Florida Senate - 2011                                     SB 626
       
       
       
       By Senator Thrasher
       
       
       
       
       8-00457E-11                                            2011626__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to Shands Teaching Hospital and
    3         Clinics, Inc.; amending s. 1004.41, F.S.; clarifying
    4         provisions relating to references to the corporation
    5         known as Shands Teaching Hospital and Clinics, Inc.;
    6         clarifying provisions regarding the purpose of the
    7         corporation; authorizing the corporation to create
    8         corporate subsidiaries and affiliates; providing that
    9         Shands Teaching Hospital and Clinics, Inc., Shands
   10         Jacksonville Medical Center, Inc., Shands Jacksonville
   11         Healthcare, Inc., and any not-for-profit subsidiary of
   12         such entities are instrumentalities of the state for
   13         purposes of sovereign immunity; providing an effective
   14         date.
   15  
   16  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   17  
   18         Section 1. Section 1004.41, Florida Statutes, is amended to
   19  read:
   20         1004.41 University of Florida; J. Hillis Miller Health
   21  Center.—
   22         (1) There is established the J. Hillis Miller Health Center
   23  at the University of Florida, including campuses at Gainesville
   24  and Jacksonville and affiliated teaching hospitals, which shall
   25  include the following colleges:
   26         (a) College of Dentistry.
   27         (b) College of Public Health and Health Professions.
   28         (c) College of Medicine.
   29         (d) College of Nursing.
   30         (e) College of Pharmacy.
   31         (f) College of Veterinary Medicine and related teaching
   32  hospitals.
   33         (2) Each college of the health center shall be so
   34  maintained and operated as to comply with the standards approved
   35  by a nationally recognized association for accreditation.
   36         (3)(a) The University of Florida Health Center Operations
   37  and Maintenance Trust Fund shall be administered by the
   38  University of Florida Board of Trustees. Funds shall be credited
   39  to the trust fund from the sale of goods and services performed
   40  by the University of Florida Veterinary Medicine Teaching
   41  Hospital. The purpose of the trust fund is to support the
   42  instruction, research, and service missions of the University of
   43  Florida College of Veterinary Medicine.
   44         (b) Notwithstanding the provisions of s. 216.301, and
   45  pursuant to s. 216.351, any balance in the trust fund at the end
   46  of any fiscal year shall remain in the trust fund and shall be
   47  available for carrying out the purposes of the trust fund.
   48         (4)(a) The University of Florida Board of Trustees shall
   49  lease the hospital facilities of the health center known as the
   50  Shands Teaching Hospital and Clinics on the Gainesville campus
   51  of the University of Florida and all furnishings, equipment, and
   52  other chattels or choses in action used in the operation of the
   53  hospital, to Shands Teaching Hospital and Clinics, Inc., a
   54  private not-for-profit corporation organized solely for the
   55  primary purpose of supporting operating the University of
   56  Florida Board of Trustees’ health affairs mission of community
   57  service and patient care, education and training of health
   58  professionals, and clinical research. In furtherance of that
   59  primary purpose, Shands Teaching Hospital and Clinics, Inc.,
   60  shall operate the hospital and ancillary health care facilities
   61  as deemed of the health center and other health care facilities
   62  and programs determined to be necessary by the board of Shands
   63  Teaching Hospital and Clinics, Inc. the nonprofit corporation.
   64  The rental for the hospital facilities shall be an amount equal
   65  to the debt service on bonds or revenue certificates issued
   66  solely for capital improvements to the hospital facilities or as
   67  otherwise provided by law.
   68         (b) The University of Florida Board of Trustees shall
   69  provide in the lease or by separate contract or agreement with
   70  Shands Teaching Hospital and Clinics, Inc., the not-for-profit
   71  corporation for the following:
   72         1. Approval of the articles of incorporation of Shands
   73  Teaching Hospital and Clinics, Inc., the not-for-profit
   74  corporation by the University of Florida Board of Trustees and
   75  the governance of that the not-for-profit corporation by a board
   76  of directors appointed, subject to removal, and chaired by the
   77  President of the University of Florida, or his or her designee,
   78  and vice chaired by the Vice President for Health Affairs of the
   79  University of Florida, or his or her designee.
   80         2. The use of hospital facilities and personnel in support
   81  of community service and patient care, the research programs,
   82  and of the teaching roles role of the health center.
   83         3. The continued recognition of the collective bargaining
   84  units and collective bargaining agreements as currently composed
   85  and recognition of the certified labor organizations
   86  representing those units and agreements.
   87         4. The use of hospital facilities and personnel in
   88  connection with research programs conducted by the health
   89  center.
   90         5. Reimbursement to the hospital for indigent patients,
   91  state-mandated programs, underfunded state programs, and costs
   92  to the hospital for support of the teaching and research
   93  programs of the health center. Such reimbursement shall be
   94  appropriated to either the health center or the hospital each
   95  year by the Legislature after review and approval of the request
   96  for funds.
   97         (c) The University of Florida Board of Trustees may, with
   98  the approval of the Legislature, increase the hospital
   99  facilities or remodel or renovate them, provided that the rental
  100  paid by the hospital for such new, remodeled, or renovated
  101  facilities is sufficient to amortize the costs thereof over a
  102  reasonable period of time or fund the debt service for any bonds
  103  or revenue certificates issued to finance such improvements.
  104         (d) The University of Florida Board of Trustees is
  105  authorized to provide to Shands Teaching Hospital and Clinics,
  106  Inc., the not-for-profit corporation leasing the hospital
  107  facilities and its not-for-profit subsidiaries and affiliates
  108  comprehensive general liability insurance including professional
  109  liability from a self-insurance trust program established
  110  pursuant to s. 1004.24.
  111         (e)Shands Teaching Hospital and Clinics, Inc., may, in
  112  support of the health affairs mission of the University of
  113  Florida Board of Trustees and with its prior approval, create
  114  for-profit or not-for-profit corporate subsidiaries and
  115  affiliates, or both. The University of Florida Board of
  116  Trustees, which may act through the President of the University
  117  of Florida or his or her designee, has the right to control
  118  Shands Teaching Hospital and Clinics, Inc. Shands Teaching
  119  Hospital and Clinics, Inc., and any not-for-profit subsidiaries
  120  shall be conclusively deemed corporations primarily acting as
  121  instrumentalities of the state, pursuant to s. 768.28(2), for
  122  purposes of sovereign immunity.
  123         (f)(e)If In the event that the lease of the hospital
  124  facilities to Shands Teaching Hospital and Clinics, Inc., the
  125  not-for-profit corporation is terminated for any reason, the
  126  University of Florida Board of Trustees shall resume management
  127  and operation of the hospital facilities. In such event, the
  128  University of Florida Board of Trustees is authorized to utilize
  129  revenues generated from the operation of the hospital facilities
  130  to pay the costs and expenses of operating the hospital facility
  131  for the remainder of the fiscal year in which such termination
  132  occurs.
  133         (5)(a)(f)Shands Jacksonville Medical Center, Inc., and its
  134  parent Shands Jacksonville Healthcare, Inc., are private not
  135  for-profit corporations organized primarily to support the
  136  health affairs mission of the University of Florida Board of
  137  Trustees in community service and patient care, education and
  138  training of health affairs professionals, and clinical research.
  139  Shands Jacksonville Medical Center, Inc., is a teaching hospital
  140  affiliated with the University of Florida Board of Trustees,
  141  located on the Jacksonville Campus of the University of Florida.
  142  Shands Jacksonville Medical Center, Inc., and Shands
  143  Jacksonville Healthcare, Inc., may, in support of the health
  144  affairs mission of the University of Florida Board of Trustees
  145  and with its prior approval, create for-profit or not-for-profit
  146  corporate subsidiaries and affiliates, or both.
  147         (b) The University of Florida Board of Trustees, which may
  148  act through the President of the University of Florida or his or
  149  her designee, has the right to control Shands Jacksonville
  150  Medical Center, Inc., and Shands Jacksonville Healthcare, Inc.
  151  Shands Jacksonville Medical Center, Inc., Shands Jacksonville
  152  Healthcare, Inc., and any not-for-profit subsidiary of Shands
  153  Jacksonville Medical Center, Inc., shall be conclusively deemed
  154  corporations primarily acting as instrumentalities of the state,
  155  pursuant to s. 768.28(2), for purposes of sovereign immunity.
  156         (c) The University of Florida Board of Trustees is
  157  authorized to provide to Shands Jacksonville Healthcare, Inc.,
  158  and its not-for-profit subsidiaries and affiliates and any
  159  successor corporation that acts in support of the board of
  160  trustees, comprehensive general liability coverage, including
  161  professional liability, from the self-insurance programs
  162  established pursuant to s. 1004.24.
  163         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2011.