HB 841

1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act relating to elders and disabled adults;
3	establishing a pilot program in a specified county to
4	provide services to persons with Alzheimer's disease or
5	other dementia-related disorders who are wandering and
6	disoriented; providing purposes of the pilot program;
7	requiring the development of interagency memoranda of
8	understanding; providing sovereign immunity for certain
9	facilities providing specified services; requiring an
10	evaluation and report to the Legislature; providing for
11	expiration; providing an effective date.
12
13	WHEREAS, Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia
14	are characterized by the loss of the ability to reason, think,
15	and remember, and
16	WHEREAS, the National Institute on Aging has determined
17	that as many as 5 million Americans may be afflicted with
18	Alzheimer's disease, and
19	WHEREAS, the Alzheimer's Association estimates that more
20	than 60 percent of Americans who suffer from this affliction
21	will wander from the care of their loved ones in a confused and
22	distracted state, unable to find their way home, and
23	WHEREAS, the current method for addressing instances in
24	which persons suffering from Alzheimer's disease or other
25	dementia-related disorders have wandered from the care of their
26	loved ones or from a long-term care or assisted living facility
27	is insufficient to safeguard such persons from overly
28	traumatizing transportation and evaluation procedures, NOW,
29	THEREFORE,
30
31	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
32
33	Section 1.  Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia-related
34	Disorder Pilot Program.--
35	(1)  Beginning on July 1, 2010, and continuing for a period
36	of no longer than 3 years, the Agency for Health Care
37	Administration in consultation with the Department of Law
38	Enforcement may establish a pilot program in Palm Beach County
39	to provide services to persons with Alzheimer's disease or other
40	dementia-related disorders who have been found wandering and
41	disoriented. The program shall permit long-term care facilities
42	in Palm Beach County that choose to participate in the program
43	to temporarily accept a person into the facility who has
44	recently wandered from a long-term care facility, a community-
45	based setting, or a personal residence and been found by a law
46	enforcement officer.
47	(2)  The purposes of the program include, but are not
48	limited to:
49	(a)  Providing a more relaxed and comfortable environment
50	for the evaluation and further identification of persons with
51	Alzheimer's disease or other dementia-related disorders who have
52	been found wandering and disoriented.
53	(b)  Encouraging the continued training and instruction of
54	certified law enforcement officers, pursuant to s. 943.17296,
55	Florida Statutes, in the identification of and appropriate
56	responses to persons with Alzheimer's disease or other dementia-
57	related disorders.
58	(c)  Ensuring that staff of participating long-term care
59	facilities receive training in the care and treatment of persons
60	with Alzheimer's disease or other dementia-related disorders, in
61	addition to the training required under ss. 400.1755, 429.178,
62	429.83, and 429.917, Florida Statutes.
63	(d)  Preventing, to the greatest extent possible, the
64	unnecessary involuntary detention, evaluation, treatment, and
65	commitment provided under part I of chapter 394, Florida
66	Statutes, for persons with Alzheimer's disease or other
67	dementia-related disorders who have been found wandering and
68	disoriented.
69	(3)  The Agency for Health Care Administration shall
70	develop memoranda of understanding with the Department of
71	Children and Family Services, the Department of Elderly Affairs,
72	and the Department of Law Enforcement to implement the pilot
73	program.
74	(4)  The provisions of s. 768.28, Florida Statutes,
75	relating to sovereign immunity, shall be applicable to long-term
76	care facilities that elect to participate in the pilot program.
77	Participating facilities shall be deemed to be acting as
78	instrumentalities of the state while in the exercise of their
79	duties and responsibilities under this section.
80	(5)  By January 1, 2011, the Agency for Health Care
81	Administration shall submit a report to the President of the
82	Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives which
83	includes a general evaluation of the pilot program, assessments
84	from local authorities and long-term care facilities regarding
85	the perceived successes and failures of the pilot program, and
86	recommendations for further legislation, including a
87	recommendation regarding extending the pilot program to other
88	regions of the state.
89	(6)  This section expires June 30, 2013.
90	Section 2.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2009.

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