Legislative

2024 Florida Legislative Wrap Up

Dear FSPS Members, The dust has settled, the legislators and lobbyists have gone home, and the chambers have been locked until after Election Day.  While the 2024 Legislative Session will be remembered mostly for what did NOT pass, some notable legislation did pass. For instance, Senate President Kathleen Passidomo's Live Healthy package cleared both chambers.  This initiative would ease the process for international physicians to become licensed in Florida (although we did get an amendment...

Attention FSPS Members who have patients with BIOCELL® textured implants

On July 24, 2019, Allergan voluntarily recalled unused BIOCELL® textured breast implant products. Each breast implant maker uses a different technique for creating the texture on the implant. The different techniques behave differently, and are not comparable. The recall is only for the Allergan type of texturing implants that have not been used in patients, and not for Sientra or Mentor textured breast implants. Sientra and Mentor implants use a micro-texturing process, different than the...

Medicare Pre-Authorization Required as of July 1, 2020

Despite lobbying efforts by ASPS and others, Medicare has opted to, for the first time, require pre-authorizations for several common plastic surgery procedures. For further information, go to https://www.plasticsurgery.org/for-medical-professionals/health-policy/cms-new-policy-prior-authorization-for-outpatient-procedures and review the attached articles from ASPS.

SB 698

Over the past two weeks, the FSPS has fielded many questions regarding the implications of SB 698, which requires a consent before a physician, resident, or medical student may examine the pelvic area or rectum, including the external organs. The law was not targeted at plastic surgeons, but a literal interpretation by our legal team suggests that plastic surgeons should, indeed, obtain a consent before performing such an examination. Rest assured that we are currently working at the...

New Office Surgery Rules to Go Into Effect January 1, 2020

In June, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed SB 732, the most sweeping change to the State’s Office Surgery Statutes in two decades. While the law officially does not go into effect until January 1, 2020, surgeons should begin now to ensure that they are compliant by that date. Spurred by the torrent of adverse incidents from certain clinics, the Bill’s sponsors introduced legislation to address the problems. The initial bills, however, were fundamentally flawed (including an outright ban on...

Legislative Update

2019 Legislative Wrap-Up Christopher L. Nuland, Esq. May 4, 2019 Amidst the usual last-minute shenanigans and deal-making, I am happy to report that, overall, we had an extraordinary 2019 Legislative Session. Not only did we pass SB 732, which will regulate office facilities and their owners, but we also had an extraordinary Session in other arenas. On the defensive front, we thwarted all attempts at Scope of Practice expansion, including pharmacists, nurse practitioners, and physician...

Legislative Halftime Report

Christopher L. Nuland, Esq. March 28, 2019 As we approach the halfway point of the 2019 Legislative Session, it has become abundantly clear that the House and Senate have very different health care agendas. In the House, scope of practice issues have dominated, as the health care committees have been committed to passing independent practice bills for Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants, as well as allowing Pharmacists to diagnose and prescribe. The Senate, on the other hand, has not...

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The second week of the Legislative Session produced a series of initiatives that could drastically affect each and every physician’s practice in the Sate of Florida. The Good On Monday the Senate Health Policy Committee adopted a comprehensive rewrite of SB 732, which governs office surgery.  As originally written, this bill would have required virtually every physician office in the State to become licensed as an ambulatory surgical center.  As a result, of the amendment, only facilities that...

Legislative Update “FSPS Working For You!”

August 28, 2017 Dear Fellow FSPS Members: As most members know, any Level III office surgery patient over the age of 40 must currently undergo both a complete work-up and an EKG, creating both an administrative and financial burden on both patients and surgeons. The FSPS has argued that mandatory work-ups for these younger patients are not always medically necessary, and that mandatory EKGs, regardless of medical history, are an unnecessary burden that does not improve patients safety. And the...

Legislative Wrap-Up

In a year in which legislators failed to pass legislation even on their priority issues, such as Direct Primary Care, Worker's Compensation Marijuana Regulation, the FSPS was able to boast some notable achievements. Defensively, we worked very hard to successfully prevent the passage of several anti-physician pieces of legislation. Optometrists did not receive the right to perform surgery (including blepharoplasty); ARNPs and PAs did not receive the right to practice independently; Pharmacists...