1. (1) As used in this section, the term "provider hospital" means a hospital in which there annually occur 30 or more births that are paid for partly or fully by state funds or federal funds administered by the state.
2. (2) The Office of the ¹Deputy Secretary for Health of the ²Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services, in consultation with the Board of Medicine and the Florida Obstetric and Gynecologic Society, is directed to establish practice parameters to be followed by physicians in provider hospitals in performance of a caesarean section delivery when the delivery will be paid partly or fully by state funds or federal funds administered by the state. These parameters shall be directed to reduce the number of unnecessary caesarean section deliveries. These practice parameters shall address, at a minimum, the following: feasibility of attempting a vaginal delivery for each patient with a prior caesarean section; dystocia, including arrested dilation and prolonged deceleration phase; fetal distress; and fetal malposition. The ²Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services shall adopt rules to implement the provisions of this subsection.

3. (3) Each provider hospital shall establish a peer review board consisting of obstetric physicians and other persons having credentials within that hospital to perform deliveries by caesarean section. This board shall review, at least monthly, every caesarean section performed since the previous review and paid for by state funds or federal funds administered by the state. The board shall conduct its review pursuant to the parameters specified in the rule adopted by the ²Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services pursuant to this act and shall pay particular attention to electronic fetal monitoring records, umbilical cord gas results, and Apgar scores in determining if the caesarean section delivery was appropriate. The results of this periodic review must be shared with the attending physician. These reviews and the resultant reports must be considered a part of the hospital's quality assurance monitoring and peer review process established pursuant to s. 395.0193.

   ¹Note.--Section 5, ch. 96-403, deletes all references to "Deputy Secretary for Health" from s. 20.19(3).

   ²Note.--The Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services was redesignated as the Department of Children and Family Services by s. 5, ch. 96-403, and the Department of Health was created by s. 8, ch. 96-403.

History.--s. 1, ch. 91-126; s. 89, ch. 92-33; s. 68, ch. 92-289.