Florida Senate - 2015 PROPOSED COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
Bill No. CS for SB 478
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576-04088-15
Proposed Committee Substitute by the Committee on Appropriations
(Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services)
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to telehealth; creating s. 456.4501,
3 F.S.; defining the terms “telehealth” and “telehealth
4 provider”; providing certain practice standards for
5 telehealth providers; authorizing telehealth providers
6 to use telehealth to prescribe controlled substances,
7 with an exception; prohibiting the use of telehealth
8 or specified computer-controlled devices to prescribe
9 optical devices; providing for the maintenance and
10 confidentiality of medical records; amending s.
11 636.202, F.S.; excluding telehealth products from the
12 definition of “discount medical plan”; providing an
13 effective date.
14
15 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
16
17 Section 1. Section 456.4501, Florida Statutes, is created
18 to read:
19 456.4501 Use of telehealth to provide services.—
20 (1) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section, the term:
21 (a) “Telehealth” means the use of synchronous or
22 asynchronous telecommunications technology by a telehealth
23 provider to provide health care services, including, but not
24 limited to, patient assessment, diagnosis, consultation,
25 treatment, and monitoring; the transfer of medical data; patient
26 and professional health-related education; public health
27 services; and health care administration. The term does not
28 include audio-only transmissions, e-mail messages, facsimile
29 transmissions, or consultations between a telehealth provider in
30 this state and a provider lawfully licensed in another state
31 when the provider licensed in this state maintains
32 responsibility for the care of a patient in this state.
33 (b) “Telehealth provider” means a person who provides
34 health care and related services using telehealth and who is
35 licensed under chapter 457; chapter 458; chapter 459; chapter
36 460; chapter 461; chapter 463; chapter 464; chapter 465; chapter
37 466; chapter 467; part I, part III, part IV, part V, part X,
38 part XIII, or part XIV of chapter 468; chapter 478; chapter 480;
39 parts III and IV of chapter 483; chapter 484; chapter 486;
40 chapter 490; or chapter 491, or who is certified under part III
41 of chapter 401 or s. 393.17.
42 (2) PRACTICE STANDARDS.—
43 (a) The standard of care for a telehealth provider
44 providing medical care to a patient is the same as the standard
45 of care generally accepted for a health care professional
46 providing in-person health care services to a patient. If a
47 telehealth provider conducts a patient evaluation sufficient to
48 diagnose and treat the patient, the telehealth provider is not
49 required to research the patient’s medical history or conduct a
50 physical examination of the patient before using telehealth to
51 provide services to the patient. A telehealth provider may use
52 telehealth to perform a patient evaluation.
53 (b) A telehealth provider and a patient may be in separate
54 locations when telehealth is used to provide health care
55 services to the patient.
56 (c) A nonphysician telehealth provider using telehealth and
57 acting within the relevant scope of practice is not deemed to be
58 practicing medicine without a license under any provision of law
59 listed in paragraph (1)(b).
60 (d) A telehealth provider who is otherwise authorized to
61 prescribe a controlled substance named or described in Schedules
62 I through V of s. 893.03 may use telehealth to prescribe the
63 controlled substance, except that telehealth may not be used to
64 prescribe a controlled substance to treat chronic nonmalignant
65 pain as defined in ss. 458.3265 and 459.0137. This paragraph
66 does not preclude a practitioner licensed under chapter 458 or
67 chapter 459 or an advanced registered nurse practitioner
68 certified under s. 464.012 from using telehealth to order a
69 controlled substance for an inpatient admitted to a facility
70 licensed under chapter 395 or a hospice patient under chapter
71 400.
72 (e) A telehealth provider may not use telehealth to
73 prescribe lenses, spectacles, eyeglasses, contact lenses, or
74 other optical devices or prescribe based solely on the
75 refractive error of the human eye generated by a computer
76 controlled device such as an autorefractor.
77 (3) RECORDS.—A telehealth provider shall document in the
78 patient’s medical record the health care services rendered using
79 telehealth according to the same standard used for in-person
80 health care services pursuant to ss. 395.3025(4) and 456.057.
81 Section 2. Subsection (1) of section 636.202, Florida
82 Statutes, is amended to read:
83 636.202 Definitions.—As used in this part, the term:
84 (1) “Discount medical plan” means a business arrangement or
85 contract in which a person, in exchange for fees, dues, charges,
86 or other consideration, provides access for plan members to
87 providers of medical services and the right to receive medical
88 services from those providers at a discount. The term “discount
89 medical plan” does not include any product regulated under
90 chapter 627, chapter 641, or part I of this chapter or any
91 telehealth product regulated under s. 456.4501.
92 Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2015.