On May 1 at Capitol Hill, the Florida Medical Association’s priority medical liability legislation passed at the Florida House. CS/CS/HB 827, according to the FMA, will help make Florida a friendlier place to practice medicine, thus attract more doctors and as a result, patients will have more access to care.
The Florida Senate summarizes the bill as revising “provisions relating to disclosure of information provided to health care practitioners by patients; provides that in informal discovery, prospective defendant or his or her legal representative may interview claimant’s treating health care providers without notice to or presence of claimant or claimant’s legal representative.” The legislation also “revises the form for release of health care information to expressly permit certain persons to interview specified health care providers without notice to or presence of patient or patient’s legal representative.”
In an announcement from the FMA, President Dr. Vincent DeGennaro, said, “On behalf of our 20,000 physician members across the state, the FMA commends the Florida House for joining the Senate in passing this critical piece of legislation, which represents a major victory for medicine in Florida.”
For more information on this bill and other medical legislation passed during the 2013 Legislative Session, visit http://flmedical.tv/legislative/.