FLORIDA

Overview

Florida was active in healthcare legislation during its 2019 session. Most notably, the legislature repealed certificate of need (CON) requirements (HB 21), the state’s longstanding approval system for expanding healthcare facilities. The legislature attempted unsuccessfully to repeal the program during the 2017 session (HB 7). The CON program will remain in effect for specialty hospitals for another two years and will not be eliminated for nursing homes, hospices and intermediate care facilities for the developmentally disabled.

In other healthcare market legislation, Florida enacted SB 322 to require insurers to cover consumers with pre-existing conditions in the event the Affordable Care Act is repealed. The bill also expands short-term and association health plans. Additionally, the legislature passed HB 23, which encourages insurers to use telehealth, and HB 1113, which authorizes individual and group health insurers and health maintenance organizations to offer shared savings incentive programs.

On the pharmaceutical front, the state enacted HB 19 in 2019 to allow drug importation from Canada in an effort to reduce prescription drug prices. In 2018, the legislature passed HB 351, which requires pharmacists to inform customers of certain generically equivalent drug products and whether cost-sharing obligations to such customers exceed retail price of prescription. The Florida legislature was also active in pushing for prescription cost transparency legislation in 2017.

In past legislative sessions, Florida passed legislation promoting healthcare transparency and protecting patients from surprise out-of-network bills. Another key Florida effort in healthcare transparency is the FloridaHealthFinder.gov website, which allows consumers to view performance and outcome data, including average costs, for healthcare facilities in the state. Florida is also active in promoting the use of electronic Health Information Exchanges to streamline provider access to patient information and consequently lower costs and improve quality of care.

The State Database

The Source tracks state activities impacting healthcare price and competition in both legislation and litigation in a searchable database to help stakeholders at the state level understand their legal and regulatory environment as they make efforts to improve access, quality, and efficiency, and reduce costs in healthcare.

LEGISLATION: The Database of State Laws Impacting Healthcare Cost and Quality (SLIHCQ), created by The Source on Healthcare Price & Competition and Catalyst for Payment Reform, catalogues state legislation governing price transparency, provider market power, provider payment, provider networks, and benefit design. The database also includes pharmaceutical legislation beginning in the 2017-2018 legislative session. *Note: Current legislative session bill updates are ongoing. Check back weekly for updates. 

LITIGATION: The Source tracks major litigation and antitrust enforcement action by federal entities (FTC or DOJ), state attorney generals, and private parties in the main provider and insurer markets, particularly legal challenges of healthcare consolidation and anticompetitive contract provisions. Additionally, the database contains major pharmaceutical cases including legislation challenges and significant appellate cases.

Search the database across all jurisdictions on the State Overview page, or view and filter existing legislation or litigation on individual state pages. The database allows customized search and filter by keyword, status, and/or key issue category. *Multiple filter/selections enabled. Click here for User Guide.

 

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© 2018-2019 The SLIHCQ Database. Initial funding for this project was provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Foundation.
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© 2018-2019 The SLIHCQ Database. Initial funding for this project was provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Foundation.
Filter by Key Issue

Additional Resources

LEGISLATIVE CALENDAR

Florida’s latest legislative session ran from 3/5/2019 – 5/3/2019. Florida’s next legislative session will convene in 2020.

FY 2019-2020 BUDGET

Florida’s fiscal year begins on July 1 and ends on June 30th of the following year. To view Florida’s FY 2019-2020 Budget Act as signed by the Governor, click here.

REGULATION & ENFORCEMENT

  • The portal for accessing administrative enforcement orders from the Agency for Health Care Administration is here.
  • On August 18, 2014, two Florida women, represented by the law firm of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll filed a class action law suit against JFK Medical Center and its owner, HCA Holdings, which owns 80 hospitals across the state, for grossly and unreasonably overcharging for medical services. Under a previous policy that HCA abandoned this year, uninsured patients were also charged a special trauma fee that could add $30,000 or more to their bills irrespective of the service rendered.

KEY RESOURCES

 

Coverage

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