Florida SB 668: Electronic Health Records

Bill Text

668 
Physician Assistants 
2025-11-25T07:53:26Z 
Providing for the registration of physician assistants to engage in practice without physician supervision; providing financial responsibility requirements for registered physician assistants; specifying activities registered physician assistants may engage in without physician supervision; requiring registered physician assistants to provide new patients with specified information either before or during the initial patient encounter, etc. 
Original Filed Version 
2026 
S 
2026-07-01T00:00:00Z 
GB 
General Bill 
__ 

 Florida Senate - 2026 SB 668 

 By Senator Truenow 

 13-00692-26 2026668__ 
 1 A bill to be entitled 
 2 An act relating to physician assistants; amending ss. 
 3 458.347 and 459.022, F.S.; revising legislative 
 4 intent; revising the definition of the term “physician 
 5 assistant”; providing for the registration of 
 6 physician assistants to engage in practice without 
 7 physician supervision; requiring the Council on 
 8 Physician Assistants to register physician assistants 
 9 meeting specified criteria; providing financial 
 10 responsibility requirements for registered physician 
 11 assistants; providing exceptions; specifying 
 12 activities registered physician assistants may engage 
 13 in without physician supervision; limiting the types 
 14 of surgical procedures registered physician assistants 
 15 may perform; requiring the council, in consultation 
 16 with the Board of Medicine and the Board of 
 17 Osteopathic Medicine, to adopt rules establishing 
 18 standards of practice for registered physician 
 19 assistants; requiring biennial registration renewal; 
 20 requiring the department to distinguish registered 
 21 physician assistants’ licenses and include the 
 22 registration in their practitioner profiles; requiring 
 23 registered physician assistants to provide new 
 24 patients with specified information either before or 
 25 during the initial patient encounter; requiring the 
 26 council to adopt rules; providing construction; 
 27 providing an effective date. 
 28 
 29 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 
 30 
 31 Section 1. Present subsections (7) through (16) of section 
 32 458.347, Florida Statutes, are redesignated as subsections (8) 
 33 through (17), respectively, a new subsection (7) is added to 
 34 that section, and subsection (1) and paragraph (e) of subsection 
 35 (2) of that section are amended, to read: 
 36 458.347 Physician assistants.— 
 37 (1) LEGISLATIVE INTENT.—The purpose of this section is to 
 38 provide means by which physician assistants may practice 
 39 medicine in collaboration with physicians and other health care 
 40 practitioners to ensure high-quality medical care is available 
 41 at a reasonable cost to consumers. authorize Physician 
 42 assistants, with their education, training, and experience in 
 43 the field of medicine, are well suited to provide these to 
 44 provide increased efficiency of and access to high-quality 
 45 medical services at a reasonable cost to consumers. 
 46 (2) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section, the term: 
 47 (e) “Physician assistant” means a person who is a graduate 
 48 of an approved program or its equivalent or meets standards 
 49 approved by the council boards and is licensed to perform 
 50 medical services delegated by the supervising physician. 
 51 (7) PRACTICING WITHOUT PHYSICIAN SUPERVISION.— 
 52 (a) Registration.—To practice without physician 
 53 supervision, a physician assistant must register with the 
 54 council on a form prescribed by the council. The council must 
 55 register a physician assistant to practice without physician 
 56 supervision if the applicant demonstrates to the satisfaction of 
 57 the council that he or she meets all of the following criteria: 
 58 1. Holds an active, unencumbered license to practice as a 
 59 physician assistant under this chapter. A physician assistant 
 60 practicing under a temporary license, a temporary certificate 
 61 for practice in areas of critical need, or any other type of 
 62 conditional license is not eligible for registration under this 
 63 subsection. 
 64 2. Has not been subject to disciplinary action as specified 
 65 in s. 456.072 or s. 458.331 or any similar disciplinary action 
 66 in another state or other territory or jurisdiction within the 5 
 67 years immediately preceding the registration application. 
 68 3. Has completed, in any state, jurisdiction, or territory 
 69 of the United States, at least 3,000 clinical practice hours, 
 70 which may include clinical instructional hours provided by the 
 71 applicant, within the 5 years immediately preceding the 
 72 registration application. For purposes of this paragraph, the 
 73 term “clinical instruction” means education provided by faculty 
 74 in a clinical setting in a graduate program leading to a 
 75 master’s or doctoral degree in a clinical physician assistant 
 76 practice area.