Summary:

The bill establishes August 21 each year as “Fentanyl Awareness and Education Day” to raise awareness of fentanyl dangers and potential overdoses. The measure encourages state and local agencies, public schools, and other organizations to host events highlighting prevention efforts and available resources for addressing substance use and abuse.

Summary:

The bill allows certified paramedics to administer controlled substances under the direction and supervision of authorized health care practitioners during emergency medical services.

Summary:

The bill requires the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA), in consultation with the Florida Department of Health and other specified government agencies, to develop and maintain a user-friendly, publicly available webpage to serve as a centralized hub for education and awareness of the Care Provider Background Screening Clearinghouse and state background screening processes and standards.

The Florida Department of Health and other specified agencies must include a link to this resource on their websites and provide the link in all job vacancy advertisements and posts by the qualified entity.

Summary:

The bill authorizes advanced practice registered nurses providing hospice care and acting within an established protocol with a licensed physician, to file a certificate of death or fetal death and certify the cause of death.

Summary:

The bill authorizes hospitals, emergency medical service stations, and fire stations to use infant safety devices to accept surrendered newborn infants (children up to approximately 30 days old) and establishes criteria for their use. The bill clarifies that parents may remain anonymous and cannot be followed or pursued under most circumstances and maintains that surrendering an infant according to the prescribed measures is not deemed abandonment.

Summary:

The bill exempts school social workers from the demonstration of mastery of general knowledge and subject area knowledge requirements for educator certification.

Summary:

The bill requires, subject to legislative appropriation, the Department of Health to consult with the Genetics and Newborn Screening Advisory Council and then adopt and enforce rules requiring every newborn in this state, beginning January 1, 2027, to be screened for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy at the appropriate age.

Summary:

The bill requires hospitals and hospital-based off-campus emergency departments to test for fentanyl when conducting a urine drug test to diagnose possible drug overdose or poisoning. If the test is positive for fentanyl, the bill requires a confirmation test. Under the bill, the hospital or hospital-based off-campus emergency department must retain the results of the urine test and the confirmation test in the patient’s clinical record for the period of time required by the facility’s current practice.

Summary:

The bill revises laws relating to Florida’s health care workforce, health care services, and health care practitioner licensure and regulation related to the Florida Department of Health.

• Prohibits discrimination based on vaccination status – The bill postpones until June 1, 2027, the scheduled repeal of the statutory definition of “messenger ribonucleic acid vaccine” (mRNA vaccine) to maintain statutory prohibitions against discrimination based on knowledge or belief of a person’s status relating to vaccination with any mRNA vaccine, including by governmental entities, business establishments, and educational institutions.
• Clarifies licensure and reporting requirements of medical marijuana businesses – The bill requires medical marijuana treatment centers (MMTCs) to report any actual or attempted theft, loss, or diversion of medical marijuana to the Department of Health. It also specifies which owners, employees, and managers are subject to criminal background screening requirements for both MMTCs and certified medical marijuana testing laboratories.
• Revises licensure requirements of the Mobile Opportunity by Interstate Licensure Endorsement (MOBILE) Act – The bill revises the active practice requirement for licensure by endorsement under the MOBILE Act from three years to two years. It also establishes that reported conduct in the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) does not disqualify an applicant from licensure under the MOBILE Act if the reported conduct would not constitute a violation of Florida law or rule and grants the applicable regulatory board, or the Department if there is no board, specified discretion regarding applicants with adverse actions reported to the NPDB.
• Expands opportunities for newly trained allopathic physicians seeking licensure by endorsement – The bill creates an exception to the active practice requirement specified in the MOBILE Act for allopathic physicians who successfully completed a board-approved postgraduate training program or clinical competency examination within the specified time frame.
• Expands the list of educational institutions at which full-time faculty are eligible for medical faculty certificates – The bill adds Orlando College of Osteopathic Medicine, Lincoln Memorial University DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine in Orange Park, Florida, and Loma Linda University School of Medicine – AdventHealth in Orlando, to the list of institutions at which full-time faculty may be issued a medical faculty certificate.
• Recognizes the American Board of Physician Specialties throughout Florida law – The bill replaces the term “American Association of Physician Specialists” with the current name of the certifying body “American Board of Physician Specialties” in several different statutes relating to controlled substance prescribing, pain management clinics, and anesthesiologist assistants.
• Refines the Areas of Critical Need Program: The bill specifies that a temporary certificate to practice in an area of critical need may be issued to a physician assistant who possess a valid license to practice in any state of the United States or the District of Columbia, effectively excluding other United States territories.
• Defines the term “party state” specific to the Physical Therapy Licensure Compact – The bill addresses one material deviation from the compact by defining the term “party state” and makes conforming changes.

Summary:

The bill creates the Emily Adkins Family Protection Act to improve screening and treatment measures for venous thromboembolism (VTE) in Florida residents. Specifically, the bill:

• Adds chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic critical illness, and genetic predisposition for VTE to the list of chronic diseases under state legislative findings under the Chronic Diseases Act.
• Requires the Department of Health to contract with a qualified private entity to create and maintain a statewide VTE registry which tracks reported data and generates reports to improve patient outcomes.
• Requires hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs) to report specified information to the registry starting July 1, 2026, and to implement training and protocols to assess and treat patients at risk of forming VTEs or deep vein thromboses (DVTs).
• Requires the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) to submit a report to the Governor and the Legislature on the incidence of VTEs by June 1, 2026.
• Requires nursing homes to annually train specified certified nursing assistants (CNAs) on recognizing VTE and DVT signs and symptoms and appropriate techniques for providing an emergency response.
• Requires assisted living facilities to provide newly admitted residents with informational pamphlets on VTE risk factors, signs, and symptoms.

Summary:

The bill defines “direct-support professionals,” to mean an individual paid to provide certain services directly to a client receiving home and community-based services.

The bill authorizes a direct-support professional (DSP) or a relative of an individual in an Agency for Persons with Disabilities-licensed group home facility to administer insulin, including sliding scale insulin therapy, to a client with a developmental disability, if the group home adopts policies and procedures governing the administration of insulin and provides training to certify DSPs and residents’ relatives who will be administering insulin under this new section of law. It also provides immunity from civil liability to group home facilities and DSPs and relatives administering insulin to a client residing therein, provided the group home facility is compliant with the requirements for the administration of insulin.

The bill also allows an unlicensed direct service provider to supervise the self-administration of insulin and epinephrine by developmentally disabled individuals in group home facilities. The supervision authority only applies to the use of insulin pens, epinephrine pens, or similar devices designed for subcutaneous self-administration.

Summary:

The bill reduces from 30 months to 12 months the timeframe for a health insurer or health maintenance organization (HMO) to submit claims for overpayment to a licensed psychologist and applies to claims for services provided on or after January 1, 2026. The bill adds licensed psychologists to those health care providers already eligible for the 12-month overpayment claim window under Florida law, including chiropractors, podiatrists, osteopathic physicians, allopathic physicians and dentists.

Summary:

The bill authorizes Florida-licensed physicians to offer certain FDA-unapproved stem cell therapies and establishes standards for physicians who perform authorized stem cell therapies, including ethical sourcing, facility accreditation, and patient disclosures, while prohibiting stem cells derived from aborted fetuses and providing penalties for violations. Key provisions of the bill include:

• Permissible Therapies: Authorizes physicians to perform specific stem cell therapies not approved by the FDA if used for orthopedics, wound care, or pain management.
• Stem Cell Source Requirements: Requires that stem cells authorized for use are limited to certain afterbirth placental perinatal stem cells or certain human cells, tissues, or cellular or tissue-based products, which are retrieved, manufactured, and stored in facilities registered with and regulated by the FDA and certified or accredited by approved organizations.
• Contract Requirements: Requires certain contract terms to be used for business relationships related to the sourcing of stem cells.
• Advertising Disclosures: Mandates that advertisements include a clearly legible notice indicating the therapies have not yet been approved by the FDA
• Informed Consent: Require physicians to obtain a signed, detailed consent form from patients, including disclosure of risks, lack of FDA approval, and encouragement to consult a primary care provider.
• Prohibited Practices: Prohibits treatment or research using human cells or tissues derived from a fetus or an embryo after an abortion and the sale, manufacture, or distribution of computer products created using human cells, tissues, or cellular or tissue-based products and makes it a third-degree felony and a licensure violation for a physician to willfully perform or actively participate in either prohibited act.
• Penalties and Regulatory Oversight: Provides for licensure discipline by the Boards of Medicine and Osteopathic Medicine if any provision is violated and authorizes rulemaking to implement the provisions of the bill.

Lastly, the bill exempts physicians with FDA approval to perform a stem cell therapy or who perform a stem cell therapy on behalf of certain institutions from the requirements of the bill.

Summary:

The bill requires health care practitioners, facilities, providers, and anyone who accepts payment from insurance for services rendered by health care practitioners, to refund any overpayment made by the patient no later than 30 days after determining that the patient made an overpayment.

The bill authorizes disciplinary action by the applicable board, or the Florida Department of Health if there is no board, if a health care practitioner fails to timely refund an overpayment upon determination that an overpayment was made.

Lastly, the bill explicitly excludes overpayments made to health care practitioners by commercial health insurers and health maintenance organizations from its provisions.