Senate Bill sb2386c1

    Florida Senate - 2003                           CS for SB 2386

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




    317-2487-03

  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to health care practitioners;

  3         amending s. 456.076, F.S., relating to

  4         treatment programs for impaired practitioners;

  5         requiring the consultant to provide notice to

  6         practitioners regarding the investigative

  7         process; providing rulemaking authority for the

  8         Department of Health; providing that failure to

  9         provide notice is harmless error; providing

10         requirements for voluntary examinations;

11         providing an effective date.

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

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15         Section 1.  Subsection (2) of section 456.076, Florida

16  Statutes, is amended to read:

17         456.076  Treatment programs for impaired

18  practitioners.--

19         (2)(a)  The department shall retain one or more

20  impaired practitioner consultants.  A consultant shall be a

21  licensee under the jurisdiction of the Division of Medical

22  Quality Assurance within the department, and at least one

23  consultant must be a practitioner or recovered practitioner

24  licensed under chapter 458, chapter 459, or part I of chapter

25  464.

26         (b)  The consultant shall assist the probable cause

27  panel and department in carrying out the responsibilities of

28  this section.  This shall include working with department

29  investigators to determine whether a practitioner is, in fact,

30  impaired. If a consultant receives information that leads the

31  consultant to believe a practitioner may be impaired and the

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






    Florida Senate - 2003                           CS for SB 2386
    317-2487-03




 1  consultant contacts the practitioner to obtain more

 2  information, the consultant or the consultant's designee shall

 3  provide the practitioner, in writing or via electronic mail or

 4  facsimile transmission, information regarding the

 5  investigation process within 24 hours after the consultant's

 6  initial contact with the practitioner. The information that is

 7  to be given to the practitioner shall be set forth in a rule

 8  developed by the department. The failure of the consultant or

 9  the consultant's designee, for disciplinary cases under the

10  jurisdiction of the department, to comply with this paragraph

11  constitutes harmless error in any subsequent disciplinary

12  action.

13         (c)  If the consultant requests that a practitioner

14  participate in a voluntary examination to help the consultant

15  determine whether the practitioner is, in fact, impaired, the

16  practitioner shall be permitted to locate, within a reasonable

17  timeframe established by the consultant, an examiner who meets

18  the qualifications established by the consultant and who

19  agrees to record the examination. The examiner conducting the

20  voluntary examination shall be precluded from soliciting the

21  practitioner to enroll in a treatment program from which the

22  examiner receives a financial benefit.

23         Section 2.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2003.

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    Florida Senate - 2003                           CS for SB 2386
    317-2487-03




 1          STATEMENT OF SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES CONTAINED IN
                       COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
 2                         Senate Bill 2386

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 4  The Committee Substitute revises substantive rights for health
    care practitioners who are alleged to be impaired, to require
 5  the consultant for the impaired practitioner treatment program
    when he or she suspects that a practitioner is impaired, to
 6  give the practitioner information regarding the investigation
    process. The Department of Health is granted rulemaking
 7  authority to determine what information should be provided. If
    the consultant fails to comply with providing the required
 8  information to the practitioner, such failure constitutes
    harmless error. If the consultant asks a practitioner to
 9  participate in a voluntary examination to determine whether
    the practitioner is in fact impaired, the practitioner is
10  given the option of locating an examiner who meets the
    consultant's qualifications and who will record the
11  examination. The examiner conducting the voluntary examination
    may not solicit the practitioner to enroll in a treatment
12  program from which the examiner receives benefit.

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