2022 Mid-Session Update
Large Strategies'
Capitol Health Care Summary
OFF to the Governor
Extends the heightened civil liability protections for health care providers established in s. 768.381, F.S., to COVID-19-related claims accruing before June 1, 2023.
New mutations of the COVID-19 virus continue to prolong the duration of the current pandemic. Scientific knowledge of COVID-19 continues to grow exponentially due to the novel and ever-evolving nature of the disease. Likewise, guidance to health care providers and long-term care facilities for treatment and infection prevention has rapidly changed as understanding of the disease has evolved. In response, the Legislature passed CS/SB 72 in 2021, which, among other things, created s. 768.381, F.S., establishing certain liability protections for health care providers. Specifically, this section provides heightened civil liability protections to certain health care providers for claims brought by patients and residents related to:
  • The diagnosis or treatment of, or failure to diagnose or treat, a person for COVID;
  • The provision of a novel or experimental COVID treatment;
  • The transmission of COVID;
  • The delay or cancellation of a surgery or a medical procedure, test, or appointment in certain situations;
  • An act or omission with respect to an emergency medical condition in certain situations; or
  • The treatment of a patient with COVID whose injuries were directly related to an exacerbation of preexisting conditions by COVID. Current law requires a plaintiff who brings a COVID-related claim against a health care provider to prove by the greater weight of the evidence that the defendant was grossly negligent or committed intentional misconduct.
The law also enumerates certain affirmative defenses available to defendants against such claims. The health care provider liability protections apply to COVID-related claims that accrued before CS/SB 72’s effective date and within 1 year after the bill’s effective date. CS/SB 72 became law on March 29, 2021. Thus, these liability protections will not apply to any claim that accrues after March 29, 2022. HB 7021 extends the heightened civil liability protections for health care providers established in s. 768.381, F.S., to COVID-releted claims accruing before June 1, 2023.
The following health care bills received successful passage
in their listed committee this week.
Click on bill to review Legislative Staff Analysis.
Senate ACTION
By Rep Harrell
SB 730 establishes standards for processing step-therapy protocol exemptions. A step-therapy protocol is a written protocol used by a health insurer (insurer) or a health maintenance organization (HMO) that specifies the order in which certain medical procedures, treatments, or prescription drugs must be used to treat a condition. A protocol exemption is a determination by an insurer or HMO to authorize the use of an alternate procedure, treatment, or prescription drug to treat a condition of an insured or subscriber rather than the procedure, treatment, or drug indicated by the step-therapy protocol. SB 730 provides that an insurer or HMO must prescribe the manner, form, and timeframe in which an insured or subscriber may request a protocol exemption. Further, SB 730 requires the insurer or HMO to authorize or deny a protocol exemption in a reasonable amount of time. If the insurer or HMO denies the protocol exemption, the insurer or HMO must provide the insured or subscriber with a written response and the procedure for appealing a denial.
  • Favorable by Senate Health Policy
  • 1 committee of reference remains, Senate Rules
  • House bill, HB 459, Ready for full House vote
Senator Bradley
SB 1114 broadens an exception to the general rule that medical treatment cannot be rendered without a patient’s consent. Under current law, parental consent is required for a physician to provide emergency medical care to a minor outside of a hospital or college health service. Similarly, parental consent is required for paramedics and other emergency medical services personnel to perform emergency care outside of a prehospital setting such as at an accident scene or in an ambulance. The bill deletes restrictions on location, thereby allowing, in practice, physicians and emergency medical personnel to provide emergency medical care or treatment to a minor at any location without the consent of the minor’s parents under specified conditions when parental consent cannot be immediately obtained.
  • Favorable by Senate Health Policy
  • 1 committee stop remaining, Senate Rules
  • House bill, HB 817, ready for full House vote
Senator Broxson
CS/SB 1184 prohibits regulatory boards within the Department of Health from reprimanding, sanctioning, revoking or threatening to revoke a license, certificate, or registration of a health care practitioner for exercising his or her constitutional right of free speech, including speech through the use of a social media platform.
The bill requires a regulatory board, or DOH to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the use of free speech by a health care practitioner led to the direct physical harm of a person with whom the health care practitioner had a practitioner-patient relationship within the three years immediately preceding the incident of physical harm in order to reprimand, sanction, or revoke or threaten to revoke, a license, certificate, or registration of the health care practitioner for his or her speech.
The bill specifies that if the board or DOH fails to meet such burden of proof and reprimands, sanctions, or revokes or threatens to revoke, a license, certificate, or registration of the health care practitioner for his or her speech, the board or DOH is liable for a sum of up to $1.5 million per occurrence for direct or indirect damages to the health care practitioner.
The bill requires such regulatory board, or DOH to provide the health care practitioner with any complaint it has received that may result in revocation of licensure, certification, or registration, within seven days after receiving the complaint. If the board or the DOH fails to provide such a complaint, it must pay the practitioner an administrative penalty of $500 each day the complaint is not provided to the practitioner.
  • Favorable by Senate Judiciary
  • 1 committee stops remaining, Senate Appropriations
  • House bill, HB 687, to be heard this week in its first committee of reference
Senator Bean
CS/CS/SB 1222 authorizes paramedics and Class III institutional pharmacies, a type of hospital pharmacy, to serve hospital patients at their homes. Under the bill, a paramedic, under the supervision of a physician or acting under other standing orders, may provide basic life support services and advanced life support services to a patient receiving acute and post-acute hospital care at his or her permanent residence through a program approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Agency for Health Care Administration. A Class III institutional pharmacy may dispense, distribute, compound, and fill prescriptions for medicinal drugs for these same patients.
  • Favorable by Senate Judiciary
  • On agenda for Senate Rules, Feb 15
  • House bill, HB 037, has 1 committee stop remaining
Senator Boyd
This bill amends s. 381.887, F.S., to:
  • Include the prescribing, ordering and dispensing of emergency opioid antagonists within the purpose of the section, which is to provide for the emergency treatment for suspected opioid overdose;
  • Authorize a pharmacist to order, and dispense pursuant to that order, an emergency opioid antagonist with an auto injection delivery system or intranasal application delivery system to a patient or caregiver;
  • Add personnel of a law enforcement agency or other agencies to the list of persons authorized to possess, store, and administer emergency opioid antagonists under the section. The bill specifies that such personnel includes, but is not limited to, correctional probation officers and child protective investigators who, while acting within the scope or course of employment, come into contact with controlled substances or persons at risk of experiencing an opioid overdose; and
  • Provide immunity from any civil or criminal liability to the listed persons authorized to possess, store, and administer emergency opioid antagonists under the section for the administering of emergency opioid antagonists.
The bill amends s. 381.981, F.S., requiring the Florida Public Health Institute, Inc., to include emergency opioid antagonists as part of substance abuses in their statutorily required health awareness campaigns.
The bill also amends s. 395.1041, F.S., to require a hospital emergency department or urgent care center to report the treatment of a person in response to an actual or suspected overdose to the department if the patient was not transported to the hospital by a BLS or ALS provider and to require a BLS or ALS provider to report when it treats and releases or transports to a medical facility a person in response to an emergency call for a suspected or actual overdose of a controlled substance.
The provider must use an appropriate reporting method with secure access, including, but not limited to, the Washington/Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Overdose Detection Mapping Application Program or other program identified by the department rule and must use its best effort to report such incidents within 120 hours of discovering the incident.
By Senator Jones
SB 1258 statutorily requires managed care plans contracting with the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) under the Statewide Medicaid Managed Care (SMMC) program to collect and annually report an expanded set of performance measures, including Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) measures, the federal Core Set of Children’s Health Care Quality measures, and the federal Core Set of Adult Health Care Quality performance measures, as specified by the AHCA. For calendar year 2020, the plans were required to report 27 HEDIS measures related to medical care and nine measures related to Child and Adult Core Set measures. Beginning in calendar year 2025, the bill requires each managed care plan to collect and report all of the Adult Core Set behavioral health measures, which are not currently required to be reported. Beginning in calendar year 2026, the bill requires each managed care plan to stratify all performance measure data by recipient age, race, ethnicity, primary language, sex, and disability status.
  • Favorable by Senate Banking & Insurance
  • 1 Senate committee remaining, Rules
  • Ready for full House vote
Senator Perry
CS/SB 806 creates section 381.825, Florida Statutes, to establish the “Ramping up Education of Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia for You (READY) Act.” The bill requires the Department of Health (DOH) to use existing, relevant public health and community outreach programs to educate health care practitioners on Alzheimer’s disease and dementia-related disorders (ADRD). 
  • Favorable by Senate Appro
  • Placed on Senate Special Order Feb 17
  • House bill, HB 475 in its last committee of reference
Senator Cruz
CS/SB 1026 creates s. 626.97075, F.S., which revises Florida’s Unfair Insurance Trade Practices law1 and several parts of Florida’s Insurance Rates and Contracts law.
The bill makes it unlawful to discriminate against living organ donors in specific types of insurance coverage. The insurance types impacted by the bill are: life insurance, including industrial life insurance and group life insurance; credit life insurance and credit disability insurance; and long-term care insurance
  • Favorable by Senate Health Policy
  • 1 Senate Committee remaining, Senate Rules
  • House bill, HB 1099 ready for full House vote
Senator Cruz
SB 562 requires the Departments of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) and Health (DOH) to expedite the processing of professional and occupational licenses for the spouse of an active duty member of the Armed Forces. The DOH must waive application and renewal fees for those same licenses under certain circumstances. The DBPR and the DOH must also issue a temporary professional license which is valid while the applications are under review once specified application information has been verified. 
  • Favorable by Senate Appropriations
  • Ready for full Senate vote
  • House bill, HB 559 in its last committee of reference
House ACTION
By Rep Garrison
The bill makes changes to the SMMC program in anticipation of the next procurement cycle, for plan year 2025. The bill:
  • Consolidates the 11 regions into eight, and adjusting the minimum and maximum numbers of plans with which AHCA will contract to provide services to MMA and LTC enrollees;
  • Reintegrates dental benefits into the MMA program;
  • Requires AHCA to conduct a single statewide SMMC procurement, requires negotiation and selection on a regional basis, and authorizes statewide contract awards if deemed the best value;
  • Prohibits AHCA from auto-enrolling recipients in a plan having a regional market share greater than 45 percent;
  • Allowing certain plan contributions in support of medical education to be credited against medical loss ratio and the Achieved Savings Rebate;
  • Expands the Healthy Behaviors Program to include focuses on smokeless tobacco and opioid abuse;
  • Requires plans to contract with Florida cancer hospitals as essential statewide health care providers, and provides a payment rate for services provided without a contract;
  • Allows children in the child welfare Guardian Assistance Program to enroll in the child welfare specialty plan, as an alternative to a non-specialty MMA plan;
  • Requires regular AHCA testing of plan network adequacy;
Favorable by House Health Appro
1 committee remaining House Health & Human Services
Senate bill, SB 1950, on agenda on Feb 16
By Rep McFarland
Under current law, Medicaid requires prior authorization and step therapy for drugs not listed on the PDL. Step therapy requires recipients to first try a PDL-listed drug before obtaining a non-PDL drug, subject to a list of clinical exceptions, which must be documented by the prescriber to obtain prior authorization. HB 885 adds additional exceptions to the Medicaid step therapy policy for drugs to treat schizophrenia, schizotypal or delusional disorders, where:
  • Prior authorization was granted previously for the same drug; and
  • The medication was dispensed to the patient in the last 12 months.
Favorable by House Finance & Facilities
2 committee remaining
Senate bill, SB 534 on Senate Special Order on Feb 17
By Rep Giallombardo
Mental or nervous injuries are generally not compensable unless they are triggered by a physical injury. However, the following special rules apply to certain first responders employed by state or local government (firefighters, paramedics, emergency medical technicians, and law enforcement officers):
  • If the first responder is injured on the job and the injury triggers posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the first responder may be eligible for medical benefits and compensation for lost wages;
  • If the first responder is diagnosed with PTSD and demonstrates that the disorder arose out of employment, the first responder may be eligible for medical benefits;
  • If the first responder experiences a qualifying event defined in the law and is subsequently diagnosed with PTSD, the first responder may be eligible for medical benefits and compensation for lost wages.
This bill addresses notice provisions for first responders seeking workers’ compensation benefits for PTSD. Currently, notice of a PTSD-related injury is due to the employer within 90 days of a qualifying event or the manifestation of the disorder, whichever is later. If the compensability of an injury is disputed, a claim must be filed within 52 weeks of the qualifying event. The bill makes the notice of injury due within 90 days of a qualifying event or diagnosis of the disorder, whichever is later. Similarly, the bill extends the claim filing deadline to either 52 weeks of the qualifying event or diagnosis of the disorder, whichever is later. Extending the claim deadline to one year after a PTSD diagnosis allows claims more than one year after a qualifying event. Symptoms of PTSD may begin shortly after a traumatic event or may not appear until years after the event.
  • Favorable by House State Adm Appro
  • 1 House committee remains, House State Affairs
  • Senate bill in its last committee of reference, Senate Rules, Feb 15
By Rep Duran
To provide care for Florida’s public school students affected by epilepsy or seizure disorders while at school, the bill creates an individualized seizure action plan (ISAP) which informs school personnel of the unique health care services required by the student and how to respond in emergency situations. The bill requires a school to implement an ISAP once a parent submits it to the school principal and school nurse. The bill requires an ISAP to:
  • include specified information, such as recommended care, symptoms, prescribed rescue medication, and contact information for medical assistance;
  • be developed by a medical professional in consultation with a parent and signed by both individuals;
  • be submitted by a parent to the school principal and school nurse or other appropriate employee; and
  • remain in effect until the parent submits a revised ISAP. The bill requires a school to provide employees whose duties include regular contact with a student with an ISAP, the following: notice of the student’s condition, information on providing care for the student in an emergency, and parental and emergency contact information.
The bill requires a school nurse or an appropriate school employee to:
  • coordinate the provision of epilepsy and seizure disorder care, including administering medication, as outlined in a student’s ISAP; and
  • verify that school employees, whose duties include regular contact with a student with an ISAP, have completed training in the care of students with epilepsy and seizure disorders.
To assist schools in meeting the training requirements under the bill, the Department of Education must identify on its website one or more free online training courses provided by a nonprofit national organization. The bill requires a school to provide epilepsy or seizure disorder care to a student based upon the student’s ISAP, individualized educational plan (IEP), or a Section 504 Accommodation Plan (504 Plan), as applicable, and does not absolve or limit the school of its obligation to provide a student special instruction, services, or accommodations as required under federal and state law. 
  • Favorable by House Education
  • Ready for full vote of House
  • Senate bill, SB 340 on agenda on Feb 16 & has one committee remaining
By Rep Aloupis
HB 1073 requires a hospital or other state-licensed birthing facility to administer a test approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on a newborn to screen for congenital CMV should the newborn fail his or her screening for hearing loss. The congenital CMV test must be administered before the newborn becomes 21 days of age or before discharge, whichever occurs earlier
  • Favorable by House Professions & Public Health Subcommittee
  • 2 House committee remaining
  • Senate bill ready for full Senate vote
House Bills OF CONCERN
By Rep Grall
HB 1525 repeals PIP. By repealing PIP, the bill removes PIP’s tort liability limitation, making drivers at fault in an accident fully liable for any damages they cause. Due to this change, the bill also expands the scope of legal liabilities covered under an uninsured/underinsured motorist policy. In place of PIP, the bill requires BI coverage at the time of vehicle registration with a minimum coverage limit of $25,000 for the bodily injury or death of one person and $50,000 for the bodily injury or death of two or more persons. The minimum PD coverage limit remains unchanged at $10,000.  Offer opt-in medical payments coverage at specified limits with specified deductibles.
  • Favorable by House Civil Justice
  • 1 committee stops remain, House Judiciary
Archived Weekly Session Wrap-Ups