The Florida Legislature and Governor DeSantis have just enacted a new law with wide ranging implications for surgery centers and physicians across Florida. The new law revises Florida Statutes Section 456.074, and creates Sections 458.328 and 459.0139. The bill was signed into law on June 25, 2019, and takes effect on January 1, 2020.
The new law imposes rules surrounding certain liposuction procedures, Level II and Level III office surgeries, as well as creating new rules requiring the registration of a physician responsible for compliance at the facility and the expansion of physicians’ financial responsibility and reporting requirements to the facility. The law also requires yearly inspections for certain facilities and provides for new penalties ranging from fines to a 5-year revocation of the right to perform surgeries.
Although one version of the draft bill included mandatory background checks to try to remove any opportunity for prior convicted felons to be associated with certain medical practices and required facilities to be wholly doctor owned, those provisions were removed from the final bill.
Lalchandani Simon advises medical practices and surgery centers throughout the State of Florida seeking to comply with these newly passed rules. You can contact our attorneys to discuss the new law and other challenges facing medical practices in Florida via email at INFO@LSLAWPL.COM or by calling (305) 999-5291.