The Florida Legislature concluded its 2005 General Session on
Friday, May 6, 2005. A total of 2,475 bills were introduced,
2,067 of which were general legislative bills. Only 749 bills
passed at least one chamber (30.3% of the total bills
introduced) and 394 bills passed both chambers (15.9% of the
total bills introduced) and either have been or will be
considered by Governor Bush for enactment.
The Florida College of Emergency Physicians specifically
targeted several areas of legislative efforts in 2005, primarily:
Medicaid Reform,
Assignment of
Benefits,
Implementation of
Constitutional Amendments 7 & 8,
Mandatory HIV
Testing for Pregnant Women,
Off-Site
Emergency Departments,
Traffic
Violations and Trauma Center Funding,
High Deductible
Insurance Study Group and
Other Bills of
Interest.
|
 |
SB 662
includes provisions relating to two study groups. One of the
study groups created under the bill is a 13-member
high-deductible-health-insurance plan study group. The Florida
College of Emergency Physicians took the lead to assure that the
study group includes 2 physician representatives. The study
group is charged with reviewing issues related to
high-deductible health insurance plans, including, but not
limited to, health savings accounts and health reimbursement
arrangements. FCEP pushed to add that the study will not only
look at hospitals’ ability to collect co-payments and
deductibles from these plans, but also the ability of physicians
to collect these payments. The study group is also charged with
examining the following: the assignment of benefits attestations
and contract provisions that nullify the attestations of
insured; the standardization of insured or subscriber
identification cards; and the standardization of claim edits or
ensuring the claim edits comply with nationally recognized
editing guidelines. The study group is required to submit its
recommendations by January 1, 2006. The bill also includes the
following provisions:
A study commission to address critical issues relating to
hospitals serving indigent populations which sustained
significant damage to their facilities during the 2004 hurricane
season. The study commission is requires to identify: hospitals
that are currently not able to comply with the provisions of the
Florida Building Code; hospitals that are located within 10
miles of the coastline; and hospitals that are located in a
designated flood zone. The study group shall make
recommendations for allowing these hospitals to find alternative
methods of renovating their existing facility in order to meet
the requirements for the Florida Building Code. The commission
shall also review existing laws and agency rules (Certificate of
Need process) and recommend needed changes to address these
issues. The commission is required to submit its recommendations
by January 1, 2006. The study commission must also submit a
report to the Legislative Budget Commission by December 1, 2005,
regarding the types of structural damage caused by hurricanes in
2004 to not-for-profit hospitals’ facilities and the cost of
each type of damage suffered by each facility.
Requires OPPAGA to conduct a study to evaluate whether the State
of Florida should join the Nurse Licensure Compact and issue a
report by January 1, 2006.
Requires OPPAGA to issue a report analyzing the impact of
hospices on the delivery of care to terminally ill patients.
Specifies issues to be addressed by report that must be
published by January 1, 2006. |
