Senate Bill 0352c1
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Florida Senate - 2000 CS for SB 352
By the Committee on Health, Aging and Long-Term Care; and
Senators King and Latvala
317-867-00
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to health care; establishing
3 the Women and Heart Disease Task Force;
4 providing for membership; specifying
5 responsibilities; requiring a report; providing
6 for future repeal; providing an appropriation;
7 providing an effective date.
8
9 WHEREAS, the Legislature finds that heart disease is
10 the leading cause of death among American women and that women
11 fare worse after heart attacks than men, and
12 WHEREAS, the Legislature finds that women are almost 50
13 percent more likely than men to die from their heart attacks
14 and, even when age and other medical differences are
15 considered, women are still 13 percent more likely than men to
16 die from their heart attacks, and
17 WHEREAS, the Legislature finds that women who suffer a
18 first heart attack are at more than 70 percent greater risk of
19 death or readmission to a hospital than men and that more
20 women than men die from heart attacks within the first year
21 after their first heart attack and more women than men will
22 suffer a heart attack within 4 years after their first heart
23 attack, and
24 WHEREAS, the Legislature finds that it can be harder to
25 diagnose heart disease in women and that women usually have
26 subtler symptoms of heart attack than men, which may
27 contribute to the fact that women typically receive medical
28 treatment for heart attacks later than men, and
29 WHEREAS, through the establishment of a state task
30 force on women and heart disease, the Legislature intends to
31 decrease the number of deaths due to heart disease by
1
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Florida Senate - 2000 CS for SB 352
317-867-00
1 increasing public awareness of heart disease in women, by
2 increasing, through public education, the percentage of women
3 who seek examinations by physicians and obtain preventive care
4 with regard to heart disease, and by increasing, through
5 private, state, and federal dollars, research and coordination
6 at Florida institutions that are studying the causes, methods
7 of prevention, and treatment of heart disease in women, NOW,
8 THEREFORE,
9
10 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
11
12 Section 1. Women and Heart Disease Task Force.--
13 (1) There is created within the Department of Health
14 the Women and Heart Disease Task Force, to identify where
15 public awareness, public education, research, and coordination
16 regarding women and heart disease are lacking, to prepare
17 recommendations to establish research on the reasons women
18 suffer more severe first heart attacks than men and the
19 reasons women die more often from heart attacks, and to
20 increase the public's awareness of the importance of
21 identifying the symptoms of, and treating, heart disease in
22 women.
23 (2) The task force is composed of the Secretary of
24 Health or a designee, the Insurance Commissioner or a
25 designee, and 25 members to be appointed by July 15, 2000, as
26 follows:
27 (a) The Governor shall appoint one representative of
28 the University of Miami School of Medicine, one female family
29 physician from the Florida Academy of Family Physicians, one
30 female representative of the public who is a consumer advocate
31 and who has been diagnosed with heart disease, one
2
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Florida Senate - 2000 CS for SB 352
317-867-00
1 representative of the Florida Medical Association, one
2 representative of the Florida Chapter College of Cardiology,
3 one representative of the College of Emergency Physicians, one
4 representative of a business that has more than 300 employees,
5 one representative of a family practice teaching hospital, and
6 one representative of a statutory teaching hospital.
7 (b) The President of the Senate shall appoint one
8 representative of the University of Florida College of
9 Medicine, one representative of the American Heart
10 Association, one female representative of the public who is a
11 consumer advocate and who has been diagnosed with heart
12 disease, one representative of the NOVA Southeastern
13 University of Osteopathic Medicine, one representative of the
14 Florida Osteopathic Medical Association, one representative of
15 the Florida Nurses Association, one representative of the
16 Florida Dietetic Association, and one representative of a
17 health maintenance organization.
18 (c) The Speaker of the House of Representatives shall
19 appoint one representative of the American Association of
20 Critical Care Nurses, one representative of the Mayo Clinic,
21 one representative of the University of South Florida College
22 of Medicine, one representative of the Florida Society of
23 Internal Medicine, one representative of the public who is a
24 consumer advocate, one representative of the Florida Affiliate
25 of the American Heart Association, one representative of the
26 Biotechnology Industry Organization, and one representative of
27 the insurance industry.
28
29 At least one of the persons appointed by each appointing
30 entity shall be a member of an ethnic or racial minority. At
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Florida Senate - 2000 CS for SB 352
317-867-00
1 least one-half of the members appointed by each appointing
2 entity shall be women.
3 (3) The task force shall exist for 2 years and shall
4 meet as often as necessary to carry out its duties and
5 responsibilities. Within existing resources, the Department
6 of Health shall provide support services to the task force.
7 (4) The members of the task force shall serve without
8 compensation but shall be reimbursed for per diem and travel
9 expenses by the Department of Health in accordance with the
10 provisions of section 112.061, Florida Statutes, while
11 performing their duties.
12 (5) The task force may obtain information and
13 assistance from any state agency. All state agencies must
14 give the task force all relevant information and reasonable
15 assistance on matters related to heart disease.
16 (6) The task force shall collect research and
17 information on heart disease in women and shall prepare
18 recommendations for reducing the incidence and the number of
19 women's deaths related to heart disease in this state, to be
20 included in a report submitted to the Governor and the
21 Legislature by January 15, 2002. The task force shall also
22 review and report on:
23 (a) The Florida Insurance Code as it relates to
24 coverage for women's heart disease screening and treatment
25 options. The task force shall include in its report
26 recommended changes to the Florida Insurance Code, including
27 specific statutory language, if the task force determines such
28 changes are necessary to ensure that policyholders have
29 coverage for appropriate and necessary heart disease
30 prevention, screening, and treatment. If any legislative
31 changes are recommended that would mandate a health coverage
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Florida Senate - 2000 CS for SB 352
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1 or the offering of a health coverage, the task force must
2 assess the impact of the proposal as specified in s. 624.215,
3 Florida Statutes.
4 (b) Approaches that may be used by state and local
5 governments to increase public awareness of the risks of heart
6 disease in women.
7 (c) Approaches to improving coordination among
8 agencies and institutions involved in research on and
9 treatment of heart disease in women.
10 (d) National trends with regard to women and heart
11 disease, as well as how these trends compare to trends in
12 Florida.
13 (7) The task force's recommendations shall include:
14 (a) A plan for reducing the number of deaths related
15 to heart disease in this state, including:
16 1. Specific strategies for reducing the mortality rate
17 of women with heart disease and an analysis of the extent to
18 which these strategies differ from such strategies for men.
19 2. A list of health conditions that may cause or
20 contribute to heart disease in women and the best methods by
21 which to identify, control, and prevent these conditions from
22 developing into heart disease.
23 3. The best methods for ensuring an increase in the
24 percentage of women in this state who receive the tests
25 designed to determine the risk of heart disease and to
26 identify related conditions such as hypertension, diabetes,
27 and high blood levels of cholesterol.
28 4. The best methods for ensuring an increase in the
29 percentage of women in this state who seek examinations from
30 physicians.
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Florida Senate - 2000 CS for SB 352
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1 (b) A plan for increasing research and appropriate
2 funding at Florida institutions studying heart disease in
3 women.
4 (c) A program to monitor the implementation and
5 effectiveness of the task force's recommendations.
6 (8) Through funding appropriated to the Department of
7 Health, the Women and Heart Disease Task Force shall develop
8 and implement an educational program, to include the
9 distribution of summaries, informing the public of the risk of
10 heart disease specific to women and the strategies to follow
11 for prevention, early detection, and treatment of heart
12 disease.
13 (9) This section is repealed effective July 1, 2002.
14 Section 2. There is appropriated from the General
15 Revenue Fund to the Department of Health the sum of $150,000
16 for fiscal year 2000-2001 and $150,000 for fiscal year
17 2001-2002, to be used to produce or purchase and to distribute
18 summaries in English, Spanish, and Creole which inform women
19 patients about their risk of heart disease and about treatment
20 alternatives for heart disease, and to develop and implement
21 an educational program that includes the distribution of
22 information specific to women and heart disease.
23 Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2000.
24
25 STATEMENT OF SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES CONTAINED IN
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
26 SB 352
27
28 The task force membership is increased to 25 appointed members
and provision is made for per diem and travel expense
29 reimbursement.
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