Florida Statutes § 456.041 — Practitioner profile; creation.

456.041 Practitioner profile; creation.—(1)(a) The Department of Health shall compile the information submitted pursuant to s. 456.039 into a practitioner profile of the applicant submitting the information, except that the Department of Health shall develop a format to compile uniformly any information submitted under s. 456.039(4)(b). The Department of Health may compile the information submitted pursuant to s. 456.0391 into a practitioner profile of the applicant submitting the information. The protocol submitted pursuant to s. 464.012(3) must be included in the practitioner profile of the advanced practice registered nurse. (b) The department shall verify the information submitted by the applicant under s. 456.039 concerning disciplinary history and medical malpractice claims at the time of initial licensure and license renewal using the National Practitioner Data Bank. The physician profiles shall reflect the disciplinary action and medical malpractice claims as reported by the National Practitioner Data Bank, and shall include information relating to liability and disciplinary actions obtained as a result of a search of the National Practitioner Data Bank. (c) Within 30 calendar days after receiving an update of information required for the practitioner’s profile, the department shall update the practitioner’s profile in accordance with the requirements of subsection (8). (2) On the profile published under subsection (1), the department shall indicate if the information provided under s. 456.039(1)(a)7. or s. 456.0391(1)(a)7. is or is not corroborated by a criminal history check conducted according to this subsection. The department, or the board having regulatory authority over the practitioner acting on behalf of the department, shall investigate any information received by the department or the board. (3) The Department of Health shall include in each practitioner’s practitioner profile that criminal information that directly relates to the practitioner’s ability to competently practice his or her profession. The department must include in each practitioner’s practitioner profile the following statement: “The criminal history information, if any exists, may be incomplete; federal criminal history information is not available to the public.” The department shall provide in each practitioner profile, for every final disciplinary action taken against the practitioner, an easy-to-read narrative description that explains the administrative complaint filed against the practitioner and the final disciplinary action imposed on the practitioner. The department shall include a hyperlink to each final order listed in its website report of dispositions of recent disciplinary actions taken against practitioners. (4) The Department of Health shall include, with respect to a practitioner licensed under chapter 458 or chapter 459, a statement of how the practitioner has elected to comply with the financial responsibility requirements of s. 458.320 or s. 459.0085. The department shall include, with respect to practitioners subject to s. 456.048, a statement of how the practitioner has elected to comply with the financial responsibility requirements of that section. The department shall include, with respect to practitioners licensed under chapter 461, information relating to liability actions which has been reported under s. 456.049 or s. 627.912 within the previous 10 years for any paid claim that exceeds $5,000. The department shall include, with respect to practitioners licensed under chapter 458 or chapter 459, information relating to liability actions which has been reported under ss. 456.049 and 627.912 within the previous 10 years for any paid claim that exceeds $100,000. Such claims information shall be reported in the context of comparing an individual practitioner’s claims to the experience of other practitioners within the same specialty, or profession if the practitioner is not a specialist. The department must provide a hyperlink in such practitioner’s profile to all such comparison reports. If information relating to a liability action is included in a practitioner’s practitioner profile, the profile must also include the following statement: “Settlement of a claim may occur for a variety of reasons that do not necessarily reflect negatively on the professional competence or conduct of the practitioner. A payment in settlement of a medical malpractice action or claim should not be construed as creating a presumption that medical malpractice has occurred.” (5) The Department of Health shall include the date of a hospital or ambulatory surgical center disciplinary action taken by a licensed hospital or an ambulatory surgical center, in accordance with the requirements of s. 395.0193, in the practitioner profile. The department shall state whether the action related to professional competence and whether it related to the delivery of services to a patient. (6) The Department of Health shall provide in each practitioner profile for every physician or advanced practice registered nurse terminated for cause from participating in the Medicaid program, pursuant to s. 409.913, or sanctioned by the Medicaid program a statement that the practitioner has been terminated from participating in the Florida Medicaid program or sanctioned by the Medicaid program. (7) The Department of Health may include in the practitioner’s practitioner profile any other information that is a public record of any governmental entity and that relates to a practitioner’s ability to competently practice his or her profession. (8) Upon the completion of a practitioner profile under this section, the Department of Health shall furnish the practitioner who is the subject of the profile a copy of it for review and verification. The practitioner has a period of 30 days in which to review and verify the contents of the profile and to correct any factual inaccuracies in it. The Department of Health shall make the profile available to the public at the end of the 30-day period regardless of whether the practitioner has provided verification of the profile content. A practitioner shall be subject to a fine of up to $100 per day for failure to verify the profile contents and to correct any factual errors in his or her profile within the 30-day period. The department shall make the profiles available to the public through the World Wide Web and other commonly used means of distribution. The department must include the following statement, in boldface type, in each profile that has not been reviewed by the practitioner to which it applies: “The practitioner has not verified the information contained in this profile.” (9) The Department of Health must provide in each profile an easy-to-read explanation of any disciplinary action taken and the reason the sanction or sanctions were imposed. (10) The Department of Health may provide one link in each profile to a practitioner’s professional website if the practitioner requests that such a link be included in his or her profile. (11) Making a practitioner profile available to the public under this section does not constitute agency action for which a hearing under s. 120.57 may be sought.