House Bill hb1509

    Florida House of Representatives - 2002                HB 1509

        By Representative Cusack






  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.

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

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13         Section 1.  Notification of adverse incident;

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

15  notification of an adverse incident which identifies a

16  patient, pharmacist, pharmacy, office, or entity by name,

17  location, or other identifier and which is provided to the

18  Department of Health, is confidential and exempt from Section

19  119.07(1), Florida Statutes, and section 24(a), Article I of

20  the State Constitution until 10 days after probable cause has

21  been found that a violation of law occurred. In addition, the

22  information is not discoverable or admissible in a civil or

23  administrative action. Such information may be used by the

24  department or the appropriate regulatory board only in a

25  disciplinary proceeding brought against the pharmacist or by

26  the department in any study of adverse incidents without

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

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

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

30  accordance with section 119.15, Florida Statutes, and shall

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    Florida House of Representatives - 2002                HB 1509

    799-118-02






  1  stand repealed October 2, 2007, unless reviewed and saved from

  2  repeal through reenactment by the Legislature.

  3         Section 2.  The Legislature finds that the exemption

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

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

  6  patient's privacy for personal, sensitive information

  7  contained in the notification of an adverse incident to be

  8  publicly available. Furthermore, the Legislature finds that

  9  failure to protect the confidentiality of any information

10  submitted to or collected by the Department of Health pursuant

11  to this act regarding an adverse incident, including the

12  identity of the patient, pharmacist, pharmacy, entity, or

13  office, and the fact that an investigation is being conducted,

14  would deter the collection and reporting of this information

15  to the department and would prevent the department and the

16  appropriate regulatory boards from effectively carrying out

17  their responsibility to enforce safe-patient care and take

18  necessary disciplinary action for practice violations. Release

19  of such personal information prior to the completion of the

20  investigation and prior to a finding of probable cause would

21  deter pharmacists licensed in this state from reporting

22  adverse incidents, leading to the deterioration of services

23  and care rendered to the detriment of the health of those

24  served. These exemptions are the same as those accorded under

25  sections 395.0198 and 395.0193, Florida Statutes, relating to

26  the reporting of adverse incidents by facilities licensed

27  under chapter 395, Florida Statutes. The Legislature has thus

28  consistently and repeatedly acknowledged the public necessity

29  of these types of exemptions.

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

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