No. CS/HB 693
Filed under Healthcare.
Health and Human Services ; Revises health care provisions relating to emergency medical technicians & paramedics; repeals provisions relating to Health Facility & Services Development Act; revises provisions relating to certificates-of-need, the Kidcare program, & Medicaid; requires DCF to develop & implement a food assistance payment accuracy improvement plan; revises significant investigation information DOH is required to report relating to certain physician assistants, emergency medical technicians, paramedics, & social workers; enacts Physician Assistant Licensure Compact, Emergency Medical Services Personnel Licensure Interstate Compact, & Social Work Licensure Interstate Compact; revises practice requirements for autonomous advanced practice registered nurse; revises remediable & delegable duties of dentist; requires certain health insurers to apply payments for services provided by nonpreferred providers toward insureds' deductibles & out-of-pocket maximums.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDPhysicians can now supervise as many physician assistants as they can 'effectively supervise,' replacing a fixed cap of 10 PAs at once. Nurse practitioners with autonomous authority are no longer limited to primary care and may now practice within their own specialty.
Food assistance work requirements now reach adults up to age 64, up from 59, and only exempt parents of children under 14, down from under 18. Applicants must document shelter and utility costs; self-attestation alone no longer counts.
Three new interstate compacts let emergency medical technicians, paramedics, physician assistants, and clinical social workers licensed elsewhere practice in Florida, and Florida licensees practice in other member states, without a separate license in each state.
Insurers must credit payments for out-of-network care toward a patient's deductible and out-of-pocket maximum when requested and the provider's price is not above network or statewide averages. Practitioners must also give written notice before referring patients out-of-network.
AIA physician may now supervise as many physician assistants as the physician can effectively supervise and communicate with in the specific practice setting, replacing the prior fixed limit of 10 physician assistants under one physician's supervision at any one time. The same change applies identically to osteopathic physicians supervising physician assistants.
AIAdvanced practice registered nurses registered for autonomous practice may now perform the acts within their own specialty rather than only primary care. The bill deletes the old requirement limiting autonomous practice to family medicine, general pediatrics, and general internal medicine, along with a separate carve-out for certified nurse midwives.
AIThe mandatory work and training requirement for food-assistance recipients now applies to adults through age 64, up from 59, and only exempts a recipient with children under 14 at home, down from under 18. Parents of teenagers aged 14 to 17 lose the exemption they had before.
AIFlorida joins three new interstate compacts letting emergency medical technicians and paramedics, physician assistants, and clinical social workers licensed and in good standing in one member state practice in Florida under a 'privilege to practice' or 'multistate license,' and letting Florida licensees practice in other member states, without separately obtaining a full license in each state.
AIA health care practitioner must now notify a patient in writing when referring the patient to a nonparticipating provider for nonemergency services, or to a provider not under contract with the patient's health maintenance organization, and flag the added cost-sharing risk. Failing to do so without good cause is grounds for discipline.
AIWhen an insured requests it, and the nonpreferred provider's charge is no higher than the insurer's own network average or the statewide average on the Florida Health Price Finder, an insurer must count that payment toward the insured's deductible and out-of-pocket maximum as if it came from a preferred provider.
AIThe agency may no longer pay a 'prohibited entity,' a status defined entirely by reference to a section of federal law, for services under Florida's Medicaid program. The bill does not restate in state law which entities that federal definition actually covers.
AIThe department must cut its food-assistance payment error rate below 6 percent by March 30, 2026, backed by new staff training, case-sampling quality review, and automated income and asset data-matching, with a plan and quarterly progress reports going to legislative leaders. Applicants must now document shelter and utility costs; self-attestation alone is barred.