| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to clinical laboratories; amending s. |
| 3 | 440.102, F.S.; deleting the requirement that initial drug |
| 4 | tests conducted pursuant to a drug-free workplace program |
| 5 | be conducted by a licensed or certified laboratory; |
| 6 | amending s. 483.181, F.S.; requiring clinical laboratories |
| 7 | to accept human specimens submitted by advanced registered |
| 8 | nurse practitioners; providing an effective date. |
| 9 |
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| 10 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 11 |
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| 12 | Section 1. Paragraph (d) of subsection (5) of section |
| 13 | 440.102, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: |
| 14 | 440.102 Drug-free workplace program requirements.--The |
| 15 | following provisions apply to a drug-free workplace program |
| 16 | implemented pursuant to law or to rules adopted by the Agency |
| 17 | for Health Care Administration: |
| 18 | (5) PROCEDURES AND EMPLOYEE PROTECTION.--All specimen |
| 19 | collection and testing for drugs under this section shall be |
| 20 | performed in accordance with the following procedures: |
| 21 | (d) Each initial drug test and confirmation test conducted |
| 22 | under this section, not including the taking or collecting of a |
| 23 | specimen to be tested, shall be conducted by a licensed or |
| 24 | certified laboratory as described in subsection (9). |
| 25 | Section 2. Section 483.181, Florida Statutes, is amended |
| 26 | to read: |
| 27 | 483.181 Acceptance, collection, identification, and |
| 28 | examination of specimens.-- |
| 29 | (1) A clinical laboratory may examine human specimens at |
| 30 | the request only of a licensed practitioner or other person |
| 31 | authorized by law to use the findings of clinical laboratory |
| 32 | examinations. An individual forwarding a sample of the |
| 33 | individual's own blood to a clinical laboratory, when such blood |
| 34 | sample has been taken pursuant to a home access HIV test kit |
| 35 | approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, |
| 36 | shall be considered a person authorized to request and use a |
| 37 | clinical laboratory test for human immunodeficiency virus, for |
| 38 | the purposes of this part. |
| 39 | (2) The results of a test must be reported directly to the |
| 40 | licensed practitioner or other authorized person who requested |
| 41 | it. The report must include the name and address of the clinical |
| 42 | laboratory in which the test was actually performed, unless the |
| 43 | test was performed in a hospital laboratory and the report |
| 44 | becomes an integral part of the hospital record. |
| 45 | (3) The results of clinical laboratory tests performed by |
| 46 | a clinical laboratory complying with this part and performed |
| 47 | before a patient's admission to a facility licensed under |
| 48 | chapter 395 must be accepted in lieu of clinical laboratory |
| 49 | tests required upon a patient's admission to the facility and in |
| 50 | lieu of tests that may be ordered for patients of the facility, |
| 51 | except that the facility may not be required to accept |
| 52 | transfusion compatibility test results. The agency shall |
| 53 | establish, by rule, standards for accepting laboratory test |
| 54 | results to specify acceptable timeframes for such laboratory |
| 55 | tests to assure that the timeframes do not adversely affect the |
| 56 | accuracy of the test. |
| 57 | (4) All specimens accepted by a clinical laboratory must |
| 58 | be tested on the premises, except that specimens for |
| 59 | infrequently performed tests may be forwarded for examination to |
| 60 | another clinical laboratory approved under this part. This |
| 61 | subsection does not prohibit referring specimens to a clinical |
| 62 | laboratory excepted under s. 483.031. However, the clinical |
| 63 | laboratory director of the referring clinical laboratory must |
| 64 | assume complete responsibility. |
| 65 | (5) A clinical laboratory licensed under this part must |
| 66 | accept a human specimen submitted for examination by a |
| 67 | practitioner licensed under chapter 458, chapter 459, chapter |
| 68 | 460, chapter 461, chapter 462, s. 464.012, or chapter 466, if |
| 69 | the specimen and test are the type performed by the clinical |
| 70 | laboratory. A clinical laboratory may only refuse a specimen |
| 71 | based upon a history of nonpayment for services by the |
| 72 | practitioner. A clinical laboratory shall not charge different |
| 73 | prices for tests based upon the chapter under which a |
| 74 | practitioner submitting a specimen for testing is licensed. |
| 75 | Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2009. |