CS/HB 791

1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act relating to the DeSoto County Hospital District;
3	amending chapter 2004-450, Laws of Florida; providing the
4	nature of the district; providing for sovereign immunity;
5	providing additional powers of the district; revising
6	provisions relating to the destruction of records;
7	providing for treatment of prisoners or county officers
8	admitted to any hospital operated or leased by the
9	district; providing for personnel; providing contract
10	requirements for lease of facilities to not-for-profit
11	corporations; providing for self-insurance plans; deleting
12	certain requirements for insurance policy contracts;
13	providing for liens for collection of charges; providing
14	applicability; providing an effective date.
15
16	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
17
18	Section 1.  Present sections 17 and 18 of section 3 of
19	chapter 2004-450, Laws of Florida, are renumbered as sections 18
20	and 19, respectively, present sections 1, 3, 4, 14, 15, and 16
21	of that section are amended, and new sections 16 and 20 are
22	added to that section, to read:
23	Section 1.  Creation; boundaries; nature of district.--
24	(1)  An independent special district is created and
25	incorporated to be known as the "DeSoto County Hospital
26	District," which district shall embrace and include all of
27	DeSoto County.
28	(2)  The district is an independent special district of the
29	state and DeSoto County pursuant to this act and chapter 189,
30	Florida Statutes, and a public body both corporate and politic.
31	The district shall not be an agency for the purposes of the
32	Administrative Procedure Act, chapter 120, Florida Statutes. The
33	district shall enjoy all the protections of sovereign immunity
34	and section 768.28, Florida Statutes.
35	Section 3.  Powers.--
36	(1)  The District Board of DeSoto County Hospital District
37	shall have all the powers of a body corporate, including the
38	power to sue and be sued under the name of the DeSoto County
39	Hospital District; to contract and be contracted with; to adopt
40	and use a common seal and to alter same at pleasure; to acquire,
41	purchase, hold, lease, mortgage, and convey such real and
42	personal property as the board may deem proper or expedient to
43	carry out the purposes of this act; to appoint and employ a
44	superintendent and such other agents and employees as the board
45	may deem advisable and to fix a compensation of all employees
46	and to remove any appointees or employees; to insure the
47	improvements, fixtures, and equipment against loss by fire,
48	windstorm, or other coverage in such amounts as may be
49	determined reasonable and proper; and to borrow money and issue
50	evidence of indebtedness of the district therefor to carry out
51	the provisions of this act in the manner hereinafter provided.
52	(2)  The DeSoto County Hospital District is authorized and
53	empowered to finance by any commercially reasonable means,
54	including the issuance of industrial development or revenue
55	bonds, the construction of additional medical facilities, the
56	purchase of medical-care-related equipment, and such other
57	classes of property in furtherance of the district's purposes.
58	(3)  The district serves a proper public purpose; performs
59	an essential governmental function of the state and county;
60	shall have all power and authority necessary to carry out the
61	purposes of this act, including, without limitation, all powers
62	authorized by law to hospital districts, facilities, and
63	authorities; and shall have and operate under the powers of a
64	body corporate and politic, including such general and special
65	powers and duties as are provided herein and as may be otherwise
66	provided and amended from time to time by the Legislature.
67	Section 4.  Officers; meetings; records.--There shall be a
68	chair of the district board elected annually. The district board
69	may elect one of its members to serve as secretary and treasurer
70	or it may appoint some person not a member of the district board
71	to serve in that capacity. In the absence of the chair or his or
72	her inability to act at any regular meeting, warrants may be
73	signed by any other member of the district board selected by the
74	members present as chair pro tem. Three members shall constitute
75	a quorum, and a vote of at least two members shall be necessary
76	to the transaction of any business of the district. A regular
77	meeting of the board shall be held annually. Additional meetings
78	may be called by a majority of the board upon advance notice as
79	provided by section 189.417, Florida Statutes. The members shall
80	cause true and accurate minutes and records to be kept of all
81	business transacted by them and shall keep full, true, and
82	complete books of account and minutes, which minutes, records,
83	and books of account shall at all reasonable times be open and
84	subject to inspection; and any person desiring to do so may make
85	or procure copies of the minutes, records, or books of account,
86	or such portions thereof as he or she may desire; however, such
87	records shall not include personnel and medical records of a
88	private and confidential nature. The district board shall be
89	empowered to destroy any of its records, together with any of
90	the records of the hospitals owned and operated by the district
91	board, if the records are photographed, or microfilmed, or
92	otherwise maintained in a reproducible format prior to their
93	destruction.
94	Section 14.  Admission to facilities.--The hospital or
95	related medical facilities established under this act shall be
96	for the use and benefit of the residents of this district,
97	subject to the rules, regulations, and charges prescribed by the
98	district board which are in effect as of the date of admission
99	of a patient or patients to such a hospital or related medical
100	facility. Medical care and treatment for the indigent in the
101	district shall be and remain the primary responsibility of
102	DeSoto County, any authorization herein contained for treatment
103	of indigents to the contrary notwithstanding, the district board
104	of this district being granted the authority to refuse such
105	admission of indigents when found by such district board not to
106	be financially practicable with due regard to the general
107	financial condition of the district. The district board is
108	empowered to enter into and fulfill agreements with the Board of
109	County Commissioners of DeSoto County for the admission and
110	treatment of indigents upon such terms, costs, and charges as
111	may be mutually agreed upon. The district board shall be
112	authorized to accept moneys from any welfare funds provided for
113	DeSoto County or moneys available to the indigent patients from
114	a federal, state, or county agency or moneys available to DeSoto
115	County from said governmental agencies for welfare and hospital
116	purposes, for the payment of costs of treatment and care of
117	indigent residents of the district as shall be admitted. The
118	district board may collect from patients financially able such
119	charges as the district board may from time to time establish.
120	The district board may extend the privileges and use of the
121	hospital or clinic to nonresidents of the district who shall pay
122	the rates established by the district board upon such terms and
123	conditions as the district board may provide. However, residents
124	of the district wherein the hospital or clinic is located shall
125	have first claim to admission. The district board shall further
126	have the power to furnish and extend the benefits of the
127	hospital and clinic services and treatment to the homes of
128	indigent residents of the district. Each municipal corporation
129	situated within the district and the law enforcement agencies of
130	DeSoto County shall be liable to the district board for the
131	occupancy, care, medicine, and treatment of prisoners in the
132	custody of the municipal corporation or for county officers who
133	are admitted to any hospital operated or leased by the district
134	board.
135	Section 15.  Regulation of physicians, staff members, and
136	practitioners.--Realizing that factors other than academic
137	records professional must enter into the qualifications of those
138	who practice medicine and surgery, the district board is
139	authorized to set up rules, regulations, and bylaws for the
140	operation of the hospital and hospital staff. The district board
141	is authorized to grant or revoke licenses and privileges of
142	staff members for practice in and about any hospital or other
143	medical care facility maintained under this act, so that the
144	welfare and health of patients and the best interests of the
145	facility may at all times be best served. Privileges of staff
146	membership and appointments thereto may be authorized or granted
147	by the district board. The district board is further authorized
148	to set up rules and regulations for the control of all
149	professional and nonprofessional employees of any hospital or
150	other medical care facility, which terms shall include nurses on
151	general duty or on private duty attending patients, and all
152	parties in the facility as employees in any manner in attendance
153	of patients. The district is further authorized to recruit,
154	retain, discharge, and compensate personnel, including
155	physicians, to provide health-related services at facilities
156	operated or leased by the district. The district is also
157	authorized to employ or enter into independent contractor
158	arrangements, at the discretion of the board, with professionals
159	and others and fix their compensation.
160	Section 16.  Lease of facilities to not-for-profit
161	corporation.--
162	(1)  The district board is permitted to acquire any health-
163	related properties, including the DeSoto Memorial Hospital, and
164	contract with a not-for-profit corporation formed by the
165	district or the board for the operation, management, and
166	maintenance of the district's facilities of whatsoever kind and
167	nature through one or more agreements, with the term thereof and
168	conditions and covenants contained therein made at the
169	discretion of the board, except that the contract must provide:
170	(a)  That the corporation's articles of incorporation and
171	bylaws are subject to the approval of the board.
172	(b)  That the corporation shall become qualified under
173	section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as
174	amended, or any other subsection of section 501(c) as approved
175	by the board, prior to the effective date of the contract.
176	(c)  For the prompt return of the operation of the district
177	facilities from the corporation to the district in the event of
178	termination of the agreement or dissolution of the corporation.
179	(d)  That the district is not responsible for the debts or
180	other obligations of the corporation.
181	(2)  An agreement with a not-for-profit corporation may
182	provide, but need not be limited to providing, that the members
183	of the board may be members of the board of directors of the
184	corporation.
185	Section 17.16.  Insurance; board liability.--The district
186	board may secure and keep in force in amounts it may determine,
187	in companies duly authorized to do business in Florida,
188	liability insurance covering vehicles, premises, and
189	malpractice. In combination with such insurance or in the
190	alternative, the district board may create a self-insurance plan
191	that provides the same or similar coverages. In consideration of
192	the premium at which each policy shall be written, it shall be a
193	part of the policy contract between the district board and the
194	insurer that the company shall not be entitled to the benefit of
195	the defense of governmental immunity for the insured by reason
196	of exercising a governmental function on any suit brought
197	against the insured.
198	Section 20.  Liens for collection of charges.--
199	(1)  The district, as well as any not-for-profit
200	corporation contracting with the district for the operation,
201	management, and maintenance of the district's facilities, shall
202	be entitled to a lien for all charges incurred for hospital
203	care, treatment, and maintenance of ill or injured persons upon
204	any and all causes of action, suits, claims, counterclaims, and
205	demands accruing to such persons or the legal representatives of
206	such persons, and upon all judgments, settlements, and
207	settlement agreements rendered or entered into by virtue
208	thereof, on account of illness or injuries giving rise to such
209	causes of action, suits, claims, counterclaims, demands,
210	judgments, settlements, or settlement agreements and that
211	necessitate or shall have necessitated such hospital care,
212	treatment, and maintenance.
213	(2)  In order to perfect such a lien, the executive office
214	or agent of the hospital, before any person shall have been
215	discharged from said hospital or within 45 days after such
216	discharge, shall file in the office of the Clerk of the Circuit
217	Court of DeSoto County a verified claim in writing setting forth
218	the name and address of the patient as it appears on the records
219	of the hospital; the name and location of the hospital; the name
220	and address of the executive office or agent of the hospital;
221	the dates of the patient's admission to and discharge from the
222	hospital; the amount claimed to be due for such hospital care,
223	treatment, and maintenance; and, to the best knowledge of the
224	person signing the claim, the names and addresses of all
225	persons, firms, or corporations that may be claimed by the ill
226	or injured person, or by the legal representative of such
227	person, to be liable for such illness or injuries. At the same
228	time that the claim is filed with the clerk of the circuit
229	court, a copy thereof shall be sent by regular mail to the ill
230	or injured person, to his or her attorney, if known, and to all
231	persons, firms, or corporations named in the claim. The filing
232	and mailing of the claim in accordance with this section shall
233	be notice thereof to all persons, firms, or corporations that
234	may be liable for such illness or injuries regardless of whether
235	they are named in the claim or lien and regardless of whether
236	they have received a copy of the claim.
237	(3)  The Clerk of the Circuit Court of DeSoto County shall
238	endorse on the claim the date and hour of filing and shall
239	record the claim in the official records of DeSoto County. The
240	clerk shall be paid by the claimant, as the clerk's fee for the
241	filing and recording of each claim, the same fee as provided for
242	filing and recording other instruments under the recording laws.
243	(4)  No release or satisfaction of any cause of action,
244	suit, claim, counterclaim, demand, judgment, settlement, or
245	settlement agreement shall be valid or effectual as against such
246	lien unless the lienholder joins therein or executes a release
247	of the lien. Any acceptance of a release or satisfaction of any
248	such cause of action, suit, claim, counterclaim, demand, or
249	judgment and any settlement of any of the foregoing in the
250	absence of a release of satisfaction of the lien shall prima
251	facie constitute an impairment of the lien, and the lienholder
252	shall be entitled to an action at law for damages on account of
253	such impairment and in such action shall recover from the one
254	accepting such release or satisfaction or making such settlement
255	the outstanding charges for such hospital care, treatment, and
256	maintenance. Satisfaction of any judgment rendered in favor of
257	the lienholder in any such action shall operate as a
258	satisfaction of the lien. Any action by the lienholder may be
259	brought and maintained in any court of competent jurisdiction in
260	or for DeSoto County. If the lienholder prevails in such action,
261	the lienholder shall be entitled to recover from the defendant,
262	in addition to costs otherwise allowed by law, reasonable
263	attorney's fees, suit money, costs, and expenses incident to the
264	matter.
265	(5)  The provisions of this act shall not be applicable to
266	accidents or injuries within the purview of the workers'
267	compensation laws of this state.
268	Section 2.  This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.

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