Title: Reporting of Adverse Incidents in Planned Out-of-Hospital Births

Summary: Defines "adverse incident"; requires licensed physicians, certified nurse midwives, or licensed midwives to report an adverse incident & medical summary of events to DOH within specified timeframe; requires department to review adverse incident reports & determine if conduct occurred that is subject to disciplinary action; requires appropriate regulatory board or department to take disciplinary action; requires department to adopt rules; requires department to develop form to be used for reporting of adverse incidents.

Full Text:
An act relating to reporting of adverse incidents in planned out-of-hospital births; creating s. 456.0495, F.S.; defining the term "adverse incident"; requiring licensed physicians, certified nurse midwives, or licensed midwives to report, beginning on a specified date, an adverse incident and a medical summary of events to the Department of Health within a specified timeframe; requiring the department to review a dverse incident reports and determine if conduct occurred that is subject to disciplinary action; requiring the appropriate regulatory board or the department to take disciplinary action under certain circumstances; requiring the department to adopt rules; requiring the department to develop a form to be used for the reporting of adverse incidents; providing an effective date. Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: Section 1. Section 456.0495, Florida Statutes, is created to read: 456.0495 Reporting adverse incidents occurring in planned out-of-hospital births.-(1) For purposes of this section, the term "adverse CS/HB 2018 incident" means an event over which a physician licensed under chapter or chapter 459, a nurse midwife certifi ed under part I of chapter 464, or a midwife licensed under chapter could exercise control and which is associated with an attempted or completed planned out-of-hospital birth, and results in one or more of the following injuries or conditions: (a) A maternal death that occurs during delivery or within days after delivery; (b) The transfer of a maternal patient to a hospital intensive care unit; (c) A maternal patient experiencing hemorrhagic shock or requiring a transfusion of more than unit sof blood or blood products; (d) A fetal or newborn death, including a stillbirth, associated with an obstetrical delivery; (e) A transfer of a newborn to a neonatal intensive care unit due to a traumatic physical or neurological birth injury, including any degree of a brachial plexus injury; (f) A transfer of a newborn to a neonatal intensive care unit within the first hours after birth if the newborn remains in such unit for more than hours; or (g) Any other injury as determined by departme nt rule. (2) Beginning July 1, 2018, a physician licensed under chapter or chapter 459, a nurse midwife certified under part I of chapter 464, or a midwife licensed under chapter who CS/HB 2018 performs an attempted or completed planned out-of-hospital birt hmust report an adverse incident, along with a medical summary of events, to the department within days after the adverse incident occurs. (3) The department shall review each incident report and determine whether the incident involves conduct by a health care practitioner which is subject to disciplinary action under s. 456.073. Disciplinary action, if any, must be taken by the appropriate regulatory board or by the department if no such board exists. (4) The department shall adopt rules to impleme nt this section and shall develop a form to be used for the reporting of adverse incidents. Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.