Legislative Update: “The Doctor Title bill” by any other name…

The State of Florida has a long legislative history of affording title protection to all healthcare providers in many arenas.  Physicians, Nurses, Therapists and other licensed providers are all afforded specific protections to prevent individuals from misrepresenting themselves.  Such legislation has proven effective at protecting citizens of our state and ensuring quality health care.

With the filing of “HB 309: Prohibited Acts by Health Care Practitioners” it seems like “Bills of Sessions Past”.     The stated intent of the legislation is to correct a problem that does not exist and to protect consumers with egregious and redundant legislation!  The legislation, for all intents and purposes, appears to be a reworded version of the “Doctor Title Bill” that caused significant conflict in years past.

Allow me to explain….

Several years ago legislation was filed in Florida that would have outlawed doctorally prepared nurses from using the title of “Doctor”.  It was explained that the bill was necessary to “protect the public” from nurses who were misrepresenting themselves. However there was no evidence to support the need for the legislation and it was ultimately withdrawn.

So in the 2020 Legislative session comes HB 309: Prohibited Acts by Health Care Practitioners filed by representatives Dr. Massullo and Duran.  The bill provides the Florida Department of Health with the ability to penalize health care practitioners who utilize certain titles without meeting certain criteria as established by the Department of Health.  The legislation isolates such penalties to titles common to the medical community.  (Disregarding the fact that title protection is already afforded to physicians in Florida Statute.)

The bill further does not include “nurse anesthetist” in protected titles despite the ongoing utilization of the title “anesthetist” by anesthesia assistants.

It would seem that if the purpose of the bill is to ensure all patients are well informed of the training and preparation of healthcare providers inclusion of other healthcare related providers would be appropriate.  It implies that only physicians, and medically related titles, warrant protection and penalties for inappropriate use.

It quickly becomes apparent that the bill is largely a response from the Florida Medical Community to the growing use of the title of “Nurse Anesthesiologists” in other areas of the country.  A cynic might argue that the bill is a continuation of a turf battle between nursing and medicine and NOT a consumer protection bill.

The bill was hotly discussed in a recent health committee meeting.  View the video by clicking on the link below:  (Scroll to 37 minutes to see the discussion of HB 309).

https://myfloridahouse.gov/VideoPlayer.aspx?eventID=2443575804_2019111067

For more information about the title “Nurse Anesthesiologists” you might want to read the following paper:

https://www.nurseanesthesiologistinfo.com/

EB