HB 1141

1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act relating to osteopathic physicians; amending s.
3	459.0055, F.S.; revising requirements for licensure or
4	certification as an osteopathic physician in this state;
5	amending s. 459.021, F.S.; requiring a renewal fee for
6	registering as a resident osteopathic physician; revising
7	the degree of a specified penalty; requiring consideration
8	of intent in order to classify certain actions within the
9	practice of osteopathic medicine as misdemeanors; amending
10	ss. 395.7015 and 459.0092, F.S.; correcting cross-
11	references; repealing s. 459.006, F.S., relating to
12	licensure by examination; repealing s. 459.007, F.S.,
13	relating to licensure by endorsement; providing an
14	effective date.
15
16	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
17
18	Section 1.  Section 459.0055, Florida Statutes, is amended
19	to read:
20	459.0055  General licensure requirements.--
21	(1)  Except as otherwise provided herein, any person
22	desiring to be licensed or certified as an osteopathic physician
23	pursuant to this chapter shall:
24	(a)  Complete an application form and submit the
25	appropriate fee to the department;
26	(b)  Be at least 21 years of age;
27	(c)  Be of good moral character;
28	(d)  Have completed at least 3 years of preprofessional
29	postsecondary education;
30	(e)  Have not previously committed any act that which would
31	constitute a violation of this chapter, unless the board
32	determines that such act does not adversely affect the
33	applicant's present ability and fitness to practice osteopathic
34	medicine;
35	(f)  Not be under investigation in any jurisdiction for an
36	act that which would constitute a violation of this chapter. If,
37	upon completion of such investigation, it is determined that the
38	applicant has committed an act that which would constitute a
39	violation of this chapter, the applicant is shall be ineligible
40	for licensure unless the board determines that such act does not
41	adversely affect the applicant's present ability and fitness to
42	practice osteopathic medicine;
43	(g)  Have not had an application for a license to practice
44	osteopathic medicine denied or a license to practice osteopathic
45	medicine revoked, suspended, or otherwise acted against by the
46	licensing authority of any jurisdiction unless the board
47	determines that the grounds on which such action was taken do
48	not adversely affect the applicant's present ability and fitness
49	to practice osteopathic medicine. A licensing authority's
50	acceptance of a physician's relinquishment of license,
51	stipulation, consent order, or other settlement, offered in
52	response to or in anticipation of the filing of administrative
53	charges against the osteopathic physician, shall be considered
54	action against the osteopathic physician's license;
55	(h)  Not have received less than a satisfactory evaluation
56	from an internship, residency, or fellowship training program,
57	unless the board determines that such act does not adversely
58	affect the applicant's present ability and fitness to practice
59	osteopathic medicine. Such evaluation shall be provided by the
60	director of medical education from the medical training
61	facility.
62	(i)(h)  Have met the criteria set forth in s. 459.006, s.
63	459.007, s. 459.0075, s. 459.0077, or s. 459.021, whichever is
64	applicable;
65	(j)(i)  Submit to the department a set of fingerprints on a
66	form and under procedures specified by the department, along
67	with a payment in an amount equal to the costs incurred by the
68	Department of Health for the criminal background check of the
69	applicant;.
70	(k)  Demonstrate that he or she is a graduate of a medical
71	college recognized and approved by the American Osteopathic
72	Association;
73	(l)  Demonstrate that he or she has successfully completed
74	a resident internship of not less than 12 months in a hospital
75	approved for this purpose by the Board of Trustees of the
76	American Osteopathic Association or any other internship program
77	approved by the board upon a showing of good cause by the
78	applicant. This requirement may be waived for an applicant who
79	matriculated in a college of osteopathic medicine during or
80	before 1948; and
81	(m)  Demonstrate that he or she has obtained a passing
82	score, as established by rule of the board, on all parts of the
83	examination conducted by the National Board of Osteopathic
84	Medical Examiners or other examination approved by the board no
85	more than 5 years before making application.
86	(2)  For an applicant holding a valid active license in
87	another state, he or she shall submit evidence of the active
88	licensed practice of medicine in another jurisdiction in which
89	initial licensure must have occurred no more than 5 years after
90	the applicant obtained a passing score on the examination
91	conducted by the National Board of Medical Examiners or other
92	substantially similar examination approved by the board;
93	however, such practice of osteopathic medicine may have been
94	interrupted for a period totaling no more than 2 years or for a
95	longer period if the board determines that the interruption of
96	the osteopathic physician's practice of osteopathic medicine for
97	such longer period has not adversely affected the osteopathic
98	physician's present ability and fitness to practice osteopathic
99	medicine.
100	(3)  The department and the board shall ensure through an
101	investigative process that an applicant for licensure meets the
102	criteria in this section.
103	(4)(2)  The board may require a personal appearance of any
104	applicant for licensure or certification under the provisions of
105	this chapter. Any applicant of whom a personal appearance is
106	required must be given adequate notice of the appearance as to
107	time and place of the appearance, as well as a statement of the
108	purpose for the appearance and the reasons requiring such
109	appearance.
110	(5)(3)  If an applicant has committed an act that which
111	would constitute a violation of this chapter or has had an
112	application for a license to practice osteopathic medicine
113	revoked, suspended, or otherwise acted against by the licensing
114	authority of any jurisdiction, notwithstanding the board's
115	determination that the applicant's present ability and fitness
116	to practice osteopathic medicine have not been adversely
117	affected, the board may certify the application to the
118	department with restrictions.
119	(6)(4)  The department and the board shall assure that
120	applicants for licensure meet applicable criteria in this
121	chapter through an investigative process. When the investigative
122	process is not completed within the time set out in s. 120.60(1)
123	and the department or board has reason to believe that the
124	applicant does not meet the criteria, the secretary or the
125	secretary's designee may issue a 90-day licensure delay which
126	shall be in writing and sufficient to notify the applicant of
127	the reason for the delay. The provisions of this subsection
128	shall control over any conflicting provisions of s. 120.60(1).
129	Section 2.  Subsections (1), (2), and (5) of section
130	459.021, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
131	459.021  Registration of resident physicians, interns, and
132	fellows; list of hospital employees; penalty.--
133	(1)  Any person who holds a degree of Doctor of Osteopathic
134	Medicine from a college of osteopathic medicine recognized and
135	approved by the American Osteopathic Association who desires to
136	practice as a resident physician, assistant resident physician,
137	house physician, intern, or fellow in fellowship training which
138	leads to subspecialty board certification in this state, or any
139	person desiring to practice as a resident physician, assistant
140	resident physician, house physician, intern, or fellow in
141	fellowship training in a teaching hospital in this state as
142	defined in s. 408.07(45) or s. 395.805(2), who does not hold an
143	active license issued under this chapter shall apply to the
144	department to be registered, on an application provided by the
145	department, before within 30 days of commencing such a training
146	program and shall remit a fee not to exceed $300 as set by the
147	board.
148	(2)  Any person required to be registered under this
149	section shall renew such registration annually and shall remit a
150	renewal fee not to exceed $300 as set by the board. Such
151	registration shall be terminated upon the registrant's receipt
152	of an active license issued under this chapter. A No person may
153	not shall be registered under this section for an aggregate of
154	more than 5 years, unless additional years are approved by the
155	board.
156	(5)  It is a misdemeanor of the first second degree,
157	punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083, for any
158	hospital or teaching hospital, and also for the superintendent,
159	administrator, and other person or persons having administrative
160	authority in such hospital to willfully:
161	(a)  To Employ the services in such hospital of any person
162	listed in subsection (3), unless such person is registered with
163	the department under the law or the holder of a license to
164	practice osteopathic medicine under this chapter.
165	(b)  To Fail to furnish to the department the list and
166	information required by subsection (3).
167	Section 3.  Paragraph (b) of subsection (2) of section
168	395.7015, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
169	395.7015  Annual assessment on health care entities.--
170	(2)  There is imposed an annual assessment against certain
171	health care entities as described in this section:
172	(b)  For the purpose of this section, "health care
173	entities" include the following:
174	1.  Ambulatory surgical centers and mobile surgical
175	facilities licensed under s. 395.003. This subsection shall only
176	apply to mobile surgical facilities operating under contracts
177	entered into on or after July 1, 1998.
178	2.  Clinical laboratories licensed under s. 483.091,
179	excluding any hospital laboratory defined under s. 483.041(6),
180	any clinical laboratory operated by the state or a political
181	subdivision of the state, any clinical laboratory which
182	qualifies as an exempt organization under s. 501(c)(3) of the
183	Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, and which receives 70
184	percent or more of its gross revenues from services to charity
185	patients or Medicaid patients, and any blood, plasma, or tissue
186	bank procuring, storing, or distributing blood, plasma, or
187	tissue either for future manufacture or research or distributed
188	on a nonprofit basis, and further excluding any clinical
189	laboratory which is wholly owned and operated by 6 or fewer
190	physicians who are licensed pursuant to chapter 458 or chapter
191	459 and who practice in the same group practice, and at which no
192	clinical laboratory work is performed for patients referred by
193	any health care provider who is not a member of the same group.
194	3.  Diagnostic-imaging centers that are freestanding
195	outpatient facilities that provide specialized services for the
196	identification or determination of a disease through examination
197	and also provide sophisticated radiological services, and in
198	which services are rendered by a physician licensed by the Board
199	of Medicine under s. 458.311, s. 458.313, or s. 458.317, or by
200	an osteopathic physician licensed by the Board of Osteopathic
201	Medicine under s. 459.0055 459.006, s. 459.007, or s. 459.0075.
202	For purposes of this paragraph, "sophisticated radiological
203	services" means the following: magnetic resonance imaging;
204	nuclear medicine; angiography; arteriography; computed
205	tomography; positron emission tomography; digital vascular
206	imaging; bronchography; lymphangiography; splenography;
207	ultrasound, excluding ultrasound providers that are part of a
208	private physician's office practice or when ultrasound is
209	provided by two or more physicians licensed under chapter 458 or
210	chapter 459 who are members of the same professional association
211	and who practice in the same medical specialties; and such other
212	sophisticated radiological services, excluding mammography, as
213	adopted in rule by the board.
214	Section 4.  Subsections (1) and (2) of section 459.0092,
215	Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
216	459.0092  Fees.--The board shall set fees according to the
217	following schedule:
218	(1)  The fee for application or certification pursuant to
219	ss. 459.0055(2) 459.007, 459.0075, and 459.0077 shall not exceed
220	$500.
221	(2)  The fee for application and examination pursuant to s.
222	459.0055(1)(m) 459.006 shall not exceed $175 plus the actual per
223	applicant cost to the department for purchase of the examination
224	from the National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners or a
225	similar national organization.
226	Section 5.  Sections 459.006 and 459.007, Florida Statutes,
227	are repealed.
228	Section 6.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2007.

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