Report on the 2006 Legislative Session

The medical community showed considerable strength during the 2006 Florida Legislative Session that ended the first of May.  The Florida Medical Association, with assistance from our other state medical associations, helped pass several significant pieces of legislation, while thwarting almost all the bills opposed by organized medicine.

Major bills passed:

• HB 145/SB 2006 - the elimination of joint and several liability:   Passage of this bill was a joint effort between the FMA and the business community, and was strongly opposed by the trial bar.  It is hoped that this bill will make it less likely that non-negligent physicians will be named in lawsuits, and ultimately help lower medical liability premiums.  It should at least help restore some fairness to the fault apportionment process. 

• HB 699:  This bill reins in uncontrolled expansion of unsupervised satellite offices, while also addressing several other important issues.  The bill:
  Reduces the Domestic Violence Mandate to once every three licensing cycles;Reduces the HIV CME mandate to once, before one's first license renewal; Requires ARNP protocols to be available for public inspection on the nurse's profile;Limits the unsupervised practice of ARNPs and PAs in satellite offices to: 4 such satellites for primary care physicians; 2 such satellites for specialists; 2 such satellites if the services are primarily skin care, and only 1 as of 2011.  Skin care satellites must be supervised by a board certified plastic surgeon or dermatologist.
  Requires the disclosure of the physician's licensure, and that of any treating health care provider working under the physician's supervision, when the patient is referred to the physician's office.  Patients must be given the opportunity to see the physician.

• HB 487 - the Truth in Medical Education Bill:  This bill requires all practitioners in an outpatient setting to disclose to the patient the license under which they are operating.  It should help prevent the deceptive practice of less-qualified practitioners concealing their training. 

Legislation successfully opposed:

• The attempt to change Amendment 3:  The FMA was successful in thwarting an attempt to change the constitutional amendment capping trial attorney contingency fees into simple legislation.  This was a major victory for the medical community, and a crushing defeat for the trial attorney lobby.

• Bills defeated in various committees:  1)  To eliminated the right to self-insure, and increased the minimum requirement for medical liability insurance (proposed by chiropractic legislators Senator Jones and Representative Frank Farkas); 2) to allow ARNP prescribing of controlled substances without supervision; and 3) to allow "naturopathic" physicians to be licensed.