Senate Bill sb2462

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    Florida Senate - 2002                                  SB 2462

    By Senator Cowin





    11-1547-02

  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to health care; creating s.

  3         405.04, F.S.; providing for a medical academic

  4         research privilege; amending s. 456.0375, F.S.;

  5         redefining the term "clinic" for the purpose of

  6         registration with the Department of Health;

  7         amending s. 456.072, F.S.; revising grounds for

  8         discipline of health care practitioners;

  9         amending s. 766.101, F.S.; redefining the term

10         "medical review committee"; providing an

11         effective date.

12

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

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15         Section 1.  Section 405.04, Florida Statutes, is

16  created to read:

17         405.04  Academic research privilege.--All data,

18  documents, memoranda, including extracts, incident reports,

19  peer-review records and other information that is not

20  otherwise discoverable and that is provided by or to any

21  person or entity, including health care practitioners,

22  hospitals, nursing homes, and academic institutions, in

23  support of any research or study conducted for the purpose of

24  advancing medical research or medical education in the

25  interest of improving patient care or reducing morbidity or

26  mortality, that is otherwise confidential, will remain

27  confidential and not become discoverable simply because of its

28  use for research purposes.

29         Section 2.  Subsection (1) of section 456.0375, Florida

30  Statutes, is amended to read:

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    Florida Senate - 2002                                  SB 2462
    11-1547-02




  1         456.0375  Registration of certain clinics;

  2  requirements; discipline; exemptions.--

  3         (1)(a)  As used in this section, the term "clinic"

  4  means a business operating in a single structure or facility,

  5  or in a group of adjacent structures or facilities operating

  6  under the same business name or management, at which health

  7  care services are provided to individuals and which tender

  8  charges for reimbursement for such services.

  9         (b)  For purposes of this section, the term "clinic"

10  does not include and the registration requirements herein do

11  not apply to:

12         1.  Entities licensed or registered by the state

13  pursuant to chapter 390, chapter 394, chapter 395, chapter

14  397, chapter 400, chapter 463, chapter 465, chapter 466,

15  chapter 478, chapter 480, or chapter 484.

16         2.  Entities exempt from federal taxation under 26

17  U.S.C. s. 501(c)(3), as well as all public universities.

18         3.  Sole proprietorships, group practices,

19  partnerships, or corporations that provide health care

20  services by licensed health care practitioners pursuant to

21  chapters 457, 458, 459, 460, 461, 462, 463, 466, 467, 484,

22  486, 490, 491, or part I, part III, part X, part XIII, or part

23  XIV of chapter 468, or s. 464.012, which are wholly owned by

24  licensed health care practitioners or the licensed health care

25  practitioner and the spouse, parent, or child of a licensed

26  health care practitioner, so long as one of the owners who is

27  a licensed health care practitioner is supervising the

28  services performed therein and is legally responsible for the

29  entity's compliance with all federal and state laws. However,

30  no health care practitioner may supervise services beyond the

31  scope of the practitioner's license.

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    Florida Senate - 2002                                  SB 2462
    11-1547-02




  1         Section 3.  Paragraphs (aa) and (bb) of subsection (1)

  2  of section 456.072, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:

  3         456.072  Grounds for discipline; penalties;

  4  enforcement.--

  5         (1)  The following acts shall constitute grounds for

  6  which the disciplinary actions specified in subsection (2) may

  7  be taken:

  8         (aa)  Performing any of the following procedures, if

  9  reportable under s. 395.0197 or s. 458.351:

10         1.  A surgical procedure on the wrong patient;

11         2.  A wrong-site surgical procedure;

12         3.  A wrong surgical procedure; or

13         4.  A surgical procedure that is medically unnecessary,

14  or otherwise unrelated to the patient's diagnosis or medical

15  condition. or attempting to perform health care services on

16  the wrong patient, a wrong-site procedure, a wrong procedure,

17  or an unauthorized procedure or a procedure that is medically

18  unnecessary or otherwise unrelated to the patient's diagnosis

19  or medical condition. For the purposes of this paragraph,

20  performing or attempting to perform health care services

21  includes the preparation of the patient.

22         (bb)  Leaving a foreign body in a patient during a

23  surgical procedure when leaving the foreign body is not

24  medically indicated, such as a sponge, clamp, forceps,

25  surgical needle, or other paraphernalia commonly used in

26  surgical, examination, or other diagnostic procedures. For the

27  purposes of this paragraph, it shall be legally presumed that

28  retention of a foreign body is not in the best interest of the

29  patient and is not within the standard of care of the

30  profession, regardless of the intent of the professional.

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    Florida Senate - 2002                                  SB 2462
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  1         Section 4.  Paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section

  2  766.101, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:

  3         766.101  Medical review committee, immunity from

  4  liability.--

  5         (1)  As used in this section:

  6         (a)  The term "medical review committee" or "committee"

  7  means:

  8         1.a.  A committee of a hospital or ambulatory surgical

  9  center licensed under chapter 395 or a health maintenance

10  organization certificated under part I of chapter 641,

11         b.  A committee of a physician-hospital organization, a

12  provider-sponsored organization, or an integrated delivery

13  system,

14         c.  A committee of a state or local professional

15  society of health care providers,

16         d.  A committee of a medical staff of a licensed

17  hospital or nursing home, provided the medical staff operates

18  pursuant to written bylaws that have been approved by the

19  governing board of the hospital or nursing home,

20         e.  A committee of the Department of Corrections or the

21  Correctional Medical Authority as created under s. 945.602, or

22  employees, agents, or consultants of either the department or

23  the authority or both,

24         f.  A committee of a professional service corporation

25  formed under chapter 621 or a corporation organized under

26  chapter 607 or chapter 617, which is formed and operated for

27  the practice of medicine as defined in s. 458.305(3), and

28  which has at least 25 health care providers who routinely

29  provide health care services directly to patients,

30         g.  A committee of a mental health treatment facility

31  licensed under chapter 394 or a community mental health center

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    Florida Senate - 2002                                  SB 2462
    11-1547-02




  1  as defined in s. 394.907, provided the quality assurance

  2  program operates pursuant to the guidelines which have been

  3  approved by the governing board of the agency,

  4         h.  A committee of a substance abuse treatment and

  5  education prevention program licensed under chapter 397

  6  provided the quality assurance program operates pursuant to

  7  the guidelines which have been approved by the governing board

  8  of the agency,

  9         i.  A peer review or utilization review committee

10  organized under chapter 440,

11         j.  A committee of the Department of Health, a county

12  health department, healthy start coalition, or certified rural

13  health network, when reviewing quality of care, or employees

14  of these entities when reviewing mortality records, or

15         k.  A continuous quality improvement committee of a

16  pharmacy licensed pursuant to chapter 465,

17         l.  A committee established by a university board of

18  trustees, or

19         m.  A committee composed of faculty, residents,

20  students, or administrators of an accredited college of

21  medicine, nursing, or other health care discipline,

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23  which committee is formed to evaluate and improve the quality

24  of health care rendered by providers of health service or to

25  determine that health services rendered were professionally

26  indicated or were performed in compliance with the applicable

27  standard of care or that the cost of health care rendered was

28  considered reasonable by the providers of professional health

29  services in the area; or

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    Florida Senate - 2002                                  SB 2462
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  1         2.  A committee of an insurer, self-insurer, or joint

  2  underwriting association of medical malpractice insurance, or

  3  other persons conducting review under s. 766.106.

  4         Section 5.  This act shall take effect upon becoming a

  5  law.

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  8                          SENATE SUMMARY

  9    Creates a privilege from discovery for specified
      information used in medical research. Redefines the term
10    "clinic" for purposes of registration with the Department
      of Health. Revises the grounds for discipline of health
11    care professionals. Adds two new types of committees to
      the definition of the term "medical review committee."
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