by Richard Prior
Staff Writer
A reform bill that goes into effect March 1 has enough teeth to take a bite out of “unscrupulous doctors and attorneys” who are blamed for high insurance premiums.
“The intent of the act is to strengthen the regulation of health care clinics to prevent significant costs and harm to consumers,” said Ursula Eikman, an attorney with Brennan, Manna & Diamond.
The Health Care Clinic Act says clinics that had been required to register with the Department of Health now must be licensed with the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA).
AHCA regulates the state’s health care providers and facilities.
The health care clinic reforms are actually part of a larger package, the Florida Motor Vehicle Insurance Affordability Reform Act, which creates new crimes and increases penalties for Personal Injury Protection (PIP) fraud.
The bill requires licensed clinics to meet certain financial conditions and calls for criminal background screenings of applicants who own at least 5 percent of the business.
Legislators were “strongly” urged to pass the Motor Vehicle act by the state’s “top auto insurance companies,” said Charles Grimsley, president of the Florida Property and Casualty Association.
PIP fraud costs $1.5 billion a year, Grimsley said. The Motor Vehicle act “would eventually lead to lower premiums for all motorists,” he added.
“This is not an insurance issue, but rather a consumer issue,” Grimsley said while the measure was being debated. “If nothing substantial is done to reform PIP insurance . . . unscrupulous doctors and attorneys will continue to loot the system and penalize every honest Florida motorist who will continue being sacked with higher auto insurance costs.”
The new law covers all 3,600 clinics in the state, not just those with a preponderance of motor vehicle cases.
Florida’s estimated 3,600 clinics — their buildings and their records — will be open to inspections by AHCA, which may assess fines and require corrective action by owners or directors.
“The kinds of clinics covered depends . . . almost entirely on the ownership,” said Eikman. “If it’s not wholly owned by a licensed practitioner or their immediate relative, they’ll be required to get a license.”
Application fees will cost up to $2,000.
“There’s an extensive list of exemptions,” said Eikman. “But it’s important for people to understand, if they’re not exempt, they have to get licensed.”
Those who don’t file their license applications by March 1 are subject to criminal law charges and civil injunction proceedings. They’re also liable to fines up to $1,000 for each day the unlicensed operation is open and won’t get paid by third-party insurers.
“It’s really hitting them where it hurts,” said Eikman. “In the pocketbook.”
An article that Eikman wrote about the requirements, penalties and possible exemptions of the Act appears in the most recent edition of Florida Medical Business.
She received a master’s degree in health administration and her law degree from the University of Florida, both in 2001. She was the head of residency at a large insurance company and, for about two years, was a senior attorney in the AHCA’s Tallahassee office.
“My particular interest is health care law, so coming here provided a really great opportunity to practice exactly what I was interested in,” said Eikman. “It was a lucky fit.”
The Health Care Clinic Unit at AHCA processes applications and answers questions about the new requirements.
“The agency is doing a good job with this, making it easy for people, being accessible,” said Eikman. “If they don’t get (the application) in, there’s no excuse for that.”
After filing their application, clinics will receive temporary licenses while AHCA reviews their information. They will then receive an initial license.
“My main concern was alerting everybody that March 1 is the deadline for getting your application in,” said Eikman. “This legislation was passed last summer. AHCA wants all these people to get notified and get their applications in by March 1. That’s not a lot of time.”