Florida SB 596: Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsels

Bill Text

596 
Transparency in Health Care 
2025-11-19T08:55:11Z 
Defining the term “personal benefit”; requiring health care practitioners to report any personal benefit received from a pharmaceutical company to the Department of Health; requiring the department to establish uniform reporting procedures and a publicly accessible online database for the reports; requiring the department to establish certain guidelines for health care practitioners, etc. 
Original Filed Version 
2026 
S 
2026-07-01T00:00:00Z 
GB 
General Bill 
__ 

 Florida Senate - 2026 SB 596 

 By Senator Garcia 

 36-00967-26 2026596__ 
 1 A bill to be entitled 
 2 An act relating to transparency in health care; 
 3 creating s. 456.0525, F.S.; defining the term 
 4 “personal benefit”; requiring health care 
 5 practitioners to report any personal benefit received 
 6 from a pharmaceutical company to the Department of 
 7 Health; requiring that such reports be updated at 
 8 least quarterly and include certain information; 
 9 requiring the department to establish uniform 
 10 reporting procedures and a publicly accessible online 
 11 database for the reports; providing requirements for 
 12 the database; requiring the department to establish 
 13 certain guidelines for health care practitioners; 
 14 requiring the Auditor General to perform annual audits 
 15 for specified purposes; providing for administrative 
 16 and criminal penalties; providing an effective date. 
 17 
 18 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 
 19 
 20 Section 1. Section 456.0525, Florida Statutes, is created 
 21 to read: 
 22 456.0525 Disclosure of personal benefits received from 
 23 pharmaceutical companies.— 
 24 (1) As used in this section, the term “personal benefit” 
 25 means any benefit or advantage, economic or noneconomic, 
 26 received outside of the context of a health care practitioner 
 27 patient relationship. The term includes, but is not limited to, 
 28 investment interests, gifts, financial incentives, kickback 
 29 fees, speaking fees, sponsored travel, research funding, free 
 30 samples, and any other form of compensation. 
 31 (2) To promote transparency, accountability, and public 
 32 trust in health care in this state, each health care 
 33 practitioner shall report to the department any personal benefit 
 34 received from a pharmaceutical company. Reports must be updated 
 35 at least quarterly and include, at a minimum, details regarding 
 36 the nature, value, and purpose of any personal benefit received. 
 37 (3) The department shall establish uniform reporting 
 38 procedures and a publicly accessible online database to maintain 
 39 the reports. The database must allow members of the public to 
 40 easily search by the name of a health care practitioner or 
 41 pharmaceutical company and the type of personal benefit 
 42 received. 
 43 (4) The department shall establish guidelines for health 
 44 care practitioners relating to ethical practices when engaging 
 45 with pharmaceutical companies. 
 46 (5) The Auditor General shall perform annual audits to 
 47 monitor compliance with this section, verify the accuracy of 
 48 reported data, and address any conflicts of interest. 
 49 (6) A violation of this section is grounds for disciplinary 
 50 action by the applicable board. A second or subsequent violation 
 51 of this section constitutes a misdemeanor of the first degree, 
 52 punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083. 
 53 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2026.