Current through Reg. 50, No. 187; September 24, 2024
(1) Every physician licensed pursuant to
Chapter 458, F.S., shall be required to complete 40 hours of continuing medical
education courses approved by the Board in the 24 months preceding each
biennial renewal period as established by the Department.
(a) As part of every third biennial renewal
licensure period, all licensees shall complete two (2) hours of training in
domestic violence which includes information on the number of patients in that
professional's practice who are likely to be victims of domestic violence and
the number who are likely to be perpetrators of domestic violence, screening
procedures for determining whether a patient has any history of being either a
victim or a perpetrator of domestic violence, and instruction on how to provide
such patients with information on, or how to refer such patients to, resources
in the local community, such as domestic violence centers and other advocacy
groups, that provide legal aid, shelter, victim counseling, batterer
counseling, or child protection services, and which is approved by any state or
federal government agency, or nationally affiliated professional association,
or any provider of Category I or II American Medical Association Continuing
Medical Education. Home study courses approved by the above agencies will be
acceptable.
(b) Upon a licensee's
first renewal of licensure, the licensee must document the completion of one
(1) hour of Category I American Medical Association Continuing Medical
Education which includes the topics of Human Immunodeficiency Virus and
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome; the modes of transmission, including
transmission from healthcare worker to patient and patient to healthcare
worker; infection control procedures, including universal precautions;
epidemiology of the disease; related infections including TB; clinical
management; prevention; and current Florida law on AIDS and its impact on
testing, confidentiality of test results, and treatment of patients. Any hours
of said CME may also be counted toward the CME license renewal requirement. In
order for a course to count as meeting this requirement, licensees practicing
in Florida must clearly demonstrate that the course includes Florida law on
HIV/AIDS and its impact on testing, confidentiality of test results, and
treatment of patients. Only Category I hours shall be accepted.
(c) Completion of two hours of continuing
medical education relating to prevention of medical errors which includes a
study of root cause analysis, error reduction and prevention, and patient
safety, and which is approved by any state or federal government agency, or
nationally affiliated professional association, or any provider of Category I
or II American Medical Association Continuing Medical Education. One hour of a
two hour course which is provided by a facility licensed pursuant to Chapter
395, F.S., for its employees may be used to partially meet this requirement.
The course must include information relating to the five most mis-diagnosed
conditions during the previous biennium, as determined by the Board. While
wrong site/wrong procedure surgery continues to be the most common basis for
quality of care violations, the following areas have been determined as the
five most mis-diagnosed conditions: oncology related conditions;
gastroenterology related conditions; cardiology related conditions; infectious
disease related conditions; and neurology related conditions.
(d) A licensee who is registered with the
United States Drug Enforcement Agency and is authorized to prescribe controlled
substances is required to complete a 2-hour course on prescribing controlled
substances at each biennial renewal of licensure as required by Section
456.0301, F.S. The Board
approves the controlled substance prescribing courses offered by the Florida
Medical Association, the Florida Academy of Family Physicians, the Florida
College of Emergency Physicians, Baptist Health South Florida/Quality Network,
InforMed, Florida Psychiatric Society, Florida Osteopathic Medical Association,
the University of Florida, Net CE, The Doctors Company, CE Group, and Achieve
CE for the purpose of meeting this continuing education requirement.
(2)
(a) For purposes of this rule, risk
management means the identification, investigation, analysis, and evaluation of
risks and the selection of the most advantageous method of correcting, reducing
or eliminating identifiable risks.
(b) Five hours of continuing medical
education in the subject area of risk management or medical ethics may be
obtained by attending one full day or eight (8) hours, whichever is more, of
disciplinary hearings at a regular meeting of the Board of Medicine in
compliance with the following:
1. The licensee
must sign in with the Executive Director of the Board before the meeting day
begins.
2. The licensee must remain
in continuous attendance.
3. The
licensee must sign out with the Executive Director of the Board at the end of
the meeting day or at such other earlier time as affirmatively authorized by
the Board. A licensee may receive CME credit in risk management or medical
ethics for attending the disciplinary portion of a Board meeting only if he or
she is attending on that date solely for that purpose; he or she may not
receive such credit if appearing at the Board meeting for another purpose. A
member of the Board of Medicine may obtain 10 hours of continuing medical
education per biennium in the subject area of risk management or medical ethics
for attendance at the disciplinary portion of Board meetings.
(3) During the license
renewal period of each biennium, an application for renewal will be mailed to
each licensee at the last address provided to the Board. Failure to receive any
notification during this period does not relieve the licensee of the
responsibility of meeting the continuing education requirements. The
application for renewal shall include a form on which the licensee shall state
that he has completed the required continuing education. The licensee must
retain such receipts, vouchers, certificates, or other papers, such as the
physician's recognition awards issued by the AMA, as may be necessary to
document completion of the continuing education listed on the renewal form for
a period of not less than 4 years from the date the course was taken.
(4) Failure to document compliance with the
continuing education requirements or the furnishing of false or misleading
information regarding compliance shall be grounds for disciplinary action up to
and including license revocation.
(5) The following courses are approved by the
Board:
(a) Organized courses approved for
American Medical Association Category I Continuing Medical Education credits or
accepted for the American Medical Association physician recognition
award.
(b) Any postgraduate
training program accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical
Education.
(c) The following
specialty training: American College of Emergency Physicians, Category I;
American Academy of Family Physicians prescribed credit; American College of
Obstetricians and Gynecologists cognates; and study courses required by those
specialty certification boards approved by the Board for the purpose of sitting
for specialty recertification examinations.
(6) In addition to the continuing medical
education credits authorized above, any volunteer expert witness who is
providing expert witness opinions for cases being reviewed pursuant to Chapter
458 or 468, F.S., shall receive 5.0 hours of credit in the area of risk
management for each case reviewed up to a maximum of 15 hours per biennium. In
this regard, volunteer expert witnesses are encouraged to perform a literature
survey in conjunction with a review of cases for the Board.
(7) In addition to the continuing medical
education credits authorized above, current and former Board members shall
receive up to a maximum of 5 hours of credit per biennium in the area of risk
management for serving on the Board's probable cause panel.
(8) In addition to the continuing medical
education credits authorized above, a physician who serves as a supervising
physician for a licensed physician who is under direct supervision for a period
of at least one year, shall be entitled to receive 6 hours of continuing
medical education credit in risk management for each physician being
supervised. Any physician who serves as a monitoring physician for a licensed
physician who is under indirect supervision for a period of at least one year,
shall be entitled to receive 3 hours of continuing medical education credit in
risk management for each physician being monitored. Only the first 5 hours of
the continuing medical education set forth in this subsection can be utilized
toward the risk management continuing medical education requirement. All
subsequent hours may be utilized to satisfy the general continuing medical
education requirement.
(9) In
addition to the continuing medical education credits authorized above, up to 5
hours, per biennium, of continuing education credit may be fulfilled by
performing pro bono medical services, for an entity serving the indigent or
underserved populations or in areas of critical need within the state where the
licensee practices. The standard for determining indigency shall be low-income
(no greater than 150% of the federal poverty level) or uninsured persons.
Credit shall be given on an hour per hour basis.
(a) The Board approves for credit under this
rule, the following entities:
1. The
Department of Health,
2. Community
and Migrant Health Centers funded under section 330 of the United States Public
Health Service Act; and,
3.
Volunteer Health Care provider programs contracted to provide uncompensated
care under the provisions of Section
766.1115, F.S., with the
Department of Health.
(b) For services provided to an entity not
specified under this rule, a licensee must apply for prior approval in order to
receive credit. In the application for approval, licensees shall disclose the
type, nature and extent of services to be rendered, the facility where the
services will be rendered, the number of patients expected to be served, and a
statement indicating that the patients to be served are indigent. If the
licensee intends to provide services in underserved or critical need areas, the
application shall provide a brief explanation as to those facts.
(c) Unless otherwise provided through Board
order, no licensee who is subject to a disciplinary action that requires
additional continuing education as a penalty, shall be permitted to use
pro-bono medical services as a method of meeting the additional continuing
education requirements.
(10) Upon request by the Board or Department,
the licensee must submit satisfactory documentation of compliance with the
requirements set forth above.
Rulemaking Authority
456.013(6),
(7),
456.031(2),
456.033,
458.309,
458.319 FS. Law Implemented
456.013(6),
(7),
456.031(1)(a),
456.033,
458.319
FS.
New 9-7-86, Amended 11-17-87, 11-15-88, 1-31-90, 9-15-92,
Formerly 21M-28.002, Amended 12-5-93, Formerly 61F6-28.002, Amended 3-1-95,
1-3-96, 1-26-97, Formerly 59R-13.005, Amended 5-18-99, 2-7-01, 6-4-02, 10-8-03,
5-4-04, 5-20-04, 4-5-05, 4-25-06, 12-26-06, 1-16-08, 5-6-08, 11-25-08, 7-6-09,
2-23-10, 4-3-12, 3-12-14, 5-15-14, 10-26-14, 2-29-16, 2-26-18, 9-10-18,
4-29-19, 3-2-20, 3-2-22, 3-7-24.
