Title: Public Health

Summary: Creates Expedited Partner Therapy Pilot Project in Duval & Gadsden Counties; provides exemption from specified rules & statutory requirements for pilot program; provides for training of physicians & patient education; requires pilot project to be funded by existing revenues; provides for use of funds.

Full Text:
WHEREAS, expedited partner therapy offers a cost-effective treatment tool for breaking the cycle of chlamydia and gonorrhea that infects thousands of women age through annually who are thus at a higher risk for poor birth outcomes if they become pregnant, and WHEREAS, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends expedited partner therapy as a treatment option and has developed specific guidelines for its use, and WHEREAS, Gadsden and Duval Counties rank 1st and 3rd, respectively, in the state in reported cases of sexually transmitted infections experiencing significant increases in both chlamydia and gonorrhea over the last years, particularly among women of childbearing age, and WHEREAS, the state's current approach to tracking and treating partners has not been successful in reducing these rates, and WHEREAS, the proposed pilot project is projected to cost $70,000 annually and reach approximately 4,000 persons and their partners and offers a cost-effective strategy for testing expedited partner therapy and evaluating its impact in two counties with significantly high incidences of sexually transmitted infections and infant mortality, NOW, THEREFORE, 34 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 36 Section 1. Expedited partner therapy pilot project.-The Department of Health shall develop and implement an expedited partner therapy pilot project in Duval and Gadsden Counties to address high rates of sexually transmitted infections. The pilot project shall exempt providers in those counties from the requirements of ss. 384.27 and 465.023(1)(h), Florida Statutes, and Rule 64B8-9.014, Florida Administrative Code. Under the proposed pilot project, a physician is authorized to provide a single dose of medication provided by the county health department to infected patients for use by their partners. Expedited partner therapy is not mandated under the pilot project but is offered as a treatment option. The pilot project shall provide training to physicians on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expedited partner therapy guidelines and adapt provider and patient education material on expedited partner therapy developed by the state of Texas, which recently approved expedited partner therapy as a treatment option. The cost of the pilot project may be covered by identifying resources within existing revenues. Funding shall be used to purchase needed medication, provide educational material for physicians and patients, and evaluate the progress of the pilot project. Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2012.