Florida Senate - 2022                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. SB 836
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Ì8119903Î811990                         
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
                  Comm: RCS            .                                
                  01/26/2022           .                                
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       The Committee on Health Policy (Brodeur) recommended the
       following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Delete everything after the enacting clause
    4  and insert:
    5         Section 1. Paragraph (b) of subsection (1), subsection (2),
    6  paragraphs (g) and (h) of subsection (4), and subsection (5) of
    7  section 429.256, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
    8         429.256 Assistance with self-administration of medication.—
    9         (1) For the purposes of this section, the term:
   10         (b) “Medication technician” “Unlicensed person” means an
   11  individual not currently licensed to practice nursing or
   12  medicine who is employed by or under contract with to an
   13  assisted living facility and who has received training on with
   14  respect to assisting with the self-administration of medication
   15  and use of point-of-care devices in an assisted living facility
   16  as provided under s. 429.52 before prior to providing such
   17  assistance as described in this section.
   18         (2) Residents who are capable of self-administering their
   19  own medications or using their point-of-care devices without
   20  assistance shall be encouraged and allowed to do so. However, a
   21  medication technician an unlicensed person may, consistent with
   22  a dispensed prescription’s label or the package directions of an
   23  over-the-counter medication or point-of-care device, assist a
   24  resident whose condition is medically stable with the self
   25  administration of routine, regularly scheduled medications that
   26  are intended to be self-administered and may assist with a
   27  resident’s use of point-of-care devices. Assistance with self
   28  medication by a medication technician an unlicensed person may
   29  occur only upon a documented request by, and the written
   30  informed consent of, a resident or the resident’s surrogate,
   31  guardian, or attorney in fact. For the purposes of this section,
   32  self-administered medications include both legend and over-the
   33  counter oral dosage forms, topical dosage forms, transdermal
   34  patches, and topical ophthalmic, otic, and nasal dosage forms
   35  including solutions, suspensions, sprays, and inhalers.
   36         (4) Assistance with self-administration does not include:
   37         (g) Assisting with medications ordered by the physician or
   38  health care professional with prescriptive authority to be given
   39  “as needed,” unless the order is written with specific
   40  parameters that preclude independent judgment on the part of the
   41  medication technician unlicensed person, and the resident
   42  requesting the medication is aware of his or her need for the
   43  medication and understands the purpose for taking the
   44  medication.
   45         (h) Medications for which the time of administration, the
   46  amount, the strength of dosage, the method of administration, or
   47  the reason for administration requires judgment or discretion on
   48  the part of the medication technician unlicensed person.
   49         (5) Assistance with the self-administration of medication
   50  by a medication technician an unlicensed person as described in
   51  this section is shall not be considered administration as
   52  defined in s. 465.003.
   53         Section 2. Subsection (6) of section 429.52, Florida
   54  Statutes, is amended to read:
   55         429.52 Staff training and educational requirements.—
   56         (6) Medication technicians Staff assisting with the self
   57  administration of medications and point-of-care devices under s.
   58  429.256 must complete a minimum of 6 additional hours of
   59  training provided by a registered nurse or a licensed pharmacist
   60  before providing assistance. Two hours of continuing education
   61  are required annually thereafter. The agency shall establish by
   62  rule the minimum requirements for medication technician of this
   63  training, which must address infection control, safe handling
   64  and use of point-of-care devices, communicating with case
   65  managers and health care providers, standard of care protocols
   66  for the provision of care in a licensed assisted living
   67  facility, identification of nursing standards, and methods of
   68  assisting residents with the self-administration of medications.
   69         Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2022.
   70  
   71  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
   72  And the title is amended as follows:
   73         Delete everything before the enacting clause
   74  and insert:
   75                        A bill to be entitled                      
   76         An act relating to medication technicians; amending s.
   77         429.256, F.S.; defining the term “medication
   78         technician”; requiring that assisted living facility
   79         residents who are able to use their point-of-care
   80         devices without assistance be encouraged and allowed
   81         to do so; authorizing medication technicians to assist
   82         assisted living facility residents with their use of
   83         point-of-care devices under certain circumstances;
   84         conforming provisions to changes made by the act;
   85         amending s. 429.52, F.S.; providing minimum
   86         requirements and specifications for the training of
   87         medication technicians; requiring the Agency for
   88         Health Care Administration to adopt rules establishing
   89         such requirements; providing an effective date.