Florida Insurance Council - Covering Florida Since 1962
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel SB 890 changes the drug-free workplace program. It passed its first Senate committee this week, but has not yet been heard in the House. A strike all was adopted by the Senate Commerce and Tourism Committee to require prescreening validity tests that can detect drug testing subversion technologies, such…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel HB 935 dealing with price transparency in health care contracts with providers is a priority of the House for the 2019 Session and is ready for a floor vote. It passed its last committee, House Health & Human Services, on March 21, 2019 with a strike all amendment that…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel HB 833 expands the scope of practice for consultant pharmacists by allowing them to provide additional health care services under a collaborative practice agreement with an MD, DO, podiatrist, or dentist in most any health care setting. Although consultant pharmacists are licensed by the current law, they can only…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel HB 559, the House step therapy bill, was rewritten by the Health Market Reform Subcommittee on March 19, 2019 when the subcommittee adopted a strike all amendment to replace the bill with new language. The subcommittee passed the rewritten bill. As rewritten, the bill has two parts: step…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel Providing more options for health insurance is a goal of the Florida House of Representatives this Session because the Speaker has set health care reform as his top priority. HB 997 is designed to accomplish that goal. To that end, the bill loosens the requirements for disparate groups to…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel During its meeting on March 19, 2019, the House Health Care Appropriations Subcommittee approved bills to expand the scope of practice for psychologists and pharmacists. Neither bill was amended by the subcommittee. PsychologistsHB 373 expands the scope of practice for psychologists by allowing psychologists to prescribe drugs, including controlled…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel SB 626, the bill to equalize payment for long term care insolvencies by the Florida Life & Health Guaranty Association (FLAHIGA), passed its second Senate committee on March 19, 2019. The vote on the bill was 9-0. A strike all amendment filed by Sen. Brandes (R), the bill…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel SB 7078 was filed as a committee bill by the Senate Health Policy Committee on March 15, 2019 and was approved by the Committee on March 18, 2019 with one amendment on patient records. The bill is a compilation of many healthcare issues, including a few health insurance related…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The Senate Banking and Insurance approved the frozen formulary bill (SB 1180) by Sen. Mayfield (R) during its meeting on March 18, 2019 with one amendment by the bill sponsor. According to the bill sponsor, the amendment allows a consumer to stay on a drug during the contract…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel On March 18, 2019, the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee passed health insurance mandates for enteral formulas and hearing aids for children. The enteral formula mandate passed (SB 358) applies only to the state group health insurance plan. For the state group health plan, the bill expands the…