HB 1085

1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act relating to women's health; creating the
3	Gynecologic and Ovarian Cancer Education and Awareness Act
4	of 2011; amending s. 381.04015, F.S.; establishing the
5	Gynecologic and Ovarian Cancer Awareness Program in the
6	Department of Health; requiring the Department of Health
7	to disseminate information on gynecologic cancers to the
8	extent that funding is available; directing the department
9	to establish a Women's Gynecologic Cancer Information
10	Advisory Council; providing an effective date.
11
12	WHEREAS, one of the primary functions of the Department of
13	Health is to reduce the number of women dying prematurely from
14	cancer and other deadly diseases through education, research,
15	better health care, and other means, and
16	WHEREAS, a coordinated education and awareness program
17	developed by the department is needed to reduce the number of
18	women in the state who die from gynecologic cancers, and
19	WHEREAS, each year in Florida more than 4,500 women are
20	diagnosed with and 1,700 women die from gynecologic cancers, and
21	WHEREAS, ovarian cancer causes more deaths than any other
22	gynecologic cancer and ranks fourth as a cause of cancer deaths
23	among women in the state, and
24	WHEREAS, when ovarian cancer is found and treated in its
25	earliest stages, the 5-year survival rate is 95 percent, and
26	WHEREAS, most women who suffer from ovarian cancer are not
27	diagnosed until the later stages when the disease has spread and
28	the 5-year survival rate is decreased to 46 percent, and
29	WHEREAS, approximately half of deaths from ovarian cancer
30	occur in women over the age of 55 and approximately one-quarter
31	of deaths from ovarian cancer occur in women between 35 and 54
32	years of age, and
33	WHEREAS, because early detection and treatment often mean
34	the difference between life and death, it is important to
35	increase awareness of the factors that put women at a higher
36	risk for gynecologic cancers and educate women regarding the
37	symptoms of ovarian and other forms of gynecologic cancers and
38	the range of treatment options available to them, NOW,
39	THEREFORE,
40
41	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
42
43	Section 1.  This act may be cited as the "Gynecologic and
44	Ovarian Cancer Education and Awareness Act of 2011."
45	Section 2.  Subsection (3) and (4) of section 381.04015,
46	Florida Statutes, are renumbered as subsections (4) and (5),
47	respectively, and a new subsection (3) is added to that section
48	to read:
49	381.04015  Women's Health Strategy; legislative intent;
50	duties of Officer of Women's Health Strategy; other state agency
51	duties.-
52	(3)  The Gynecologic and Ovarian Cancer Awareness Program
53	is established in the Department of Health. The department
54	shall:
55	(a)  To the extent funds are appropriated for this purpose
56	or existing federal or state resources are made available to the
57	department, place priority on providing information to
58	consumers, patients, and health care providers regarding women's
59	gynecologic cancers, including the signs and symptoms, risk
60	factors, benefits of early detection through appropriate
61	diagnostic testing, and treatment options. The department shall
62	publish this information on its website. To the extent feasible,
63	the department's website shall include a link directly to the
64	Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's website for in-
65	depth gynecologic health information. The information may also
66	be offered in audio, video, electronic, or other media format.
67	(b)  Develop and provide public service announcements and
68	advertisements that emphasize the early warning signs and risk
69	factors associated with gynecologic cancers, indicate how
70	educational materials can be obtained, and encourage women to
71	discuss the risks of gynecologic cancers with their health care
72	providers. The department shall seek to obtain federal and state
73	resources to develop the public service announcements or may use
74	public service announcements developed by others, including, but
75	not limited to, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
76	which are provided to the department for this purpose.
77	(c)  Formulate and execute a distribution plan and strategy
78	to disseminate gynecologic cancer educational materials and
79	information. The plan shall recommend and encourage individual
80	public health facilities to obtain gynecologic cancer
81	educational materials made available by federal, state, and
82	other resources and display and distribute those materials to
83	their consumers and patients. The plan shall also recommend and
84	encourage primary care physicians, gynecologists, private health
85	care facilities, and hospitals to adopt procedures to display
86	and distribute gynecologic cancer educational materials to their
87	consumers and patients, including, but not limited to, those
88	materials made available by federal, state, and other resources.
89	(d)  By October 1, 2011, appoint a Women's Gynecologic
90	Cancer Information Advisory Council to be chaired by the Officer
91	of Women's Health Strategy or other appropriate officer of the
92	department as determined by the Deputy Secretary for Health. The
93	council shall meet at least biannually. Membership on the
94	council shall include health care professionals, health care
95	providers, consumers, patients, and representatives of nonprofit
96	organizations that concentrate on gynecologic cancers, and other
97	appropriate representatives as determined by the department.
98	Members of the council shall receive no compensation for the
99	performance of their duties under this subsection, but shall be
100	reimbursed for reasonable and necessary expenses incurred while
101	engaged in the performance of those duties.
102	Section 3.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2011.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.