HOUSE AMENDMENT Bill No. HB 1553 CS
1	CHAMBER ACTION
2	Senate House
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12	Representative Ambler offered the following:
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14	Amendment (with title amendment)
15	Between line(s) 92 and 93, insert:
16	Section 2. Subsection (2) of section 456.076, Florida
17	Statutes, is amended to read:
18	456.076 Treatment programs for impaired practitioners.--
19	(2)(a)The department shall retain one or more impaired
20	practitioner consultants. A consultant shall be a licensee under
21	the jurisdiction of the Division of Medical Quality Assurance
22	within the department, and at least one consultant must be a
23	practitioner or recovered practitioner licensed under chapter
24	458, chapter 459, or part I of chapter 464.
25	(b)The consultant shall assist the probable cause panel
26	and department in carrying out the responsibilities of this
27	section. This shall include working with department
28	investigators to determine whether a practitioner is, in fact,
29	impaired. If a consultant receives information that leads the
30	consultant to believe a practitioner may be impaired and the
31	consultant contacts the practitioner to obtain more information,
32	the consultant or the consultant’s designee shall provide the
33	practitioner, in writing or via electronic mail or facsimile
34	transmission, information regarding the investigation process
35	within 24 hours after the consultant's initial contact with the
36	practitioner. The information that is to be given to the
37	practitioner shall be set forth in a rule developed by the
38	department. The failure of the consultant or the consultant's
39	designee, for disciplinary cases under the jurisdiction of the
40	department, to comply with this requirement constitutes harmless
41	error in any subsequent disciplinary action.
42	(c) If the consultant requests that a practitioner
43	participate in a voluntary examination to help the consultant
44	determine whether the practitioner is, in fact, impaired, the
45	practitioner shall be permitted to locate, within a reasonable
46	timeframe established by the consultant, an examiner who meets
47	the qualifications established by the consultant and who agrees
48	to record the examination. The examiner conducting the voluntary
49	examination shall be precluded from soliciting the practitioner
50	to enroll in a treatment program from which the examiner
51	receives a financial benefit.
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53	================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T =================
54	Remove line(s) 24, and insert:
55	health care practitioner; amending s. 456.076, F.S., relating to
56	treatment programs for impaired practitioners; requiring
57	impaired practitioner consultants to notify practitioners
58	subject to investigations initiated by the department of the
59	investigation process under certain circumstances; providing
60	that failure to comply constitutes harmless error in any
61	subsequent disciplinary action; providing for voluntary
62	examinations; prohibiting an examiner from soliciting a
63	practitioner to enroll in a treatment program from which the
64	examiner receives a financial benefit; providing an effective
65	date.