Senate Bill sb1494c1

    Florida Senate - 2002                           CS for SB 1494

    By the Committee on Health, Aging and Long-Term Care; and
    Senator Campbell




    317-1933-02

  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to public records; exempting

  3         from public-records requirements certain

  4         adverse-incident reports of the Department of

  5         Health which pertain to patients, pharmacies,

  6         or related matters; providing guidelines for

  7         the use of such information; providing a

  8         finding of public necessity; providing an

  9         effective date.

10

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

12

13         Section 1.  Notification of adverse incident;

14  public-records exemptions.--Information contained in the

15  notification of a pharmaceutical adverse incident which

16  identifies a patient, pharmacist, pharmacy, office, or entity

17  by name, location, or other identifier and which is provided

18  to the Department of Health, is confidential and exempt from

19  section 119.07(1), Florida Statutes, and Section 24(a),

20  Article I of the State Constitution until 10 days after

21  probable cause has been found that a violation of law

22  occurred. Such information may be used by the department or

23  the appropriate regulatory board only in a disciplinary

24  proceeding brought against the pharmacist or by the department

25  in any study of pharmaceutical adverse incidents without

26  identifying the patient, pharmacist, pharmacy, office, or

27  entity by name, location, or other identifier. This section is

28  subject to the Open Government Sunset Review Act of 1995 in

29  accordance with section 119.15, Florida Statutes, and shall

30  stand repealed October 2, 2007, unless reviewed and saved from

31  repeal through reenactment by the Legislature.

                                  1

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






    Florida Senate - 2002                           CS for SB 1494
    317-1933-02




  1         Section 2.  The Legislature finds that the exemption

  2  from public-records requirements provided in this act is a

  3  public necessity, and that it would be an invasion of a

  4  patient's privacy for personal, sensitive information

  5  contained in the notification of a pharmaceutical adverse

  6  incident to be publicly available. Furthermore, the

  7  Legislature finds that failure to protect the confidentiality

  8  of any information submitted to or collected by the Department

  9  of Health pursuant to this act regarding a pharmaceutical

10  adverse incident, including the identity of the patient,

11  pharmacist, pharmacy, entity, or office, and the fact that an

12  investigation is being conducted, would deter the collection

13  and reporting of this information to the department and would

14  prevent the department and the appropriate regulatory boards

15  from effectively carrying out their responsibility to enforce

16  safe-patient care and take necessary disciplinary action for

17  practice violations. Release of such personal information

18  prior to the completion of the investigation and prior to a

19  finding of probable cause would deter pharmacists and other

20  health care practitioners licensed in this state from

21  reporting pharmaceutical adverse incidents, leading to the

22  deterioration of services and care rendered to the detriment

23  of the health of those served. These exemptions are the same

24  as those accorded under sections 395.0198 and 395.0193,

25  Florida Statutes, relating to the reporting of adverse

26  incidents by facilities licensed under chapter 395, Florida

27  Statutes. The Legislature has thus consistently and repeatedly

28  acknowledged the public necessity of these types of

29  exemptions.

30         Section 3.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2002.

31

                                  2

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






    Florida Senate - 2002                           CS for SB 1494
    317-1933-02




  1          STATEMENT OF SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES CONTAINED IN
                       COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
  2                         Senate Bill 1494

  3

  4  The CS for SB 1494 deletes provisions that make the
    information contained in the notification of a pharmaceutical
  5  adverse incident immune from discovery and inadmissible in any
    civil or administrative action.
  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

                                  3

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