Florida Senate - 2010 SB 2366
By Senator Thrasher
8-01679A-10 20102366__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to hospice care; amending s. 400.601,
3 F.S.; defining the terms “hospice program” and “life
4 limiting illness”; creating s. 400.6093, F.S.;
5 authorizing a licensed hospice to provide care to a
6 person who has a life-limiting illness but who is not
7 admitted to a hospice program; providing for such
8 services to include the person’s family; clarifying
9 that the act does not prohibit the provision of
10 palliative care by other authorized providers or
11 facilities; providing that the act does not mandate or
12 prescribe additional Medicaid coverage; providing an
13 effective date.
14
15 WHEREAS, Senator Jim King supported Florida’s model for
16 high-quality hospice care as an outstanding form of
17 compassionate care and will be remembered as one of the greatest
18 advocates for hospice care throughout his career in the Florida
19 Legislature, and
20 WHEREAS, Senator Jim King proudly sponsored Florida’s Death
21 With Dignity Act that provides for the protection of human life
22 by ensuring that every competent adult has the fundamental right
23 of self-determination regarding decisions pertaining to his or
24 her own health, and
25 WHEREAS, one of Senator Jim King’s final wishes was to
26 ensure that an individual’s fundamental right to self
27 determination would allow palliative care to be extended for the
28 benefit of persons who have life-limiting illnesses, who are not
29 in need of hospice care, but who do need compassionate
30 palliative care that is delivered by persons having expertise in
31 hospice care, NOW, THEREFORE,
32
33 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
34
35 Section 1. Section 400.601, Florida Statutes, is amended to
36 read:
37 400.601 Definitions.—As used in this part, the term:
38 (1) “Agency” means the Agency for Health Care
39 Administration.
40 (2) “Department” means the Department of Elderly Affairs.
41 (3) “Hospice” means a centrally administered corporation
42 providing a continuum of palliative and supportive care for the
43 terminally ill patient and his or her family.
44 (4) “Hospice care team” means an interdisciplinary team of
45 qualified professionals and volunteers who, in consultation with
46 the patient, the patient’s family, and the patient’s primary or
47 attending physician, collectively assess, coordinate, and
48 provide the appropriate palliative and supportive care to
49 hospice patients and their families.
50 (5) “Hospice program” means a program offered by a hospice
51 which provides a continuum of palliative and supportive care for
52 the terminally ill person and his or her family.
53 (6)(5) “Hospice residential unit” means a homelike living
54 facility, other than a facility licensed under other parts of
55 this chapter, under chapter 395, or under chapter 429, that is
56 operated by a hospice for the benefit of its patients and is
57 considered by a patient who lives there to be his or her primary
58 residence.
59 (7)(6) “Hospice services” means items and services
60 furnished to a patient and family by a hospice, or by others
61 under arrangements with such a program, in a place of temporary
62 or permanent residence used as the patient’s home for the
63 purpose of maintaining the patient at home; or, if the patient
64 needs short-term institutionalization, the services shall be
65 furnished in cooperation with those contracted institutions or
66 in the hospice inpatient facility.
67 (8) “Life-limiting illness” means a medical diagnosis of a
68 disease or condition that is considered progressive,
69 debilitating, late stage, and not curable and that may be
70 effectively controlled or managed through palliative care.
71 (9)(7) “Palliative care” means services or interventions
72 which are not curative but are provided for the reduction or
73 abatement of pain and human suffering.
74 (10)(8) “Patient” means the terminally ill individual
75 receiving hospice services.
76 (11)(9) “Plan of care” means a written assessment by the
77 hospice of each patient’s and family’s needs and preferences,
78 and the services to be provided by the hospice to meet those
79 needs.
80 (12)(10) “Terminally ill” means that the patient has a
81 medical prognosis that his or her life expectancy is 1 year or
82 less if the illness runs its normal course.
83 Section 2. Section 400.6093, Florida Statutes, is created
84 to read:
85 400.6093 Palliative care.—Notwithstanding any other
86 provision of law, a hospice may provide palliative care to a
87 person who has a life-limiting illness, and who is not admitted
88 to a hospice program, and to the person’s family. Palliative
89 care may be provided directly to the person and to the person’s
90 family by the hospice or by others under arrangement with the
91 hospice. This section does not preclude the provision of
92 palliative care by any other health care provider or health care
93 facility that is otherwise authorized to provide such services.
94 This section does not mandate or prescribe additional Medicaid
95 coverage.
96 Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2010.