Bill Text: FL S1746 | 2010 | Regular Session | Comm Sub

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Bill Title: Emergency Room Staffing Initiative [SPSC]

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Failed) 2010-04-30 - Died in Committee on Rules [S1746 Detail]

Download: Florida-2010-S1746-Comm_Sub.html

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       Florida Senate - 2010                             CS for SM 1746 
        
       By the Committee on Health Regulation; and Senator Jones 
       588-02491-10                                          20101746c1 
    1                           Senate Memorial                          
    2         A memorial to the Congress of the United States, 
    3         urging Congress to create a nationwide Emergency Room 
    4         Staffing Initiative. 
    5   
    6         WHEREAS, a crisis exists whereby an insufficient number of 
    7  physicians and medical specialists are available to provide on 
    8  call emergency room support, and 
    9         WHEREAS, in order to provide a more stable health care 
   10  system in America, an incentive must be created to encourage 
   11  physicians and medical specialists to more actively participate 
   12  in these on-call emergency room responsibilities as part of 
   13  their hospital staffing duties, and 
   14         WHEREAS, an increased number of indigent care cases and 
   15  patients without health insurance seeking medical attention has 
   16  helped to discourage many practitioners and specialists from 
   17  desiring to serve in on-call services in emergency rooms, and 
   18         WHEREAS, when combined with already dramatically reduced 
   19  reimbursement rates, the staffing crisis is exacerbated, NOW, 
   20  THEREFORE, 
   21   
   22  Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 
   23   
   24         That the Congress of the United States is urged to create a 
   25  nationwide initiative in order to remedy this staffing crisis by 
   26  amending the nation’s tax code to allow for all uncompensated 
   27  emergency room work to be eligible as a charitable deduction 
   28  against earned income for the practicing physician or medical 
   29  specialist up to a maximum of $100,000. Charges eligible for 
   30  this deduction should be based on a rate equivalent to 200 
   31  percent of the Medicare reimbursement rate at the time the 
   32  service is rendered. In the absence of an applicable Medicare 
   33  billing code, the charge for this deduction should be based on a 
   34  fee not to exceed 100 percent of the average customary and 
   35  reasonable charges allowed under private health insurance for 
   36  any services rendered. 
   37         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be 
   38  dispatched to the President of the United States, to the 
   39  President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the 
   40  United States House of Representatives, and to each member of 
   41  the Florida delegation to the United States Congress.