On January 18, 2001, the Executive Council of the Section met in conjunction with the mid-year meeting of The Florida Bar in Miami, Florida. I would like to take this opportunity to update the members of the Section in regard to the topics considered by the Council.

The Board of Governors of The Florida Bar considered and approved the request of Section for reactivation of the Sections two current legislative positions. They are as follows:

1. Supports confidentiality of Physician Recovery Network records.
2. Supports, for administrative disciplinary proceedings before regulatory boards within the Division of Medical Quality Assurance of the Department of Health, the adoption of a statute of limitations of no less than four years from the time of the conduct giving rise to the complaint, or from the time the conduct is discovered or should have been discovered but in no event should the statute of limitations be extended for more than seven years - said limitations being inapplicable in cases involving: fraud, concealment, or intentional misrepresentation of fact by the investigated licensee which affect discovery of the alleged misconduct within the limitations period; a complainant whose minority, incapacity or other legal impediment prevented discovery of the alleged misconduct within the limitations period; claims of sexual activity between a licensee and a patient; or alleged conduct that involves fraud or misrepresentation of a material fact in the context of an original or renewal license application.

As many of you know, no Section of The Florida Bar may lobby the legislature without formally adopting legislative positions that must be reviewed and approved by the Board of Governors. In addition, the Section must designate "contacts" which constitute the individuals who are allowed to participate in legislative visits or appearances on behalf of the Section. Currently William Spratt, our legislative chair, and I, as Section chair have been designated as the Section's contacts. If you are contacted in regard to these legislative proposals please notify the Section leadership.

It became necessary to cancel the scheduled continuing legal education seminar on Complimentary/Alternative Medicine in Florida that was scheduled to take place on January 19, 2001, due to a low number of registrants. We intend to attempt to reschedule this continuing legal education course in the future. The Section intends to contact other interested individuals and entities, including the Florida Board of Medicine and the Florida Board of Chiropractic Medicine to enlist support for this program. On March 9, 2001, the Section will present a continuing legal education program in Tampa, Florida in regard to health law litigation issues. The Section is a co-sponsor of the 4th Annual Southeastern Health Care Fraud Institute program, which will be held March 15-16, 2001, in Calllaway Gardens Pine Mountain, Georgia. Program information can be obtained by contacting the Health Law Section of the State Bar of Georgia at 1-800-422-0893. In addition, the Section's certification exam review course will be conducted in Tampa, Florida April 6 and 7, 2001.

For the past several months I have been serving as a representative on the State of Florida Commission on Excellence in Health Care. This commission last met on January 12, 2001, and this will likely be the last meeting before a report is submitted by the Commission to the Florida legislature. A draft report is currently being prepared and should be available by the time this newsletter is published. The Commission voted to recommend the establishment of a Center for Patient Safety which would collect and establish a statewide data base on quality indicators, patient safety, and near misses to attempt to reduce medical errors. In addition, several specific proposed legislative changes were adopted relating to regulatory provisions in health care facilities. The proposals include the creation of a qualified immunity for risk managers and licensed facilities in reporting adverse incidents. In addition, the information reported to the State of Florida via facility adverse incident reports, would be collated and distributed to all licensed facilities on a quarterly basis, with identifying information removed. The purpose would be to rapidly disseminate information relating to incidents that have occurred in facilities, to all other facilities in an attempt to reduce the occurrence of similar incidents.

Final brochures for the William Trickel, Jr. Memorial Writing Award, which is sponsored by the Section, have been prepared and will soon be distributed to law schools in the State of Florida, and law schools outside the State of Florida that have a significant health law curriculum. This program invites students to prepare a paper on a subject in the area of Federal or Florida health law. These papers will be judged by appointees of the Section. Prizes will be awarded a the first place prize of $5,000, second place $2,500 and third place $1,000.

Christopher D. Rolle, passed away on October 19, 2000. Chris served as Chair of The Florida Bar's Health Law Certification Committee and was a long time member of the Section. A scholarship memorial has been established at the Stetson University College of Law. The goal is to raise $10,000 to endow a scholarship in Chris' name. Contributions to the scholarship fund should be made payable to the Stetson University College of Law, Chris Rolle Scholarship, Office of Student Relations, 1401 - 61st Street South, St. Petersburg, Florida 33707.

I would again request that Section members become more active in the Section. We have a great need to articles to be published in this Newsletter, and potentially in The Florida Bar Journal. Obviously, the publications of such articles can have a beneficial impact on the member's practice. I would remind you, that once research for an opinion letter or other the project has been completed, the information gleaned through the research can be readily converted into an article for publication. In addition, our web site contains a link to recent decisions of interest. We would greatly appreciate your input to this resource. There is a link in the "recent decisions" page for providing input.

Finally, the annual meeting will take place in Orlando, Florida June 20 through 23, 2001. We anticipate presenting a CLE program consisting of an update in recent developments in health law. This year the American Health Lawyers Association will hold its annual meeting June 17 through 20, 2001, at the same facility, the Marriott Orlando World Center. We hope to see all Section members actively participating in the two conferences.