Florida Senate - 2022                              CS for SB 836
       
       
        
       By the Committee on Health Policy; and Senator Brodeur
       
       
       
       
       
       588-02340-22                                           2022836c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to medication technicians; amending s.
    3         429.256, F.S.; defining the term “medication
    4         technician”; requiring that assisted living facility
    5         residents who are able to use their point-of-care
    6         devices without assistance be encouraged and allowed
    7         to do so; authorizing medication technicians to assist
    8         assisted living facility residents with their use of
    9         point-of-care devices under certain circumstances;
   10         conforming provisions to changes made by the act;
   11         amending s. 429.52, F.S.; providing minimum
   12         requirements and specifications for the training of
   13         medication technicians; requiring the Agency for
   14         Health Care Administration to adopt rules establishing
   15         such requirements; providing an effective date.
   16          
   17  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   18  
   19         Section 1. Paragraph (b) of subsection (1), subsection (2),
   20  paragraphs (g) and (h) of subsection (4), and subsection (5) of
   21  section 429.256, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
   22         429.256 Assistance with self-administration of medication.—
   23         (1) For the purposes of this section, the term:
   24         (b) “Medication technician” “Unlicensed person” means an
   25  individual not currently licensed to practice nursing or
   26  medicine who is employed by or under contract with to an
   27  assisted living facility and who has received training on with
   28  respect to assisting with the self-administration of medication
   29  and use of point-of-care devices in an assisted living facility
   30  as provided under s. 429.52 before prior to providing such
   31  assistance as described in this section.
   32         (2) Residents who are capable of self-administering their
   33  own medications or using their point-of-care devices without
   34  assistance shall be encouraged and allowed to do so. However, a
   35  medication technician an unlicensed person may, consistent with
   36  a dispensed prescription’s label or the package directions of an
   37  over-the-counter medication or point-of-care device, assist a
   38  resident whose condition is medically stable with the self
   39  administration of routine, regularly scheduled medications that
   40  are intended to be self-administered and may assist with a
   41  resident’s use of point-of-care devices. Assistance with self
   42  medication by a medication technician an unlicensed person may
   43  occur only upon a documented request by, and the written
   44  informed consent of, a resident or the resident’s surrogate,
   45  guardian, or attorney in fact. For the purposes of this section,
   46  self-administered medications include both legend and over-the
   47  counter oral dosage forms, topical dosage forms, transdermal
   48  patches, and topical ophthalmic, otic, and nasal dosage forms
   49  including solutions, suspensions, sprays, and inhalers.
   50         (4) Assistance with self-administration does not include:
   51         (g) Assisting with medications ordered by the physician or
   52  health care professional with prescriptive authority to be given
   53  “as needed,” unless the order is written with specific
   54  parameters that preclude independent judgment on the part of the
   55  medication technician unlicensed person, and the resident
   56  requesting the medication is aware of his or her need for the
   57  medication and understands the purpose for taking the
   58  medication.
   59         (h) Medications for which the time of administration, the
   60  amount, the strength of dosage, the method of administration, or
   61  the reason for administration requires judgment or discretion on
   62  the part of the medication technician unlicensed person.
   63         (5) Assistance with the self-administration of medication
   64  by a medication technician an unlicensed person as described in
   65  this section is shall not be considered administration as
   66  defined in s. 465.003.
   67         Section 2. Subsection (6) of section 429.52, Florida
   68  Statutes, is amended to read:
   69         429.52 Staff training and educational requirements.—
   70         (6) Medication technicians Staff assisting with the self
   71  administration of medications and point-of-care devices under s.
   72  429.256 must complete a minimum of 6 additional hours of
   73  training provided by a registered nurse or a licensed pharmacist
   74  before providing assistance. Two hours of continuing education
   75  are required annually thereafter. The agency shall establish by
   76  rule the minimum requirements for medication technician of this
   77  training, which must address infection control, safe handling
   78  and use of point-of-care devices, communicating with case
   79  managers and health care providers, standard of care protocols
   80  for the provision of care in a licensed assisted living
   81  facility, identification of nursing standards, and methods of
   82  assisting residents with the self-administration of medications.
   83         Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2022.