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CS/HB 587 2026
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
A bill to be entitled 1
An act relating to medical review committees; amending 2
s. 766.101, F.S.; revising the definition of the term 3
"medical review committee"; providing an effective 4
date. 5
6
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 7
8
Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subsection (1), subsection 9
(5), and paragraph (c) of subsection (7) of section 766.101, 10
Florida Statutes, are amended to read: 11
766.101 Medical review committee, immunity from 12
liability.— 13
(1) As used in this section: 14
(a) The term "medical review committee" or "committee" 15
means: 16
1.a. A committee of a hospital or ambulatory surgical 17
center licensed under chapter 395 or a health maintenance 18
organization certificated under part I of chapter 641; 19
b. A committee of a physician-hospital organization, a 20
provider-sponsored organization, or an integrated delivery 21
system; 22
c. A committee of a state or local professional society of 23
health care providers; 24
d. A committee of a medical staff of a licensed hospital 25
CS/HB 587 2026
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
or nursing home, provided the medical staff operates pursuant to 26
written bylaws that have been approved by the governing board of 27
the hospital or nursing home; 28
e. A committee of the Department of Corrections or the 29
Correctional Medical Authority as created under s. 945.602, or 30
employees, agents, or consultants of either the department or 31
the authority or both; 32
f. A committee of a professional service corporation 33
formed under chapter 621 or a corporation organized under part I 34
of chapter 607 or chapter 617, which is formed and operated for 35
the practice of medicine as defined in s. 458.305(3), and which 36
has at least 25 health care providers who routinely provide 37
health care services directly to patients; 38
g. A committee of the Department of Children and Families 39
or a managing entity as defined in s. 394.9082(2), which may 40
include includes employees or, agents of, or consultants to the 41
department or managing entity and any other persons the 42
department or managing entity deems as deemed necessary to 43
provide peer review, utilization review, or and mortality review 44
of treatment services provided pursuant to chapters 394, 397, 45
and 916; 46
h. A committee of a mental health treatment facility 47
licensed under chapter 394 or a community mental health center 48
as defined in s. 394.907, provided the quality assurance program 49
operates pursuant to the guidelines that have been approved by 50
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
the governing board of the agency; 51
i. A committee of a substance abuse treatment and 52
education prevention program licensed under chapter 397 provided 53
the quality assurance program operates pursuant to the 54
guidelines that have been approved by the governing board of the 55
agency; 56
j. A peer review or utilization review committee organized 57
under chapter 440; 58
k. A committee of the Department of Health, a county 59
health department, healthy start coalition, or certified rural 60
health network, when reviewing quality of care, or employees of 61
these entities when reviewing mortality records; or 62
l. A continuous quality improvement committee of a 63
pharmacy licensed pursuant to chapter 465, 64
65
which committee is formed to evaluate and improve the quality of 66
health care rendered by providers of health service, to 67
determine whether that health services rendered were 68
professionally indicated or were performed in compliance with 69
the applicable standard of care, or whether that the cost of 70
health care rendered was considered reasonable by the providers 71
of professional health services in the area; or 72
2. A committee of an insurer, self-insurer, or joint 73
underwriting association of medical malpractice insurance, or 74
other persons conducting review under s. 766.106. 75
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(5) The investigations, proceedings, and records of a 76
committee as described in the preceding subsections are shall 77
not be subject to discovery or introduction into evidence in any 78
civil or administrative action against a provider of 79
professional health services or a managing entity arising out of 80
the matters which are the subject of evaluation and review by 81
such committee, and any no person who was in attendance at a 82
meeting of such committee is not shall be permitted or required 83
to testify in any such civil action as to any evidence or other 84
matters produced or presented during the proceedings of such 85
committee or as to any findings, recommendations, evaluations, 86
opinions, or other actions of such committee or any members 87
thereof. However, information, documents, or records otherwise 88
available from original sources are not to be construed as 89
immune from discovery or use in any such civil action merely 90
because they were presented during proceedings of such 91
committee, nor should any person who testifies before such 92
committee or who is a member of such committee be prevented from 93
testifying as to matters within his or her knowledge, but the 94
said witness cannot be asked about his or her testimony before 95
such a committee or opinions formed by him or her as a result of 96
such said committee hearings. 97
(7) 98
(c) So as not to inhibit the willing and voluntary service 99
of professional society members on medical review committees, 100
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
the department shall use advisory reports from medical 101
committees as background information only and shall prepare its 102
own case using independently prepared evidence and supporting 103
expert opinion for submission to the probable cause panel of a 104
regulatory board formed under chapter 458 or chapter 459. 105
Proceedings of all medical review committees, as defined in s. 106
766.101(1)(a), are exempt from the provisions of s. 286.011 and 107
s. 24(b), Art. I of the State Constitution, and any advisory 108
reports provided to the department by such committees are 109
confidential and exempt from the provisions of s. 119.07(1) and 110
s. 24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution, regardless of 111
whether probable cause is found. The medical review committee 112
advisory reports and any records created by the medical review 113
committee are not subject to discovery or introduction into 114
evidence in any disciplinary proceeding against a licensee. 115
Further, no person who voluntarily serves on a medical review 116
committee or who investigates a complaint for the committee may 117
be permitted or required to testify in any such disciplinary 118
proceeding as to any evidence or other matters produced or 119
presented during the proceedings of such committee or as to any 120
findings, recommendations, evaluations, opinions, or other 121
actions of such committee or any members thereof. However, 122
nothing in this section shall be construed to mean that 123
information, documents, or records otherwise available and 124
obtained from original sources are immune from discovery or use 125
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
in any such disciplinary proceeding merely because they were 126
presented during proceedings of a peer review organization or 127
committee. Members of medical review committees shall assist the 128
department in identifying such original sources when possible. 129
Section 2. This act shall take effect October 1, 2026. 130