Legislative Update: Summer 2010

By Amy Young, FOGS Legislative Consultant

To sum up the 2010 Legislative Session, I can only say that we were lucky to dodge (some of the) shrapnel throughout the 60 Day session! I arrived in Tallahassee for the first set of committee hearings in September with a (stylish) flak jacket and didn’t take it off until adjournment on April 30.

Below are the hot issues affecting OB/GYNs that were debated during the session.

Prohibition Against Arbitration Agreements
The bills (SB 2034/HB 1529) specified that arbitration agreements executed prior to medical treatment or care (pre-dispute agreements), as well as arbitration agreements executed after medical treatment or care (post-dispute agreements) are voidable.

This legislation would have also precluded health care providers and nursing homes from denying services, treatment, or care if a patient or consumer refuses to sign an agreement or rescinds the agreement. This legislation failed after significant lobbying from a large coalition of physician lobbyists, nursing homes and FPIC.

Abortion Debate
Many of the most controversial debates surrounded abortion issues. The Florida Senate pushed three separate anti-abortion measures three days before the session ended. Two of the measures which both passed were amendments to a larger health care bill (HB 1143). The first amendment which passed with a 24 to 11 vote primarily along party lines, will forbid using state or federal funds for abortions, except in cases of rape, incest or endangerment to the mother’s health. The second, and most controversial amendment, passed with a 22 to 17 vote and would require women to pay for and, in most cases, hear details about ultrasound exams while seeking an abortion in the first trimester. Governor Crist vetoed this bill.

The third measure, which ultimately did not pass, was a bill that would treat a fetus as a person for the purposes of homicide. The bill would add “unborn child” to the definition of a “person” for the purpose of homicide under state law. A fetus is now considered viable after 24 weeks. A fourth bill, HB 1097, “Florida for Life Act”(which was never heard by the Senate) would have prohibited abortions and operations of facilities for purposes of providing abortion services.

Prohibition Against Balance Billing
The Office of Insurance Regulation sought support for legislation that would prohibit balance billing by hospital based providers as well as any other physician who has an “arrangement, understanding or contract with a licensed facility” when the hospital is in a PPO. According to the proposed bill a hospital may not employ or enter into a contract with a physician unless the physician is under contract with, or agrees to enter into a contract with, each health insurance company and each health maintenance organization that has contracted with the hospital to provide medical services to its enrollees, subscribers or insureds. The physicians then could not balance bill the enrollees, subscribers or insureds.

The Senate version of this was filed (SB 2504) and supported by the insurance industry.

This legislation would have been devastating to your bottom line. We were able to convince the House sponsor and appropriate committee chairmen to postpone any discussion of this measure. We have been told that this legislation will again be a hot topic in the next session.

Abolishment of Healthy Start Coalitions
We spent the majority of the Legislative Session battling budget issues, most importantly efforts to completely eliminate Healthy Start Coalitions and shift service dollars and responsibilities to the local county health departments.

This debate was ultimately finalized the last week of Session and we, along with a large coalition of organizations, were able to convince legislative leaders that, although the state would save $4 million in the short term, Florida would lose $32 million annually in additional funds leveraged by Healthy Start Coalitions.

The merits of the cost effectiveness argument won out until next year when the battle will undoubtedly be fought again!

Sovereign Immunity for Providers
Unfortunately, SB 1474 and HB 791 failed to pass. The proposed legislation would have extended sovereign immunity to emergency health care providers who are providing emergency services and care in a hospital, pursuant to pre-hospital treatment, or transport for an emergency medical condition, and are not covered already under the provisions related to sovereign immunity.

Other major defeats included:

My stylish flak jacket is now hung in a safe place in my closet, however I am sure I will be using it again when committee meetings resume this fall. We all need to be prepared for the ongoing assault by contributing to the FOGS PAC and becoming active locally by getting to know your legislative leaders.

Happy Sine Die!

Last Revision: July 14, 2010