Tampa Bay Advanced Practice Nurses Council
TBAPNC

Announcement: Breaking News! HB 821 Passes Out of First Committee

Posted about 5 years ago by Gail Sadler

HB 821 sponsored by Representative Cary Pigman was heard in the Health Quality Subcommittee and was passed with a vote of 10-3.
This bill grants “independent practice” to APRNs who meet the following requirements and register with the Board of Nursing:
Below is information:
-The APRN must have an active, unencumbered license to practice as an APRN in Florida
-The APRN must not have been subject to disciplinary action in Florida or any other state within the past 5 years
-The APRN must have completed at least 2,000 clinical practice hours or clinical instruction hours while practicing as an APRN under the supervision of a MD or DO with an unencumbered license, or the APRN must have completed a graduate-level course in pharmacology. 
-The Board of Nursing shall register APRNs who meet the above qualifications for independent practice. The APRN will receive a specific independent practice license.
-Independent APRNs must renew their licenses every 2 years and must take 10 hours of continuing education in addition to the 30 hours required for licensee renewal.
-The bill requires independent APRNs to report adverse incidents involving controlled substances.
-States that the Board of Nursing “may” establish an advisory committee made up of 3 APRNs, 3 physicians appointed by the Board of Medicine, and Surgeon General or designee, “to make evidence-based recommendations about medical acts that an independent practice APRN may perform.”
-The Board of Nursing “must act on” the Committee’s recommendations within 90 days following submission. 
-The bill adds a number of grounds for disciplinary action against independent practice APRNs, which are taken nearly verbatim from Chapters 458 and 459 (statutes regulating MD and DO practice), for acts including:
-Paying or receiving a commission, bribe or kickback, or engaging in split-fee arrangements, for referring patients to a provider or facility.
-Exercising influence within a patient relationship to engage a patient in sexual activity.
-Making a deceptive, untrue or fraudulent representations related to advanced nursing practice.
-Experimentation on a human subject.
-Delegating professional responsibilities to a person the APRN knows or has reason to believe is not qualified to perform.
Last moment the PA where added in the bill.