Florida Senate - 2009 SB 1620
By Senator Aronberg
27-01428-09 20091620__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to maternal and child health; creating
3 s. 383.2163, F.S., the “Florida Nurse Home Visitation
4 Act”; providing a short title; establishing a nurse
5 home visitation pilot program in specified areas;
6 providing purpose; providing definitions; requiring
7 local Healthy Start coalitions to administer the
8 program; providing duties of the Department of Health;
9 providing for administration of the program; providing
10 eligibility requirements; requiring the department to
11 adopt rules; requiring the department to submit an
12 annual report to the Governor and Legislature;
13 providing an effective date.
14
15 WHEREAS, in order to adequately care for their newborns and
16 young children, new mothers may often seek and benefit from
17 receiving professional assistance and information, and, without
18 such assistance and information, a young mother may develop
19 habits or practices that are detrimental to her health and well
20 being and the health and well-being of her child, and
21 WHEREAS, inadequate prenatal care and inadequate care in
22 infancy and early childhood often inhibit a child’s ability to
23 learn and develop throughout his or her childhood and may have
24 lasting, adverse effects on the child’s ability to function as
25 an adult, and
26 WHEREAS, implementation of a nurse home visitation program
27 that provides educational, health, and other resources for new
28 mothers during pregnancy and the first years of their infants’
29 lives has been proven to significantly reduce the number of
30 premature births, the incidence of drug, tobacco, and alcohol
31 use and abuse by mothers, the occurrence of criminal activity
32 engaged in by mothers and their children under 15 years of age,
33 and the number of reported incidents of child abuse and neglect,
34 and
35 WHEREAS, one example of this type of program, the Nurse
36 Family Partnership, has succeeded in reducing the number of a
37 mother’s subsequent births, increasing the length of time
38 between subsequent births, reducing the mother’s need for other
39 forms of public assistance, and promoting the overall health and
40 developmental outcomes for the mother and her young children,
41 and
42 WHEREAS, the Nurse-Family Partnership model has been shown
43 to be cost effective, yielding a 5-to-1 return on investment for
44 every dollar spent on evidence-based nurse home visitation
45 services and producing a net benefit of $34,000 per high-risk
46 family served, NOW, THEREFORE,
47
48 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
49
50 Section 1. Section 383.2163, Florida Statutes, is created
51 to read:
52 383.2163 Nurse home visitation pilot program.—
53 (1) This section may be cited as the “Florida Nurse Home
54 Visitation Act.”
55 (2) A nurse home visitation pilot program is established in
56 Collier, Glades, Hendry, and Lee Counties and shall be
57 administered in at least two communities located in each county.
58 The purpose of the pilot program is to provide regular, in-home,
59 visiting nurse services to low-income, first-time mothers.
60 Visiting nurses shall educate mothers about the importance of
61 nutrition, the benefits of avoiding alcohol, tobacco, and drugs,
62 and the best ways to provide care for their children. In
63 addition, visiting nurses may provide assistance to enable
64 mothers to continue their education or find employment. Any
65 assistance provided through the program shall be provided only
66 with the consent of the low-income, first-time mother. Services
67 shall begin during the mother’s pregnancy and continue until her
68 child’s second birthday; however, the mother may refuse to
69 continue receiving services at any time.
70 (3) As used in this section, the term:
71 (a) “Department” means the Department of Health.
72 (b) “Local entity” means the local Healthy Start coalition.
73 (c) “Low-income” means having an annual household income
74 that does not exceed 200 percent of the federal poverty level.
75 (d) “Nurse” means a registered nurse, licensed practical
76 nurse, clinical nurse specialist, or advanced registered nurse
77 practitioner as defined in s. 464.003.
78 (e) “Pilot program” or “program” means the nurse home
79 visitation pilot program established under this section.
80 (4) The program shall be administered by the local entity
81 and provide services to a minimum of 100 low-income, first-time
82 mothers in that community. The department may waive this
83 requirement if the population base of the community does not
84 include 100 eligible mothers. The department shall ensure the
85 ability of the local entity to implement the program within the
86 smaller community and maintain compliance with program
87 requirements. A mother is eligible to receive services through
88 the program if she is pregnant with her first child and her
89 gross annual household income does not exceed 200 percent of the
90 federal poverty level.
91 (5) The department shall adopt rules pursuant to ss.
92 120.536(1) and 120.54 to implement this section. Rules that
93 establish program training requirements, protocols, management
94 information systems, and evaluation requirements shall be
95 modeled after practices and procedures of research-based
96 programs that have been implemented in one or more other states
97 for at least 5 years. In order to produce sizeable, sustained
98 outcomes for families who receive services through the pilot
99 program, the department shall ensure that services are provided
100 in accordance with outcome standards that have been replicated
101 in randomized controlled trials conducted at multiple sites and
102 that have shown significant reductions in:
103 (a) The number of babies born prematurely or with low birth
104 weight.
105 (b) The occurrence of infant behavioral impairments due to
106 a mother’s use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs.
107 (c) The number of reported incidents of child abuse and
108 neglect.
109 (d) The number of subsequent pregnancies.
110 (e) The number of mothers receiving public assistance.
111 (f) Criminal activity engaged in by a mother or her child
112 or children.
113 (6) The department shall monitor the administration of the
114 program to ensure that the program is implemented according to
115 the program training requirements, protocols, management
116 information systems, and evaluation requirements established by
117 rule of the department. The department shall evaluate the
118 program and submit an annual report of its findings and
119 recommendations on or before January 1 of each year to the
120 Governor, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the
121 House of Representatives.
122 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2009.