Bill Text: FL S1282 | 2011 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Women's Health
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-05-05 - Withdrawn from Budget -SJ 968 [S1282 Detail]
Download: Florida-2011-S1282-Introduced.html
Florida Senate - 2011 SB 1282
By Senator Storms
10-01003A-11 20111282__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to women’s health; creating the
3 Gynecologic and Ovarian Cancer Education and Awareness
4 Act; amending s. 381.04015, F.S.; establishing the
5 Gynecologic and Ovarian Cancer Awareness Program in
6 the Department of Health; requiring the Department of
7 Health to disseminate information on gynecologic
8 cancers to the extent that funding is available;
9 directing the department to establish a Women’s
10 Gynecologic Cancer Information Advisory Council;
11 providing an effective date.
12
13 WHEREAS, one of the primary functions of the Department of
14 Health is to reduce the number of women dying prematurely from
15 cancer and other deadly diseases through education, research,
16 better health care, and other means, and
17 WHEREAS, a coordinated education and awareness program
18 developed by the department is needed to reduce the number of
19 women in the state who die from gynecologic cancers, and
20 WHEREAS, each year in Florida more than 4,500 women are
21 diagnosed with and 1,700 women die from gynecologic cancers, and
22 WHEREAS, ovarian cancer causes more deaths than any other
23 gynecologic cancer and ranks fourth as a cause of cancer deaths
24 among women in the state, and
25 WHEREAS, when ovarian cancer is found and treated in its
26 earliest stages, the 5-year survival rate is 95 percent, and
27 WHEREAS, most women who suffer from ovarian cancer are not
28 diagnosed until the later stages when the disease has spread and
29 the 5-year survival rate is decreased to 46 percent, and
30 WHEREAS, approximately half of deaths from ovarian cancer
31 occur in women over the age of 55 and approximately one-quarter
32 of deaths from ovarian cancer occur in women between 35 and 54
33 years of age, and
34 WHEREAS, because early detection and treatment often mean
35 the difference between life and death, it is important to
36 increase awareness of the factors that put women at a higher
37 risk for gynecologic cancers and educate women regarding the
38 symptoms of ovarian and other forms of gynecologic cancers and
39 the range of treatment options available to them, NOW,
40 THEREFORE,
41
42 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
43
44 Section 1. This act may be cited as the “Gynecologic and
45 Ovarian Cancer Education and Awareness Act.”
46 Section 2. Subsection (3) and (4) of section 381.04015,
47 Florida Statutes, are renumbered as subsections (4) and (5),
48 respectively, and a new subsection (3) is added to that section
49 to read:
50 381.04015 Women’s Health Strategy; legislative intent;
51 duties of Officer of Women’s Health Strategy; other state agency
52 duties.—
53 (3) The Gynecologic and Ovarian Cancer Awareness Program is
54 established in the Department of Health. The department shall:
55 (a) To the extent funds are appropriated for this purpose
56 or existing federal or state resources are made available to the
57 department, place priority on providing information to
58 consumers, patients, and health care providers regarding women’s
59 gynecologic cancers, including the signs and symptoms, risk
60 factors, benefits of early detection through appropriate
61 diagnostic testing, and treatment options. The department shall
62 publish this information on its website. To the extent feasible,
63 the department’s website shall include a link directly to the
64 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website for in
65 depth gynecologic health information. The information may also
66 be offered in audio, video, electronic, or other media format.
67 (b) Develop and provide public service announcements and
68 advertisements that emphasize the early warning signs and risk
69 factors associated with gynecologic cancers, indicate how
70 educational materials can be obtained, and encourage women to
71 discuss the risks of gynecologic cancers with their health care
72 providers. The department shall seek to obtain federal and state
73 resources to develop the public service announcements or may use
74 public service announcements developed by others, including, but
75 not limited to, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
76 which are provided to the department for this purpose.
77 (c) Formulate and execute a distribution plan and strategy
78 to disseminate gynecologic cancer educational materials and
79 information. The plan shall recommend and encourage individual
80 public health facilities to obtain gynecologic cancer
81 educational materials made available by federal, state, and
82 other resources and display and distribute those materials to
83 their consumers and patients. The plan shall also recommend and
84 encourage primary care physicians, gynecologists, private health
85 care facilities, and hospitals to adopt procedures to display
86 and distribute gynecologic cancer educational materials to their
87 consumers and patients, including, but not limited to, those
88 materials made available by federal, state, and other resources.
89 (d) By October 1, 2011, appoint a Women’s Gynecologic
90 Cancer Information Advisory Council to be chaired by the Officer
91 of Women’s Health Strategy or other appropriate officer of the
92 department as determined by the Deputy Secretary for Health. The
93 council shall meet at least biannually. Membership on the
94 council shall include health care professionals, health care
95 providers, consumers, patients, and representatives of nonprofit
96 organizations that concentrate on gynecologic cancers, and other
97 appropriate representatives as determined by the department.
98 Members of the council shall receive no compensation for the
99 performance of their duties under this subsection, but shall be
100 reimbursed for reasonable and necessary expenses incurred while
101 engaged in the performance of those duties.
102 Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2011.
