Florida Legislators Consider New Regulations for Office Surgeries

There are two (2) bills being presented in the 2025 Florida Legislative Session that may affect office surgery facilities in Florida: House Bill (HB) 309 and Senate Bill (SB) 424, both known as “Hillary’s Law.”  In 2023, a physician performed multiple plastic surgery procedures on his wife after hours, she had a heart attack during surgery and died.  As a result of this unfortunate incident, the Legislature is proposing new laws that, if passed, would further provide quality care in office surgery facilities.

Practitioners should know that the Florida Board of Medicine, which regulates Office Surgery Registrations, has become increasingly stringent on office surgeries, and more generally, plastic surgery as a result.

These new bills, if signed into law, would impose the following restrictions, requirements, and prohibitions:

Physician Prohibitions

Both bills prohibit physicians from

• Performing surgery on an immediate family member and define immediate family member as a parent, child, sibling or spouse; and,
• Altering or changing an informed consent once it has been signed by the patient and before any sedative drugs are given to the patient.

Registration Requirements

Both bills have new registration requirements, including that all health care professional performing duties in the registered office must be:

• Licensed or certified and may only perform procedures within their scope of practice; and,
• Certified in advanced cardiac life support and maintains the certification every two (2) years.

Office Requirements

Both bills also have language that would require that surgeries be performed only during normal business hours and that the office must have:

• Appropriate staff onsite;
• A functioning automated defibrillator with other requirements; and
• Preoperative guidelines, intraoperative protocols, and postoperative recovery guidelines in place that meet the standards of an Ambulatory Surgery Center;
• A certified registered nurse anesthesiologist onsite to perform specific functions in the office; and
• Protocols in place for storing, accessing, administering, and dispensing sedatives and drugs listed in Schedule II – IV controlled substances.

Other Requirements

These bills include other requirements as well.

• There is a requirement for reporting adverse incidents within 48 hours with specific instructions about preserving evidence if the adverse incident results from the anesthetic used for the surgery.
• If the office surgery facility is undergoing construction or refurbishment of its structure, no surgeries or procedures may be performed until the construction or refurbishment is completed.
• Physicians practicing in office surgery facilities would be required to maintain medical malpractice insurance or provide financial responsibility in the amount of $1 million.

HB 309 has an added requirement that all office surgery facilities in Florida applying for registration will be required to be inspected by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) and be in full compliance with JCAHO standards.

Our Firm monitors the Legislative Session every year and is keenly aware of changes to laws that affect health care professionals in Florida.  The bills discussed in this blog would become effective July 1, 2025, if passed. If this is a bill that affects your license profession or your office surgery facility, you can monitor the bill throughout the Legislative Session.

Let the experienced health care Attorneys at Howell, Buchan & Strong help you navigate the licensing process.  To schedule a free consultation with the Firm, contact Howell, Buchan & Strong, Attorneys at Law at 850-877-7776 or via email at lawyerhelpnow@jsh-pa.com. We assist healthcare professionals throughout Florida and those outside the state with queries regarding licensing and regulations under Florida law.