Bill Text: FL S1082 | 2016 | Regular Session | Introduced


Bill Title: Evaluation of Students with Impairing Conditions Who are Preparing for Licensure as Health Care Practitioners or Veterinarians

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Failed) 2016-03-11 - Died in Appropriations [S1082 Detail]

Download: Florida-2016-S1082-Introduced.html
       Florida Senate - 2016                                    SB 1082
       
       
        
       By Senator Latvala
       
       20-01043-16                                           20161082__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to the evaluation of students with
    3         impairing conditions who are preparing for licensure
    4         as health care practitioners or veterinarians;
    5         creating s. 456.0765, F.S.; creating the hardship
    6         evaluation program for students with financial
    7         hardships who are preparing for licensure as health
    8         care practitioners or veterinarians and who are
    9         referred to an impaired practitioners program;
   10         providing conditions for participation; providing for
   11         the submission of invoices to the Department of Health
   12         by consultants and for the payment of evaluators
   13         directly by the department; requiring the submission
   14         of monthly progress reports to the department;
   15         requiring that the identity of participating students
   16         be protected in billing for services and progress
   17         reports; providing for funding from the Medical
   18         Quality Assurance Trust Fund; providing an effective
   19         date.
   20          
   21  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   22  
   23         Section 1. Section 456.0765, Florida Statutes, is created
   24  to read:
   25         456.0765 Hardship evaluation program.—There is created the
   26  hardship evaluation program to fund the mental or physical
   27  evaluation of enrolled students who are preparing for licensure
   28  as health care practitioners or veterinarians and who are
   29  referred to an impaired practitioner program, but cannot afford
   30  the required evaluation. The purpose of the hardship evaluation
   31  program is to protect the public safety by assisting such
   32  students who are or may be impaired as the result of the misuse
   33  or abuse of alcohol or drugs or due to a mental or physical
   34  condition that could affect the student’s ability to practice
   35  with skill and safety when licensed. The hardship evaluation
   36  program is a collaboration between the department and
   37  consultants retained by the department pursuant to s. 456.076 to
   38  operate the impaired practitioner program.
   39         (1) A student must satisfy all of the following conditions
   40  to be eligible for participation in the hardship evaluation
   41  program:
   42         (a) Be enrolled in an institution of higher learning in
   43  this state for the purpose of preparing for licensure as a
   44  health care practitioner as defined in this chapter or as a
   45  veterinarian under chapter 474.
   46         (b) Be referred to an impaired practitioner program
   47  operated by a consultant retained by the department pursuant to
   48  s. 456.076 or other law because of an actual or alleged
   49  impairing condition that is the result of the misuse or abuse of
   50  alcohol or drugs or caused by a mental or physical condition
   51  that could affect the student’s ability to practice with skill
   52  and safety when licensed.
   53         (c) Be eligible for participation in the impaired
   54  practitioner program to which they have been referred.
   55         (d) Be required by the consultant to undergo a mental or
   56  physical evaluation, or both, by an evaluator approved by the
   57  department or the consultant to determine whether the individual
   58  has an impairing condition.
   59         (e) Be unable to afford the cost of the evaluation due to
   60  financial hardship, as determined under subsection (2), by the
   61  consultant operating the applicable impaired practitioner
   62  program. For purposes of this paragraph, an individual has a
   63  financial hardship if he or she is unemployed; is receiving
   64  payments under a federal or state public assistance program; or
   65  has a monthly income that is at or below 150 percent of the
   66  federal income poverty level as published annually by the United
   67  States Department of Health and Human Services.
   68         (2) The consultant operating the applicable impaired
   69  practitioner program is solely responsible for determining
   70  whether a student meets the eligibility criteria specified in
   71  subsection (1). The consultant must obtain reasonable
   72  documentation of financial hardship but is not required to
   73  verify the authenticity of the documentation and information
   74  received. The consultant’s eligibility determination is final
   75  and not subject to review pursuant to chapter 120.
   76         (3) After student eligibility for the hardship evaluation
   77  program has been determined and the evaluation has been
   78  completed, the consultant operating the impaired practitioner
   79  program shall redact any individually identifiable student
   80  information and forward the evaluator’s invoice to the
   81  department for payment. Upon receipt of the invoice, the
   82  department shall pay the approved evaluator directly.
   83         (4) The consultant must provide monthly progress reports to
   84  the department which include the number of hardship evaluation
   85  program participants and, for each participant, the cost of his
   86  or her examination, a summary of his or her status in the
   87  program, the name of his or her evaluator, the date of his or
   88  her evaluation, and the date that he or she is expected to
   89  complete his or her participation in the impaired practitioner
   90  program. Progress reports may not contain any individually
   91  identifiable student information.
   92         (5) Funding for the hardship evaluation program shall be
   93  made available each fiscal year from the Medical Quality
   94  Assurance Trust Fund as provided by legislative appropriation or
   95  an approved amendment to the department’s operating budget
   96  pursuant to chapter 216. If available funding is exhausted in
   97  any fiscal year, the program shall cease operation until funding
   98  becomes available.
   99         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2016.

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