Florida Senate - 2019                                     SB 434
       
       
        
       By Senator Harrell
       
       
       
       
       
       25-00536-19                                            2019434__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to ambulatory surgical centers;
    3         amending s. 395.002, F.S.; revising the definition of
    4         the term “ambulatory surgical center”; amending s.
    5         395.1055, F.S.; requiring the Agency for Health Care
    6         Administration, in consultation with the Board of
    7         Medicine and the Board of Osteopathic Medicine, to
    8         adopt rules that establish requirements for
    9         practitioners and facilities related to the delivery
   10         of surgical care to children in ambulatory surgical
   11         centers, in accordance with specified standards;
   12         requiring that the rules establish minimum standards
   13         for certain pediatric patient care practices;
   14         specifying that ambulatory surgical centers may
   15         provide certain procedures only if authorized by
   16         agency rule; providing an effective date.
   17          
   18  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   19  
   20         Section 1. Subsection (3) of section 395.002, Florida
   21  Statutes, is amended to read:
   22         395.002 Definitions.—As used in this chapter:
   23         (3) “Ambulatory surgical center” means a facility the
   24  primary purpose of which is to provide elective surgical care,
   25  in which the patient is admitted to and discharged from such
   26  facility within 24 hours the same working day and is not
   27  permitted to stay overnight, and which is not part of a
   28  hospital. However, a facility existing for the primary purpose
   29  of performing terminations of pregnancy, an office maintained by
   30  a physician for the practice of medicine, or an office
   31  maintained for the practice of dentistry may not be construed to
   32  be an ambulatory surgical center, provided that any facility or
   33  office which is certified or seeks certification as a Medicare
   34  ambulatory surgical center shall be licensed as an ambulatory
   35  surgical center pursuant to s. 395.003.
   36         Section 2. Present subsections (3) through (12) of section
   37  395.1055, Florida Statutes, are redesignated as subsections (4)
   38  through (13), respectively, and a new subsection (3) is added to
   39  that section, to read:
   40         395.1055 Rules and enforcement.—
   41         (3)(a) The agency, in consultation with the Board of
   42  Medicine and the Board of Osteopathic Medicine, shall adopt
   43  rules that establish requirements for practitioners and
   44  facilities to ensure the safe and effective delivery of surgical
   45  care to children in ambulatory surgical centers. The rules must
   46  be consistent with the American College of Surgeons’ 2015
   47  standards document entitled “Optimal Resources for Children’s
   48  Surgical Care” and must establish minimum standards for
   49  pediatric patient care treatment practices, including at least
   50  all of the following: surgical risk assessment; anesthetic care;
   51  resuscitation; transfer agreements; and training and
   52  certification requirements for pediatric health care providers.
   53         (b) Ambulatory surgical centers may provide operative
   54  procedures that require a length of stay past midnight on the
   55  day of surgery for children younger than 18 years of age only if
   56  the agency authorizes the performance of such procedures by
   57  rule.
   58         Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2019.