Florida Senate - 2009                                     SB 408
       
       
       
       By Senator Fasano
       
       
       
       
       11-00477-09                                            2009408__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to clinical laboratories; amending s.
    3         483.181, F.S.; requiring clinical laboratories to
    4         accept human specimens submitted by advanced
    5         registered nurse practitioners; providing an effective
    6         date.
    7         
    8  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
    9         
   10         Section 1. Section 483.181, Florida Statutes, is amended to
   11  read:
   12         483.181 Acceptance, collection, identification, and
   13  examination of specimens.—
   14         (1) A clinical laboratory may examine human specimens at
   15  the request only of a licensed practitioner or other person
   16  authorized by law to use the findings of clinical laboratory
   17  examinations. An individual forwarding a sample of the
   18  individual's own blood to a clinical laboratory, when such blood
   19  sample has been taken pursuant to a home access HIV test kit
   20  approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration,
   21  shall be considered a person authorized to request and use a
   22  clinical laboratory test for human immunodeficiency virus, for
   23  the purposes of this part.
   24         (2) The results of a test must be reported directly to the
   25  licensed practitioner or other authorized person who requested
   26  it. The report must include the name and address of the clinical
   27  laboratory in which the test was actually performed, unless the
   28  test was performed in a hospital laboratory and the report
   29  becomes an integral part of the hospital record.
   30         (3) The results of clinical laboratory tests performed by a
   31  clinical laboratory complying with this part and performed
   32  before a patient's admission to a facility licensed under
   33  chapter 395 must be accepted in lieu of clinical laboratory
   34  tests required upon a patient's admission to the facility and in
   35  lieu of tests that may be ordered for patients of the facility,
   36  except that the facility may not be required to accept
   37  transfusion compatibility test results. The agency shall
   38  establish, by rule, standards for accepting laboratory test
   39  results to specify acceptable timeframes for such laboratory
   40  tests to assure that the timeframes do not adversely affect the
   41  accuracy of the test.
   42         (4) All specimens accepted by a clinical laboratory must be
   43  tested on the premises, except that specimens for infrequently
   44  performed tests may be forwarded for examination to another
   45  clinical laboratory approved under this part. This subsection
   46  does not prohibit referring specimens to a clinical laboratory
   47  excepted under s. 483.031. However, the clinical laboratory
   48  director of the referring clinical laboratory must assume
   49  complete responsibility.
   50         (5) A clinical laboratory licensed under this part must
   51  accept a human specimen submitted for examination by a
   52  practitioner licensed under chapter 458, chapter 459, chapter
   53  460, chapter 461, chapter 462, s. 464.012, or chapter 466, if
   54  the specimen and test are the type performed by the clinical
   55  laboratory. A clinical laboratory may only refuse a specimen
   56  based upon a history of nonpayment for services by the
   57  practitioner. A clinical laboratory shall not charge different
   58  prices for tests based upon the chapter under which a
   59  practitioner submitting a specimen for testing is licensed.
   60         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2009.