Florida Insurance Council - Covering Florida Since 1962
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel According to the bill sponsor, HB 997 is designed to give more options for health insurance to Floridians. To accomplish this goal, the bill loosens the requirements for groups to band together for health insurance purposes under the Florida Nonprofit Multiple-Employer Welfare Act and association health group law. This…
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. A recent trend in the Florida Legislature is to enact legislation for more price transparency in health care. Last Session, the Legislature enacted legislation about price…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel HB 7 is a priority bill of the House. By expanding direct primary care to more specialized medical services, it meets Speaker Oliva’s goal of increasing health care options to Floridians in order to reduce health care costs. The House Health Market Reform Subcommittee approved the bill during its…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The House telehealth bill passed its first committee on March 5, 2019 without amendment. HB 23 allows Florida licensed health care providers to use telehealth within their scope of practice. It also allows out-of-state providers to use telehealth if they register. The bill establishes standards of practice for…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel During its meeting on March 5, 2019, the House Health Quality Subcommittee approved bills to expand the scope of practice for psychologists and pharmacists. HB 373 was approved with one amendment that did not change the substance of the bill. The bill expands the scope of practice for psychologists…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel A bill dealing with referrals from health care providers to hospitals and out of network providers passed its first committee on March 5, 2019. The only amendment to the bill changed the effective date of it. HB 863 prohibits health care providers from referring patients to any hospital in…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel SB 322 by Sen. Simpson (R) related to health insurance preexisting conditions passed the Senate Health Policy Committee on March 4, 2019 with one technical amendment. The Senate bill is now in its last committee. The bill generally requires health insurers and HMOs to offer at least one comprehensive…
By: Greenberg Traurig The Senate Committee on Health Policy met on February 19, 2019 to hear the presentation on Certificate of Need by Molly McKinstry, Deputy Secretary of AHCA and to hear two bills. The following bills were considered: SB 302, Nonemergency Medical Transportation Services, by Sen. Brandes SB 434, Ambulatory Surgical Centers, by Sen.…