Florida Senate - 2014                                     SB 380
       
       
        
       By Senator Bean
       
       
       
       
       
       4-00298B-14                                            2014380__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to hospitals; amending ss. 383.336 and
    3         395.1051, F.S.; requiring certain hospitals to notify
    4         obstetrical physicians before the hospitals close
    5         their obstetrical departments or cease to provide
    6         obstetrical services; requiring the Department of
    7         Health to adopt rules; providing an effective date.
    8          
    9  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   10  
   11         Section 1. Section 383.336, Florida Statutes, is amended to
   12  read:
   13         383.336 Provider hospitals; notice to obstetrical
   14  physicians; practice parameters; peer review board.—
   15         (1) As used in this section, the term “provider hospital”
   16  means a hospital in which there annually occur 30 or more births
   17  that are paid for partly or fully by state funds or federal
   18  funds administered by the state.
   19         (2) A provider hospital shall notify each obstetrical
   20  physician who has clinical privileges at that hospital at least
   21  120 days before the hospital closes its obstetrical department
   22  or ceases to provide obstetrical services. The Department of
   23  Health shall adopt rules to administer this subsection,
   24  including rules governing those situations in which it is
   25  impossible for the provider hospital to provide 120 days’ notice
   26  due to circumstances beyond the control of the hospital or the
   27  obstetrical physician.
   28         (3)(2) The Office of the State Surgeon General, in
   29  consultation with the Board of Medicine and the Florida
   30  Obstetric and Gynecologic Society, shall is directed to
   31  establish practice parameters to be followed by physicians in
   32  provider hospitals in performance of a caesarean section
   33  delivery when the delivery will be paid partly or fully by state
   34  funds or federal funds administered by the state. These
   35  parameters must include a reduction in shall be directed to
   36  reduce the number of unnecessary caesarean section deliveries
   37  and must. These practice parameters shall address, at a minimum,
   38  the following: feasibility of attempting a vaginal delivery for
   39  each patient with a prior caesarean section; dystocia, including
   40  arrested dilation and prolonged deceleration phase; fetal
   41  distress; and fetal malposition. The Department of Health shall
   42  adopt rules to implement the provisions of this subsection.
   43         (4)(3) Each provider hospital shall establish a peer review
   44  board consisting of obstetrical obstetric physicians and other
   45  persons having credentials within that hospital to perform
   46  deliveries by caesarean section. This board shall review, at
   47  least monthly, every caesarean section performed since the
   48  previous review and paid for by state funds or federal funds
   49  administered by the state. The board shall conduct its review
   50  pursuant to the parameters specified in the rule adopted by the
   51  Department of Health pursuant to this section, paying act and
   52  shall pay particular attention to electronic fetal monitoring
   53  records, umbilical cord gas results, and Apgar scores in
   54  determining if the caesarean section delivery was appropriate.
   55  The results of this periodic review must be shared with the
   56  attending physician. These reviews and the resultant reports
   57  must be considered a part of the hospital’s quality assurance
   58  monitoring and peer review process established pursuant to s.
   59  395.0193.
   60         Section 2. Section 395.1051, Florida Statutes, is amended
   61  to read:
   62         395.1051 Duty to notify patients and physicians.—
   63         (1) An appropriately trained person designated by each
   64  licensed facility shall inform each patient, or an individual
   65  identified pursuant to s. 765.401(1), in person about adverse
   66  incidents that result in serious harm to the patient.
   67  Notification of outcomes of care which that result in harm to
   68  the patient under this section does shall not constitute an
   69  acknowledgment or admission of liability and may not, nor can it
   70  be introduced as evidence.
   71         (2) A hospital shall notify each obstetrical physician who
   72  has privileges at the hospital at least 120 days before the
   73  hospital closes its obstetrical department or ceases to provide
   74  obstetrical services. The Department of Health shall adopt rules
   75  to administer this subsection, including rules governing those
   76  situations in which it is impossible for the hospital to provide
   77  120 days’ notice due to circumstances beyond the control of the
   78  hospital or the obstetrical physician.
   79         Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2014.