Bill Text: FL H1259 | 2010 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Hospice Care

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 4-0)

Status: (Failed) 2010-04-30 - Died in Committee on Health Care Regulation Policy (HFPC) [H1259 Detail]

Download: Florida-2010-H1259-Introduced.html

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HB 1259

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

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