Florida Senate - 2012 CS for SB 1286
By the Committee on Regulated Industries; and Senator Thrasher
580-02847-12 20121286c1
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to treatment programs for impaired
3 professionals; creating s. 401.466, F.S.; providing
4 that an emergency medical technician or paramedic who
5 is certified or has applied to be certified may be
6 subject to a treatment program for impaired
7 practitioners at the election of the impaired
8 practitioner consultant; prohibiting charging the
9 associated costs to the Medical Quality Assurance
10 Trust Fund within the Department of Health; amending
11 s. 456.076, F.S.; exempting an entity retained by the
12 Department of Health as an impaired practitioner
13 consultant from certain licensing requirements if the
14 entity employs or contracts with licensed
15 professionals; revising the schools or programs that
16 may contract for impaired practitioner consulting
17 services; limiting the liability of certain medical
18 schools and schools that prepare health care
19 practitioners and veterinarians for licensure for
20 referring a student to an impaired practitioner
21 consultant; authorizing the Department of Health to
22 refer an applicant for licensure to the consultant;
23 clarifying the types of legal proceedings related to
24 services provided by impaired practitioner consultants
25 which are defended by the Department of Financial
26 Services; clarifying requirements for an impaired
27 practitioner consultant to maintain as confidential
28 certain information concerning an impaired
29 practitioner; authorizing the department and certain
30 other entities to have administrative control over the
31 impaired practitioner consultant to the extent
32 necessary to receive disclosures; creating s. 468.315,
33 F.S.; providing that a radiologic technologist who is
34 certified or who has applied to be certified may be
35 subject to a treatment program for impaired
36 practitioners at the election of an impaired
37 practitioner consultant; providing an effective date.
38
39 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
40
41 Section 1. Section 401.466, Florida Statutes, is created to
42 read:
43 401.466 Treatment program for impaired emergency medical
44 technicians and paramedics.—An emergency medical technician or
45 paramedic who is certified or has applied to be certified under
46 this part may be subject to s. 456.076 at the election of an
47 impaired practitioner consultant; however, associated costs may
48 not be charged to the Medical Quality Assurance Trust Fund
49 within the Department of Health.
50 Section 2. Subsection (2), paragraph (d) of subsection (3),
51 and paragraph (b) of subsection (7) of section 456.076, Florida
52 Statutes, are amended, and subsection (8) is added to that
53 section, to read:
54 456.076 Treatment programs for impaired practitioners.—
55 (2)(a) The department shall retain one or more impaired
56 practitioner consultants who are each licensees. The consultant
57 shall be a licensee under the jurisdiction of the Division of
58 Medical Quality Assurance within the department and who must be:
59 1. A practitioner or recovered practitioner licensed under
60 chapter 458, chapter 459, or part I of chapter 464;, or
61 2. An entity employing a medical director or employing a
62 registered nurse as an executive director, who must be a
63 practitioner or recovered practitioner licensed under chapter
64 458, chapter 459, or part I of chapter 464.
65 (b) An entity that is retained as a consultant under this
66 section and employs a medical director or registered nurse as an
67 executive director is not required to be licensed as a substance
68 abuse provider or mental health treatment provider under chapter
69 394, chapter 395, or chapter 397 in order to operate as a
70 consultant under this section if the entity employs or contracts
71 with licensed professionals to perform or appropriately
72 supervise any specific treatment or evaluation that requires
73 individual licensing or supervision.
74 (c) The consultant shall assist the probable cause panel
75 and department in carrying out the responsibilities of this
76 section. This includes shall include working with department
77 investigators to determine whether a practitioner is, in fact,
78 impaired. The consultant may contract for services to be
79 provided, for appropriate compensation, if requested by a the
80 school or program, for students enrolled in a school schools for
81 licensure as a health care practitioner under chapter 456 or a
82 veterinarian under chapter 474 allopathic physicians or
83 physician assistants under chapter 458, osteopathic physicians
84 or physician assistants under chapter 459, nurses under chapter
85 464, or pharmacists under chapter 465 who are alleged to be
86 impaired as a result of the misuse or abuse of alcohol or drugs,
87 or both, or due to a mental or physical condition.
88 (d) The department is not responsible under any
89 circumstances for paying the costs of care provided by approved
90 treatment providers, and the department is not responsible for
91 paying the costs of consultants’ services provided for such
92 students.
93 (e) A medical school accredited by the Liaison Committee on
94 Medical Education of the Commission on Osteopathic College
95 Accreditation, or another other school providing for the
96 education of students enrolled in preparation for licensure as a
97 health care practitioner under chapter 456 or a veterinarian
98 under chapter 474 allopathic physicians under chapter 458 or
99 osteopathic physicians under chapter 459, which school is
100 governed by accreditation standards requiring notice and the
101 provision of due process procedures to students, is not liable
102 in any civil action for referring a student to the consultant
103 retained by the department or for disciplinary actions that
104 adversely affect the status of a student when the disciplinary
105 actions are instituted in reasonable reliance on the
106 recommendations, reports, or conclusions provided by such
107 consultant, if the school, in referring the student or taking
108 disciplinary action, adheres to the due process procedures
109 adopted by the applicable accreditation entities and if the
110 school committed no intentional fraud in carrying out the
111 provisions of this section.
112 (3)
113 (d) Whenever the department receives a legally sufficient
114 complaint alleging that a licensee or applicant is impaired as
115 described in paragraph (a) and no complaint against the licensee
116 or applicant other than impairment exists, the appropriate
117 board, the board’s designee, or the department shall forward all
118 information in its possession regarding the impaired licensee or
119 applicant to the consultant. For the purposes of this section, a
120 suspension from hospital staff privileges due to the impairment
121 does not constitute a complaint.
122 (7)
123 (b) In accordance with s. 284.385, the Department of
124 Financial Services shall defend any claim, suit, action, or
125 proceeding, including a claim, suit, action, or proceeding for
126 injunctive, affirmative, or declaratory relief, against the
127 consultant, the consultant’s officers or employees, or those
128 acting at the direction of the consultant for the limited
129 purpose of an emergency intervention on behalf of a licensee or
130 student as described in subsection (2) when the consultant is
131 unable to perform such intervention that which is brought as a
132 result of any act or omission by any of the consultant’s
133 officers and employees and those acting under the direction of
134 the consultant for the limited purpose of an emergency
135 intervention on behalf of a licensee or student as described in
136 subsection (2) when the consultant is unable to perform such
137 intervention when such act or omission arises out of and in the
138 scope of the consultant’s duties under its contract with the
139 department.
140 (8) An impaired practitioner consultant is the official
141 custodian of records concerning any impaired licensee monitored
142 by that consultant. The consultant may not, except to the extent
143 necessary for carrying out the consultant’s duties under this
144 section, disclose to the impaired licensee or his or her
145 designee any information that is disclosed to or obtained by the
146 consultant and is confidential under paragraph (5)(a). The
147 department, and any other entity to which the consultant
148 contracts, shall have direct administrative control over the
149 consultant to the extent necessary to receive disclosures from
150 the consultant as allowed by federal law. If a disciplinary
151 proceeding is pending, an impaired licensee may obtain such
152 information from the department under s. 456.073(10).
153 Section 3. Section 468.315, Florida Statutes, is created to
154 read:
155 468.315 Treatment program for impaired radiological
156 personnel.—A radiologic technologist who is certified or who has
157 applied to be certified under this part may be subject to s.
158 456.076 at the election of an impaired practitioner consultant.
159 Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2012.