F.S.A. § 408.05

Florida Center for Health Information and Policy Analysis

The Agency for Health Care Administration has established the Florida Center for Health Information and Policy Analysis.  The Center will establish a comprehensive health information system which will collect, compile, analyze and disseminate both collected and existing health data and statistics.  The Center must identify the best data sources and coordinate data collection on:

• The extent and nature of illness and disability in the population, including life expectancy, incidence of various illnesses, and infant mortality and morbidity;
• The impact of the extent and nature of illness of the population on the state’s economy and other aspects of well-being;
• Environmental, social and other health hazards;
• Health knowledge and practices of people in the state;
• Health resources, including physicians, dentists, nurses and other health professionals, by specialty and practice type, acute, long-term care and other institutional facilities;
• Utilization of health care provider, by provider type;
• Health care costs and financing, including trends in prices and costs, sources of payment, and federal, state and local expenditures of health care;
• Family formation, growth and dissolution;
• Level of public and private health insurance coverage in the state;
• Quality of care provided.

In order to come up with comparable and uniform health statistics to develop policy recommendations, the Agency for Health Care Administration must:

• Coordinate the activities of the various state agencies involved in establishing the comprehensive health information system;
• Conduct research, development and evaluation of the health information system;
• Review the statistical activities of state agencies to ensure consistency with the health information system;
• Develop written agreements with local, state, and federal agencies for data sharing;
• Establish rules for the types of data to be collected, compiled, used and shared.  Decisions regarding data sets will be made by the State Consumer Health Information and Policy Advisory Council and other public and private users.  The Center must establish standardized methods of collecting data;
• Establish minimum health-care related data sets that are necessary for the Center;
• Establish advisory standards to ensure the quality of health statistics and epidemiological data collection, processing and analysis by state and local agencies;
• Prescribe standards for the publication of health care related data to ensure reporting of accurate and reliable data;
• Prescribe standards for the maintenance and preservation of Center data;
• Ensure that strict quality controls are put in place for the dissemination of data;
• Develop, working with the Consumer Health Information and Policy Advisory Council, and implement a long-term for making health care quality data and financial data available to consumers to be able to compare health care services.  The quality measures and financial data must include pharmaceuticals, physicians, health care facilities, health plans, and managed care entities.  The Agency must make the long range plan and status available on its website.  As initial steps, the Agency must:
  • Make available patient safety indicators, inpatient quality indicators, and performance outcome and patient charge data collected from health facilities.  The Agency determines which conditions procedures, health care quality measures, and patient charge data to disclose.  When determining which conditions and procedures to disclose, the Council and Agency should consider cost variations, outcome variations, magnitude of variations and other factors.  When determining which health care quality measures to disclose, the Agency should consider volume of cases, average patient charges, average length of stay, complication rates, mortality rates, and infection rates. 
  • Make available performance measures, benefit design, and premium cost data from health plans.  The Agency will determine which health care quality measures and member and subscriber cost data to disclose, and should consider information required by purchasers to assess the value of the product.  Health plans must make this data available to the Agency if it is not currently reported.
  • Determine the method and form of public disclosure of reported data.  The data must at least be available on the Agency’s website, which must allow consumers to conduct enhanced decision making using the information provided. 
  • Publish on the Agency’s website undiscounted charges for the 150 of the most commonly performed adult and pediatric procedures.

The Center must provide technical assistance to people and entities performing health planning activities in the effective use of collected health statistics.  Additional technical assistance services include:

• Establishing procedures for effectively using the Center’s data;
• Assisting data sources in users in database design, survey design, sampling procedures, statistical interpretation, and data access to improve access to health care related data sets;
• Identifying gaps in health care data sets;
• Assisting organizations in developing statistical abstracts of health care data sets;
• Providing statistical support to state agencies using Center databases;
• Responding to multiple requests for data by initiating data collection;
• Maintaining detailed information on data held by local, state, federal, and private organizations;
• Responding to requests for data not available in published forms;
• Monitoring innovations in health information technology, informatics, and health information exchange.

The Agency administer, manage and monitor grants to non-profit organizations, regional health information organizations, public health departments or state agencies that submit proposals related to the advancement of the health information network.   The Agency must also oversee, manage and evaluate the integration of health care data from each state agency that deals with health information, and make it available to health care practitioners through a statewide health information network. 

The Center must provide for the widespread dissemination of data it collects, including the following:

• Publish and make available to state agencies and individuals general health statistics, including health plan consumer reports and HMO member satisfaction surveys, topical health statistics reports, and health status profiles;
• The Center must publish and make available results of special health care surveys, research or evaluation;
• The Center must conduct indexing, abstracting, translation, publication and other services to ensure effective dissemination of health care data;
• The Center must publish an annual report on its activities;
• The Center must be responsible for conducting special surveys to expand the availability of health information and statistics . 

The Center may apply for funding and receive funds from governmental or public or private entities.  The Center may charge reasonable fees as allowed by state agencies under the law. 

As noted above, this law also establishes the State Consumer Health Information and Policy Advisory Council to assist in the development of a health information network.  The Council must consist of:

1. An employee of the Executive Office of the Governor, appointed by the Governor.
2. An employee of the Office of Insurance Regulation, appointed by the director of the office.
3. An employee of the Department of Education, appointed by the Commissioner of Education.
4. Ten individuals  appointed by the Secretary of Health Care Administration, representing other state and local agencies, state universities, business and health coalitions, local health councils, professional health-care-related associations, consumers, and purchasers.