The Agency for Health Care Administration (Agency) is issuing a call for nominations for cardiology specialists and cardiac surgeons to serve on a new Pediatric Cardiology Technical Advisory Panel (Panel). The Panel will fulfill the responsibilities outlined in a new law, Chapter 2017-151, Laws of Florida, signed by Governor Rick Scott earlier this year. The Panel is charged to develop procedures and standards for measuring the quality and outcomes of pediatric cardiac surgery programs in the state. The panel will make recommendations to the Agency on specific regulatory guidelines.
Panel members will include representatives from each of the state’s ten existing pediatric cardiology surgery programs, as nominated by the Chief Executive Officers of those hospitals and three additional at-large members to be appointed by the Agency’s Secretary Justin Senior. Additional eligibility information is outlined in the legislation. The Agency will accept nominations through the end of August and appointees will be announced in September.
The Panel will convene in the fall and meet as needed to form their recommendations. The Agency has launched a dedicated webpage at: www.AHCA.myflorida.com/PCTAP to make available information about the Panel’s work, member appointments, and meeting information. Under Florida’s Sunshine Laws, all Panel meetings will be open to the public. Members of the public may also send questions and information to the Panel through the website.