings, the names of all persons present

29  at any time, and the names of all persons speaking. No portion

30  of the meeting shall be off the record.  The court reporter's

31  notes shall be fully transcribed and maintained by the


                                  2

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






                                           HB 357, First Engrossed



  1  hospital records custodian within a reasonable time after the

  2  meeting. The closed meeting shall be restricted to discussion,

  3  reports, modification, or approval of a written strategic

  4  plan. The transcript shall become public 3 years after the

  5  date of the board meeting or at an earlier date if the

  6  strategic plan discussed, reported on, modified, or approved

  7  at the meeting has been implemented to the extent that

  8  confidentiality of the strategic plan is no longer necessary.

  9         (6)  For purposes of this section, the term "strategic

10  plan" means any record which describes actions or activities

11  to:

12         (a)  Initiate or acquire a new health service;

13         (b)  Expand an existing health service;

14         (c)  Acquire additional facilities;

15         (d)  Expand existing facilities;

16         (e)  Change all or part of the use of an existing

17  facility or a newly acquired facility;

18         (f)  Acquire, merge, or consolidate with another health

19  care facility or health care provider;

20         (g)  Enter into a shared service arrangement with

21  another health care provider;

22         (h)  Enter into or terminate a joint venture, subject

23  to the provisions of s. 155.40 relating to selling or leasing

24  a health care facility; or

25         (i)  Any combination of paragraphs (a)-(h).

26

27  The term "strategic plan" does not include records that

28  describe the existing operations of a hospital or other health

29  care facility which implement or execute the provisions of a

30  strategic plan, unless disclosure of any such document would

31  divulge any part of a strategic plan which has not been fully


                                  3

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






                                           HB 357, First Engrossed



  1  implemented or is a record that is otherwise exempt from the

  2  public records laws. Such existing operations include, without

  3  limitation, the hiring of employees, the purchase of

  4  equipment, the placement of advertisements, and the entering

  5  into contracts with physicians to perform medical services.

  6  Records that describe operations are not exempt, except as

  7  specifically provided in this section.

  8         (7)  If the governing board of the hospital closes a

  9  portion of any board meeting pursuant to subsection (4) before

10  placing the strategic plan or any separate component of the

11  strategic plan into operation, the governing board must give

12  notice of an open meeting in accordance with s. 286.011, and

13  conduct the meeting to inform the public, generally, of the

14  business activity that is to be implemented.

15         (8)  A hospital may not approve a binding agreement to

16  sell, lease, merge, or consolidate the hospital at any closed

17  meeting of the board. Any such approval must be made at a

18  meeting open to the public and noticed in accordance with s.

19  286.011.

20         Section 2.  The Legislature finds that community

21  hospitals in this state are often the safety-net providers of

22  health care to our less advantaged residents and visitors. Yet

23  community hospitals that are subject to the public records and

24  open meeting laws of the state, unlike most agencies that

25  provide services to the public, must compete directly with

26  their private-sector counterparts. The economic survival of

27  Florida's community hospitals depends on their ability to

28  obtain revenues from services they provide in competition with

29  their private-sector counterparts. The Legislature further

30  finds that the governing boards of these hospitals do not

31  discuss, debate, or participate in the modification or


                                  4

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






                                           HB 357, First Engrossed



  1  approval of their written strategic plans because the

  2  governing boards' discussions and the records are open to the

  3  public, thereby giving private-sector competitor hospitals

  4  advance disclosure of the hospitals' planned strategic moves.

  5  The Legislature finds that it is a public necessity that the

  6  governing boards of these hospitals be involved in the

  7  modification and approval of the hospitals' strategic plans.

  8  Consequently, the Legislature finds that it is a public

  9  necessity that the written strategic plan of any hospital

10  which is subject to the public records laws of the state, and

11  notes and transcripts that are recorded pursuant to section

12  395.3035(4)(c), Florida Statutes, be confidential and exempt

13  from the public records laws of this state. The Legislature

14  further finds that it is a public necessity that those

15  portions of a hospital's governing board meeting involving the

16  hospital's strategic plans or during which the written

17  strategic plan is discussed, reported on, modified, or

18  approved be confidential and exempt from the public meeting

19  laws of this state. The Legislature further finds that it is a

20  public necessity to clarify that the records and meetings of

21  any privately operated hospital which are subject to the

22  public records law and open meetings law of this state are

23  exempt from both in the same manner and to the same extent as

24  are records and meetings of publicly operated hospitals and as

25  otherwise provided by law.

26         Section 3.  The stated purpose of the exemption

27  provided in section 1 is to allow hospital boards to fully

28  discuss adoption or modification of and to receive reports

29  concerning their strategic plans without the strategic plans

30  being disclosed in advance to private-sector competitor

31  hospitals.


                                  5

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






                                           HB 357, First Engrossed



  1         Section 4.  This act shall take effect upon becoming a

  2  law.

  3

  4

  5

  6

  7

  8

  9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31


                                  6