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Tallahassee Update
03/26/04 --
It was
another busy week in Tallahassee, with action having been taken on several bill
of interest.
Obviously, however, the highlight of the week was the Rally for the
Constitutional Amendment, which was held on Thursday between the Capitol and the
Supreme Court. The event was attended by hundreds of physicians, several
legislators, as well as Governor Bush and Speaker Byrd, both of whom publicly
pledged their support.
In a related development, this year's tort reform package (HB 1821) passed the
Insurance Committee and was set to be passed by the full House on Thursday.
This Bill is a "dream bill" that provides for expert witness certificates,
periodic payments, and several other issues that were omitted from last year's
final package. However, several representatives expressed reluctance to pass
what they considered to be a bill that had no chance of passing in the Senate
and which was being "used" and a campaign opportunity for Speaker Byrd. After
26 amendments were filed, the Speaker opted not to pursue what would have been a
factious debate, and the bill was not heard.
In other developments of interest:
HB 103, which requires non-physician prescribers to note their professional
license numbers on prescriptions, was passed by the senate and awaits the
Governor's signature. This bill will allow for stricter discipline of allied
health providers who misuse their prescriptive authority or who attempt to
misuse the license of their supervising physician.
HB 895, which would grant AAPS equivalency with the ABMS, was amended to ensure
that AAPS' recent elevation of its standards could not be rescinded and passed
the House Health Care Committee. We still have concerns with the bill, however,
which will next be heard in the Senate Health, Aging and Long-Term Care
Committee.
SB 1088, which would require HMOs to disclose their fee schedules to physicians,
was passed by the full Senate and awaits action by the House.
The Public Safety Bills each passed their first committees of reference in
formed satisfactory to us. SB 1464 is now in the Appropriations process, and HB
is in the Insurance Committee.
The ARNP prescribing bill (SB 2072) will again be heard on March 30 in the
senate Health, Aging and Long-Term Care Committee. We need all physicians to
contact members of that Committee to ensure that this bad bill does not pass.
The comprehensive CON Reform Bill (HB1699) passed the Health Services Committee,
while its Senate companion (SB 2606) is now on the Senate floor. Both of these
bills contain the language approved by the Council at its last meeting.
Next week promises to be a hectic week, as both Chambers will take the following
week off for Passover/Easter.
Christopher L. Nuland, Esq.
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