Florida Insurance Council - Covering Florida Since 1962
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel On February 16, 2017, the Florida Supreme Court issued an opinion (SC15-1257) limiting the permissible pre-suit discovery for insurers in PIP to the production of documents related to the history, condition, treatment, dates, and costs of medical treatment. The Court opined an insurer is not entitled to other discovery…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The House Civil Justice and Claims Subcommittee unanimously approved HB 377 on February 16, 2017 with one substantive amendment that rewrote the bill. The amendment can be found here. The bill specifies when a construction contract is considered complete for purposes of the statute of repose and statute of…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel A bill creating recovery care centers, HB 145, passed its first committee on February 15, 2017 without amendment. The bill has two committees left. The bill creates recovery care centers for postsurgical and post diagnostic care for admission up to 72 hours and provides protocols for recovery care centers.…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel On February 15, 2017, the House Health Quality Subcommittee unanimously passed the direct primary care bill, HB 161, with one amendment. The House bill has two committees left. The bill specifies that a direct primary care agreement is not insurance and is not subject to the Florida Insurance Code. …
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel On February 15, 2017, the House Health Quality Subcommittee chaired by Dr. Pigman, an emergency room physician, adopted wide ranging telehealth regulations as part of their committee bill on health care access. The vote on the bill was 10-3. The three no votes were cast by Reps. Jones, Mercado…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The House Insurance & Banking Subcommittee had a second panel discussion about workers’ compensation on February 8, 2017. This was the last panel discussion the committee will have on workers’ compensation. Like the last committee meeting on comp, panelists were provided topics and subtopics by committee staff to frame…
By: Greenberg Traurig On February 8, 2017, the House Health Innovation Subcommittee meeting focused on direct primary care and the prescription drug pricing website run by AHCA. Please note there is a bill already filed this Session, HB 589, to increase the number of drugs listed on the website from 100 to 300 and to…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The House TNC bill (HB 221), a priority of the FIC Auto Committee, passed its first committee on February 8, 2017 by a vote of 14-1. The committee ranking minority member providing the lone vote in opposition to the bill. The bill was not amended in committee and has…
The House Health Quality Subcommittee met on February 8, 2017 to discuss telehealth and healthcare workforce. Following are notes from the meeting provided by Greenberg Traurig. The committee packet referred to in the notes can be found here.) Telehealth Presentations Prepared by: Greenberg Traurig Paula Guy, President and CEO, Salus Telehealth Ms. Guy conducted an…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel In the Cabinet meeting on February 7, 2017, Florida Insurance Commissioner Altmaier updated the Governor and Cabinet on AOB. He referred to AOB reform as one of the Office’s “highest priorities” noting AOB impacts over 90% of Florida homeowners because most homeowners are insured by domestic carriers or Citizens…