Patients have the right to access any records made by a health care facility or provider relating to any adverse medical incident.1 In the event of an adverse incident, a hospital must notify the patient who was subject to the adverse incident that the adverse incident occurred.2  Each health care facility must report all adverse incidents to the Agency for Health Care Administration within 15 days of occurrence.3 A physician must report any adverse incident to the Department of Health. 4

Every hospital,5 nursing home,6 home care service organization,7 and mental health residential treatment facilities8 must establish an internal risk management program that analyzes and corrects adverse incidents and patient grievances. The Health Care Administration may establish a Health Care Risk Manager Advisory Council to advise the agency pertaining to health care risk managers.9

The Department of Children and Family Services must adopt rules providing a procedure for reporting abuse of patients who seeks mental health treatment.10 A health care provider who engages in sexual misconduct with a patient who is in the custody of the Department of Health or resides in a mental health facility is guilty of a felony of the second degree.11 A health care provider has a duty to report incidents of sexual misconduct by other health care professionals to the Department of Health's central abuse hotline and to the appropriate local law enforcement agency.12

The Children of Children and Family Services must establish a central abuse hotline that receives all reports of abuse, neglect, or exploitation of a vulnerable adult in writing or through a statewide toll-free telephone number.13 Any health care professional who knows that a vulnerable adult has been or is being abused or neglected must immediately file a report to the central abuse hotline.14 Every facility that serves vulnerable adults must inform residents of their right to report abusive, neglectful, or exploitative practices.15

The Agency for Health Care Administration must establish a toll-free telephone number for public reporting of complaints relating to medical treatment or services provided by health care professionals.16 The Agency for Health Care Administration must provide information about all nursing home facilities to the public.17

The Agency for Health Care Administration, the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman Council, or the local long-term ombudsman council has the right to enter a nursing home facility to determine compliance of state law.18 The Office of Long-Term Care Ombudsman is established to provide long-term care residents a formal mechanism of filing complaints against a long-term care facility or its employees.19 The Statewide Managed Care Ombudsman Committee is established within the Agency for Health Care Administration to act on behalf of all health care consumers receiving services through managed care programs in Florida.20

Nursing homes are prohibited from harming residents.21 Nursing homes must display a poster provided by the Agency for Health Care Administration containing the contact information for Florida’s abuse hotline, the State Long-term Care Ombudsman, the Agency’s consumer hotline, the Advocacy Center for Persons with Disabilities, the Florida Statewide Advocacy Council, and the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.22

Florida’s constitution prohibits a health care provider from practicing medicine in the state if (s)he is found to have committed 3 or more incidents of medical malpractice.23 A health care provider may face criminal charges, civil lawsuits from a state health agency, or disciplinary sanctions from the appropriate licensing board for unprofessional conduct, which includes medical malpractice, using foul or abusive language against a patient, physically or emotionally abusing a patient, or engaging in sexual acts with a patient.24

The Department of Health must compile a practitioner profile of every health care professional, which includes the practitioner’s history of disciplinary action and medical malpractice claims.25 The Department of Health must be notified when a health care provider is subject to disciplinary action.26 The Office of Insurance Regulation must be notified if a health care provider is subject to a medical malpractice claim.27 A medical malpractice claim or lawsuit reported to the Department of Health is public information.28 The Department of Health or a medical licensing board may report any criminal activity committed by a health care professional to the appropriate authorities.29  The Department of Health must annually submit a report to the Florida legislature information regarding the medical profession including: complaints received and investigated and the disposition of the complaints; and a description of disciplinary actions taken.30