SESSION 2022
Week 3
Large Strategies'
Capitol Health Care Update
The following health care bills received successful passage
in their listed committee this week.

Click on bill to review Legislative Staff Analysis.
Senate ACTION
Senator Diaz
SB 312 removes a provision in the definition of “telehealth” that excludes audio-only telephone calls.
The bill also amends a provision that will allow a telehealth provider to issue a renewal prescription for a controlled substance listed in Schedule III, IV, or V of s. 893.03, F.S., through telehealth, within the scope of his or her practice, and in accordance with other state and federal laws.
Currently, telehealth providers are prohibited from prescribing controlled substances through telehealth unless the prescription is for: the treatment of a psychiatric disorder, inpatient treatment at a hospital, the treatment of a patient receiving hospice services, or the treatment of a resident in a nursing home facility. The bill narrows this prohibition to prohibit the prescribing of only Schedule II controlled substances through telehealth except under those specific circumstances.
  • Favorable by full Senate 36/0
  • In MESSAGES to HOUSE
Senator Rouson
SB 282 promotes the use of peer specialists to assist an individual’s recovery from substance use disorder (SUD) or mental illness. Peer specialists are persons who have recovered from a substance use disorder or mental illness who support a person with a current substance use disorder or mental illness.
Specifically, the bill:
  • Adds the use of peer specialists as an essential element of a coordinated system of care;
  • Provides legislative findings and intent related to the use of peer specialists in the provision of behavioral health care;
  • Requires the Department of Children and Families (the DCF) to develop a training program for peer specialists, giving preference to trainers who are certified peer specialists;
  • Requires the DCF to certify peer specialists, directly or through the use of a third-party credentialing entity;
  • Revises background screening requirements and codifies existing training and certification requirements for peer specialists;
  • Adds offenses for which individuals seeking certification as a peer specialist may seek an exemption from eligibility disqualification;
  • Allows peer specialists to work with adults with mental health disorders, in addition to SUDs and co-occurring disorders, while a request for an exemption from a background check disqualification is pending; and
  • Allows for recovery support services to be reimbursed as a recovery service through the DCF, a behavioral health managing entity, or the Medicaid program 
Favorable by Senate Appro
Ready to be placed on calendar for full vote of Senate
Senator Burgess
SB 890 amends section 401.465, Florida Statutes, to require that all 911 public safety telecommunicators (PST) who make telephone calls and provide dispatch functions for emergency medical conditions complete telecommunicator cardiopulmonary resuscitation (TCR) training and continuing education, as deemed appropriate by the Department of Health (DOH). The bill defines TCR training and allows a public safety agency (PSA) to enter into a reciprocal agreement with another PSA, a dedicated telephone line, or a call center to provide TCR as long as the PSA or other agency receiving the call has PSTs who are trained in TCR. 
  • Favorable by Senate HHS Appro
  • 1 committee stops remaining, Senate Appros
Senator Boyd
CS/SB 1874 amends sections of Florida Statutes relating to the powers and duties of the Department of Financial Services (DFS). Specific to health care:
Division of Workers’ Compensation
  • Exempts the schedules of maximum reimbursement allowances adopted by the three-member panel from rule ratification requirements by the Legislature.
  • Requires a carrier to reimburse a physician, hospital, or ambulatory surgical center at the agreed-upon contract price, or if there is no contract price, the lessor of the provider’s billed charge or the maximum reimbursement allowance. Currently, the carrier must reimburse at the agreed-upon contract price or the maximum reimbursement allowance.
Favorable by Senate Banking & Insurance
2 committee stops 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 autoinjection 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.
  • Favorable by Senate Appro
  • Ready to be placed on calendar for a full vote of the Senate
Senator Brodeur
The bill provides that a restrictive covenant in an employment agreement between a physician and a hospital is not supported by a legitimate business interest if it does not include an option for the physician to buy out of the restrictive covenant. If such an option is not provided, the bill provides a legislative finding that the restrictive covenant is void and unenforceable as it limits patient access to physicians and increases costs. These provisions apply only to restrictive covenants entered into on or after July 1, 2022.
  • Favorable by Senate Health Policy
  • 1 committee stops remaining, Senate Rules
Senator Brodeur
CS/SB 836 amends s. 429.256, F.S., to replace the definition of “unlicensed person” with a new definition of “medication technician.” The new definition is functionally the same as the previous definition but includes the use of point-of-care devices. The bill requires that a medication technician must have six hours of training and amends s. 429.52, F.S., to specify what must be included in the training. The bill also allows a medication technician to assist a resident in an assisted living facility (ALF) with his or her self-administration of medications and with his or her use of point-of-care devices (PCD). 
  • Favorable by Senate Health Policy
  • 2 committee stops remaining, Senate HHS Appro & Senate Appro
Senator Brodeur
In Florida, the majority of Medicaid recipients receive their services through a managed care plan contracted with the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) under the Statewide Medicaid Managed Care (SMMC) program.
The SMMC program has two components, the Managed Medical Assistance (MMA) program and the Long-term Care (LTC) program.
The SMMC program was fully implemented in August 2014 and was re-procured for a period beginning December 2018 and ending in December 2023.
In 2020, the Legislature extended the allowable term of the SMMC contracts from five to six years. As a result, the current contracts will end in December 2024. The AHCA will conduct its next procurement in 2022-2023 with the new contracts beginning at the end of 2024.
The bill amends Part IV of ch. 409, F.S., relating to the SMMC program, and affects the recurring competitive procurement of program contracts with Medicaid managed care plans. The bill also makes conforming changes to Part III. CS/SB 1950:
  • Requires provider service networks (PSNs) to be reimbursed on a prepaid basis.
  • Authorizes the AHCA to select eligible managed care plans to provide services through a single statewide procurement and deletes the requirement that the AHCA conduct separate and simultaneous procurements for each Medicaid region.
  • Authorizes the AHCA to award contracts to managed care plans on a regional or statewide basis.
  • Outlines a new regional structure for plan selection under the MMA and LTC programs with a minimum and maximum number of plans designated for each region. The bill provides for eight regions named by letters (Regions A-H), rather than the 11 regions named by numbers (Regions 1-11) in current law.
  • Requires the AHCA to award a contract to at least one PSN in each of the eight regions under the MMA program and under the LTC program.
  • Amends the Achieved Savings Rebates (ASR) structure to change thresholds relating to profit-sharing for managed care plans.
  • Requires managed care plans to include Florida cancer hospitals that meet specified federal criteria in their networks as essential providers.
  • Revises MMA plan healthy behaviors program requirements to include tobacco cessation programs, rather than smoking cessation programs, and to clarify that substance abuse programs must include opioid abuse recovery.
  • Favorable by Senate Health Policy
  • 2 committee stops remaining, Senate HHS Appro & Senate Appro
Senator Bradley
CS/SB 718 amends two sections of the Florida Statues, regarding authorization for unlicensed persons to assist patients or residents in the self-administration of medication in home health settings and in assisted living facilities (ALF), respectively, to allow an unlicensed person in a home health setting to assist a patient with the same kinds of self-administration of medication tasks that are allowed in an ALF.
Additionally, the bill reorganizes several of the items currently listed under the self-administration of medication into a new category labeled as “other tasks” in both sections.
The bill also makes changes to several sections of the Florida Statutes regarding the treatment of prefilled insulin syringes or pens to allow unlicensed persons to bring such syringe or pen to a patient or resident from where it is stored in a home health setting or in an ALF, and to allow registered nurses to delegate the administration of insulin which is prefilled into such syringe or pen to a certified nursing assistant or home health aide.
The bill also amends several sections of the Florida Statutes relating to the transport of patients by Basic (BLS) and Advanced Life Support (ALS) services to require that permitted ALS ambulances be occupied by at least two specified medical personnel when conducting interfacility transfers of patients and to make conforming changes.
  • Favorable by Senate Health Policy
  • 2 committee stops remaining, Senate Appropriations & Senate Rules
Senator Jones
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 by statute 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 Health Policy
  • 2 committee stops remaining, Senate Banking & Insurance & Senate Rules
Senator A Rodriguez
CS/SB 768 addresses numerous health care-related issues regulated by the Department of Health (DOH). The bill:
  • Updates the “Targeted Outreach for Pregnant Women Act of 1998;”
  • Amends s. 381.0303, F.S., to specify that for pediatric special needs shelters, the DOH is the lead agency to coordinate local medical and health care providers for the staffing and management of the shelters and is the decision-making authority for determining the medical supervision in each special needs shelter;
  • Allows the DOH to collect samples of marijuana and marijuana delivery devices, in general, from a medical marijuana treatment center (MMTC) for specified testing, rather than only samples of edibles;
  • Expands MMTC recall requirements to all marijuana products and delivery devices, rather than only edibles;
  • Provides an exception from criminal laws for DOH employees to acquire, possess, test, transport, and lawfully dispose of marijuana and marijuana delivery devices;
  • Amends statutes regulating several types of health care professions, including allopathic and osteopathic physicians, nurses, midwives, psychologists, orthotists, prosthetists, clinical lab personnel, chiropractors, mental health counselors, clinical social workers, and marriage and family therapists;
  • Amends s. 766.314, F.S., authorizing the Florida Birth-Related Neurological Injury Compensation Association (NICA) to collect and enforce physician assessments in circuit court, if necessary, and requires the NICA to notify the DOH and the appropriate board of any unpaid final judgments against a physician within a specific timeframe.
  • Favorable by Senate Health Policy
  • 2 committee stops remaining, Senate HHS & Senate Appro
Senator Gruters
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 by statute 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 Health Policy
  • 2 committee stops remaining, Senate Banking & Insurance & Senate Rules
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 Health Policy
  • 2 committee stops remaining, Senate Judiciary & Senate Appros
Senator Broxson
Ratification of Rules of the Department of Financial Services; Ratifying a specified rule relating to the Florida Workers’ Compensation Health Care Provider Reimbursement Manual, for the sole and exclusive purpose of satisfying any condition on effectiveness pursuant to s. 120.541(3), F.S., which requires ratification of any rule meeting any specified thresholds for likely adverse impact or increase in regulatory costs, etc. Effective Date: 7/1/2022
  • Favorable by Senate Appro on Ag, Env & GG
  • 1 committee stops remaining, Senate Appro
Senate Bills OF CONCERN
Senator A Rodriguez
SB 262 allows a parent to recover damages for mental pain and suffering in a lawsuit against a health care provider whose medical negligence causes the death of an adult child due to medical negligence, provided that the adult child does not have a spouse or a child under 25 years of age. Under existing law, the damages that a parent may recover in these situations are limited to economic damages such as medical and funeral expenses, lost earnings, and the value of lost support and services. Damages for pain and suffering authorized by the bill tend to be unpredictable, but they will likely be much greater than the economic damages available under existing law.
  • On Agenda in Senate Judiciary at 3pm on January 31
  • 1 amendment has been filed that attempts to narrow the scope but is still problematic
  • See attached talking points for more info on amendment & bill
House ACTION
By Rep Willhite
Step-therapy Protocols: Revises circumstances under which step-therapy protocols may not be required; requires health insurers & HMOs to publish on their websites & provide to their insureds & subscribers specified information; provides requirements for procedures for requests & appeals of denials of protocol exemptions; provides requirements for authorizations & denials of protocol exemption requests; authorizes health insurers & HMOs to request specified documentation. Effective Date: July 1, 2022
  • Favorable by House Health & Human Services Committee
  • Ready for full House vote
By Rep Fabricio
Telehealth Practice Standards: Revises prohibition on prescribing controlled substances through use of telehealth to include only specified controlled substances. Effective Date: July 1, 2022
  • Favorable by House Health & Human Services Committee
  • Ready for full House vote
By Rep Massullo
CS/HB 861 makes using a term designating a medical specialty grounds for discipline of a practitioner unless the practitioner has completed a residency or fellowship program accredited or recognized by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education or the American Osteopathic Association in such specialty
  • Favorable by House Professions & Public Health Subcommittee
  • 1 committee remaining, House Health & Human Services
By Rep Burton
HB 7021 extends the heightened civil liability protections for health care providers established in s. 768.381, F.S., to COVID-19-releted claims accruing before June 1, 2023.
  • Favorable by House Judiciary
  • Ready for full House vote
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-19;
  • The provision of a novel or experimental COVID-19 treatment;
  • The transmission of COVID-19;  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-19 whose injuries were directly related to an exacerbation of preexisting conditions by COVID-19. Current law requires a plaintiff who brings a COVID-19-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-19-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-19-releted claims accruing before June 1, 2023.
By Rep McClure
CS/HB 931 exempts registered nurses who perform alternate-site testing within a hospital or a hospital-based off-campus emergency department from clinical laboratory personnel licensure requirements. This allows registered nurses to perform alternate-site testing within a FED.
  • Favorable by House Professions & Public Health Subcommittee
  • 1 committee remaining, House Health & Human Services
By Rep Bartleman
Managed Care Plan Performance: Requires managed care plans to collect & report specified measures beginning with certain data reporting period; requires plans to stratify reported measures by specified categories beginning with certain data reporting period; requires plan's performance to be published on its website in specified manner; requires AHCA to use measures to monitor plan performance. Effective Date: July 1, 2022
  • Favorable by House Health & Human Services Committee
  • Ready for full House vote
By Rep Snyder
Delegation of the Administration of Prescription Medications: Requires nurse registry that authorizes registered nurse to delegate tasks to certified nursing assistant or home health aide to ensure certain requirements are met; authorizes registered nurse to delegate administration of duties for care of patient of nurse registry or county detention facility; authorizes certified nursing assistants to administer certain medication to patients of nurse registries or county detention facilities. Effective Date: July 1, 2022
  • Favorable by House Health & Human Services Committee
  • Ready for full House vote
By Rep Fischer
Organ Harvesting Practices of the People's Republic of China: Urges President & Congress of United States to condemn People's Republic of China for its practice of forcibly removing human organs for transplant & to pass & adopt certain punitive legislation & measures against China for such violation of human rights. Effective Date: Not Specified
  • Favorable by House Health & Human Services Committee
  • On agenda in House Judiciary, February 1, 9am
By Rep Salzman
The bill creates the Ramping up Education of Alzheimer’s and Dementia for You (READY) Act which requires DOH, in partnership with DOEA and the Alzheimer’s Association, to educate physicians and nursing professionals about Alzheimer’s disease and related forms of dementia.
  • Favorable by House Professions & Public Health Subcommittee
  • 1 committee remaining, House Health & Human Services
By Rep Grall
Currently, the Florida Office of the Attorney General (OAG) does not receive notice of HSRA filings unless they are voluntarily provided by the combining entities or discovered through public sources. In addition, such sources are not generally made publicly available by the federal government. The bill requires any entity conducting business in the state to provide notice to the OAG that it has submitted an HSRA filing at the same time the HSRA filing is filed with the federal government. 
  • Favorable by House Regulatory Reform
  • 2 committee stops remain, House Appro and House Commerce
By Rep Drake
Department of Health: Revises purpose of department’s targeted outreach program for certain pregnant women; requires department to educate pregnant women who have HIV on certain information; authorizes department to select samples of marijuana from medical marijuana treatment center facilities for certain testing; revises provisions relating to licensure of midwives, orthotist & prosthetist registration, examination, & licensing, clinical laboratory directors, psychologist licensing, clinical social workers, marriage & family therapists, & mental health counselors.
  • Favorable by House Professions & Public Health Subcommittee
  • 1 committee remaining, House Health & Human Services
By Rep Shoaf
The bill requires AHCA and APD to develop guidelines to assist facilities in establishing essential caregiver visitation policies and procedures, which must require facilities to:
  • Allow a resident or client, or his or her guardian or legal representative, to designate an essential caregiver for in-person visitation in the same manner that they would designate a power of attorney;
  • Establish a visitation schedule allowing the essential caregiver to visit the resident or client for at least 2 hours every day;
  • Establish procedures to enable physical contact between the resident or client and essential caregivers;
  • Establish a visitor’s log; and
  • Obtain the signature of the essential caregiver certifying that the caregiver agrees to follow the facility’s safety protocols.
The bill allows a facility to revoke an individual’s designation as an essential caregiver if the person violates the facility’s safety protocols, which cannot be more stringent than those established for the staff of the facility. The bill also allows a facility to suspend all essential caregiver visitation rights one time only for up to seven days if in-person visitation poses a serious health risk to the residents of the facility.
The bill requires facilities to allow visitation by essential caregivers during a suspension on visitation under certain circumstances on a case by case basis.
The bill requires APD and AHCA to publish a web page explaining essential caregiver visitation rights.
  • Favorable by House Finance & Facilities
  • 2 committee remaining,House Children & Families and House Health & Human Services
Working with House Sponsor to Amend
Rep Beltran
While maintaining the designation of the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) as the state’s governing nonprofit athletic association for Florida public schools, the bill authorizes the Commissioner of Education (commissioner), with the approval of the State Board of Education (SBE), to approve other nonprofit athletic associations that public schools may join for interscholastic athletic competition.
Our concern is the new associations are not required to have a MEDICAL ADVISORY BOARD like the FHSAA. We believe the Medical Advisory Board is important in analyzing student athlete injury trends and advancing student athlete safety protocols, and should be retained for new associations as well.
  • Favorable by House Secondary Education
  • 1 committee stop remaining, House Education
House Bills OF CONCERN
By Rep Snyder
Protections of Medical Conscience: Provides that health care providers & health care payers have right to not participate in or pay for any health care services that violate their consciences; prohibits person from taking or threatening to take adverse action against such providers & payers for specified actions; provides for civil remedies & damages; provides immunity from civil, criminal, & administrative liability for such providers & payers under certain circumstances. Effective Date: July 1, 2022
  • Favorable by House Professional & Public Health
  • 2 committee stop remaining, House Judiciary Committee & Health & Human Services Committee
By Rep Roach
HB 6011 amends s. 768.21(8), F.S., to allow parents of an adult child who has no surviving spouse or children to recover for mental pain and suffering in a medical malpractice wrongful death action. 
  • Favorable by House Civil Justice
  • 1 committee stop remaining, House Judiciary
Archived Weekly Session Wrap-Ups