In memoriam: Paul R. Fell, R.E.H.S./R.S.(NEHA News)(Florida Environmental Health Association)(In memoriam)(Brief article) - Journal of Environmental Health

Paul R. Fell, 54, NEHA member and historian of the Florida Environmental Health Association (FEHA), passed away on Sunday, June 18, 2006. For 26 years, he was a dedicated member of FEHA and also dedicated many years of service to the city of Bunnell, Florida.

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Fell started his career with the Florida Department of Health in June 1977 as an environmental health specialist for the Highlands County Health Department. In 1983 he accepted a position as environmental health director for the Flagler County Health Department and in 1991 transferred to the Volusia County Health Department, where he helped implement the new Biomedical Waste Inspection Program.

He worked in Volusia County for over 13 years, mostly coordinating the biomedical waste program countywide, but also working in the Public Drinking Water and Group Care programs during his tenure. Fell was instrumental in working on the development of the first state and national rules addressing the potential public health threats from the body-piercing and body art industry. He was recognized as a national expert of the body-piercing program, serving on a national committee and speaking at numerous conferences on this topic.

In addition, he served on the FEHA Board of Directors for several years, with stints as vice president and president in the mid-1980s. He served as FEHA's historian from the creation of that position, at his urging, in the early 1990s. In his role as historian, he amassed an impressive collection of memorabilia on environmental and public health in Florida.

UNIVERSITY OF WEST FLORIDA BOARD OF TRUSTEES APPROVES STRATEGIC PRIORITIES - US Fed News Service, Including US State News

The University of West Florida, a component of the Florida state university system, issued the following news release:

The University of West Florida Board of Trustees met on the main campus in Pensacola, June 14. President John Cavanaugh reported on the strategic priorities for the university that will correlate to the university's 2007-2012 Strategic Plan. Priorities approved are 'to inspire and achieve the highest levels of student learning, creativity and success;' 'attract, engage and retain the most talented and diverse students, faculty and staff;' 'create and deliver the highest quality educational, research and service programs that meet the needs of the communities we serve;' 'provide excellent educational, student and administrative support services and facilities;' and 'create and manage purposeful and sustainable growth.'

Jay Gould, former faculty representative and chair of the Faculty Senate, and Christina Genualdi, former president of the Student Government Association, were recognized for their distinguished service to the Board of Trustees. Gould was commended for his integrity and for providing the important voice of the faculty to the board. Genualdi was highly commended for being a voice for the students to the board. The board also approved tenure for 11 faculty members.

The board approved housing rates for triple occupancy, tuition and fees, regulations for academic misconduct and student code of conduct, health fee collection practices, the Public Educational Capital Outlay improvement plan (PECO), the internal auditing work plan, the 2006 UWF Financial Audit and the conceptual proposal for the Pensacola Historical Society and Alger-Sullivan to join West Florida Historic Preservation, Inc.

The board received numerous informational updates including the 2007-2008 Consolidated Operating Budget, the Creating Great Futures Campaign, the Campus Master Plan, student accomplishments and a facilities maintenance update. The operating budget is conservative for the fiscal year, however, fall and spring enrollment have seen increases.Contact: Kim Spear, 850/474-2200, kspear@uwf.edu.

Haitian American named to Florida Board of Nursing - Caribbean Today

Caribbean Today
06-30-2005
Haitian American Dr. Jessie M. Colin, an associate professor in Barry
University's School of Nursing, was recently appointed to the Florida Board
of Nursing.

Dr. Colin, a nursing educator and author, has contributed to nursing care
and education on Haitian immigrant health and culture. She is co-founder of
The Haitian Health Foundation and has created a model of culturally
competent community health nursing that addresses the health of immigrants
and serves as a model for other immigrant communities.

Dr. Colin was previously appointed to the Florida Governor's Haiti Advisory
Committee, which recommends initiatives to assist Haiti on disaster
preparedness and public health initiatives.

The Florida Board of Nursing's role is to ensure that every nurse
practicing in Florida meets minimum requirements for safe practice.

Article copyright Caribbean Today.
V.16;

Dr. Michael Mathesie Reappointed to Florida Board of Athletic Training - Dynamic Chiropractic

Parkland, FIa. resident Michael W. Mathesie, DC, recently was reappointed by Florida Governor Jeb Bush to the Florida Board of Athletic Training. In this role, Dr. Mathesie will serve the citizens of the state of Florida, regulating Florida's professional, collegiate, and high school athletic trainers. In addition to his 16-year practice in Coral Springs, Dr. Mathesie brings much experience to his position on the board, having served as board examiner for the Florida Board of Chiropractic Medicine since 1995, and as an expert witness and consultant to the Department of Health and Agency for Healthcare Administration. He also holds board certification from the American Chiropractic Board of Sports Physicians and the American Chiropractic Rehabilitation Board.

South Florida's health care costs is rising higher than U.S. overall. - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

By Michael Welber, Florida Keys Keynoter, Marathon Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Dec. 4--'A couple of years ago, we were hit hard with a 29 percent increase but last year wasn't too bad,' said Jackie Grasley, human resources director for Marine Bank of the Florida Keys. 'It only went up 15 percent.'

Grasley's comments refer to the cost of employer-provided medical plans and illustrate the dramatic increases that have hit companies throughout the country.

While the overall cost of living has been increasing at an annual rate just above 3 percent, health insurance costs have risen at five times that.

Now a national consulting company with offices in Miami, Aon Consulting, has reported the rates that employers in South Florida will pay for health care will increase faster than the national average.

Aon predicted, according to a recent press release, that while health insurance costs to employers will increase by 13.5 percent annually, those in South Florida will jump by 15 to 15.5 percent next year.

This is the sixth year in a row the company has predicted double-digit increases for all types of medical coverage.

The news is not good for Keys employers -- if they can even afford to pay some or all of their employees' health insurance costs.

Spottswood Companies, which owns a number of hotels in both Key West and Marathon, pays 80 percent of the premiums for all of its employees. It's a generous policy that includes health, prescription, dental and life insurance.

Every year, according to payroll human resources benefit coordinator Theresa Kendall, company President Robert Spottswood goes shopping for different options on insurance.

'We've seen the prices skyrocket,' she said. 'We'll continue to look at what's available. For example, we have had to raise the deductibles from $250 to $500.'

Marine Bank pays 100 percent of all its employees' insurance costs. The company also constantly shops for better financial arrangements.

One approach that helps enormously is that Marine buys insurance through what's known as a professional employee organization, or PEO. The one Marine belongs to has 80,000 members, giving the PEO considerable clout when purchasing insurance.

That benefit accrues to Marine Bank, keeping its health insurance costs much lower

Even so the costs have increased every year and the carrier, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, has raised co-pays for doctor visits as well as the overall deductibles.

The Monroe County government is, in some ways, in a better position because it self-insures. The plan is a generous one covering all board employees, the Sheriff's Office, and the offices of the clerk of the courts, tax collector, property appraiser and supervisor of elections, providing them with medical insurance, a prescription card, and life insurance for no charge. The county also subsidizes some of the dependent coverage.

However, the county must watch its costs very carefully.

'We keep a very close watch on our claims with monthly reports so we can see at the end of the year where we're going to be and make any adjustments,' said Maria Fernandez, group insurance administrator for Monroe County. 'We did make some changes last year by increasing the co-pay and pharmaceutical co-pays and that enabled us to not make increases in dependent coverage this year.'

Fernandez said the county gets a regular report from the Kaiser Foundation, a nonprofit policy firm that tracks such things. Those reports indicated that continuing big increases are coming, especially in prescription drugs.

'Prescriptions have become really, really expensive,' she added.

To see more of the Keynoter, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.keynoter.com.

Guaranteed issue plans effective Jan. 1 in Florida. (mandatory health insurance coverage for small businesses) - National Underwriter Life & Health-Financial Services Edition

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - insurers writing small group health insurance plans in Florida must take all comers as of Jan. 1, under a plan aimed at stemming legislative support for play-or-pay and universal access proposals.

The success or failure of the plan to make health insurance coverage available to employers with between three and 25 workers now rests largely with the industr, said Kenny Shipley, who heads the Department of Insurance bureau overseeing the project.

'This is an opportunity for the industry to resolve thc health care access problem without going into a universal access system,' Ms. Shipley said.

The department has approved the policy forms for the required 'standard' and 'basic' plans. While premiums will vary bv carrier, standard coverage provided through HMO-based plans is expected to run about $76 per month for individuals and about $190 per month for families. Standard coverage for similar plans offered through carriers is expected to run about $150 per month for individuals and about $375 for families. Basic coverage may run 10 percent to 15 percent below the cost of standard policies.

The questions now are: Will insurers write the policies, given the guarantee issue mandate, and 11 employers buy them?

Prudential Vice President and Assistant Actuary Nick Simonelli said he believes the plans will result in a 'noticeable improvement' in access to the insurance marketplace. 'The industry has got to put its best foot forward and work together to solve this problem,' he said.

Mr. Simonelli serves on the board of directors of the Florida Small Employer Health Reinsurance Program with representatives from Humana Health Plans, Celtic Life, John Alden Life, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, CIGNA and Travelers.

He said that while he believes these companies are committed to making the program work, he fears that others may not play by the game rules in an attempt to avoid high-risk groups and individuals.

'It is very important that this be successful, because if this doesn't work, somebody else has to come up with something else,' Mr. Simonelli said. '|Somebody else' could be the state or federal government and |something else' could be the Canadian plan. There is a weakness in what (the health insurance industry) is doing, and we have to be part of the solution.'

But Chicago-based Celtic Life President Howard Bolnick does not share Mr. Simonelli's optimism about the outcome. 'Clearly, this was set up as the industry's last chance,' he said. 'I am very unconvinced about where we're going to end up.

'Nobody that I know of has been successful at selling stripped-down policies. What people generally mean when they talk about a basic plan is that they want to have full benefits at a price that doesn't match the benefits,' he said.

CIGNA Vice President for Government Affairs Dayid Mannis said he is concerned that Florida's basic plan may contain too many benefits to be affordably priced for evervone who might seek coverage. 'I think that if this plan does not produce a great deal of coverage, it will encourage the state to play a much more direct role in the system,' he said.

Under the plan approved by lawmakers, insurers must designate themselves as 'risk assuming' or 'reinsuring' prior to entering the marketplace. Reinsuring carriers will pay reinsurance premiums. Should the amount collected in reinsurance premiums fail to cover losses, a two-tier assessment mechanism would come into play, first spreading the losses among those in the small-group market and then looking to all health insurers as the funding source of last resort.

A number of state-sponsored plans for high-risk indixiduals have sunk under their own weight and required huge bailouts by the state and by the industry. Mr. Simonelli said he doesn't think the potential exists for the same problems in the reinsurance fund. 'We're not going to run a deficit program,' he said.

The reinsurance board is not expected to receive recommendations from its actuaries on reinsurance premium levels until its Nov. 9 meeting in Tampa. That is considered a complicating factor by insurers, many of whom are holding off declaring their risk status until the premiums are known.

The plans approved by the insurance department include the following:

* Physician services, 80/20 coinsurance (standard indemnity), 60/40 with the first $150 not subject to coinsurance or deductibles (basic indemnity), $10-$25 co-payment per visit or per procedure (standard HMO), $10-$50 co-payment per visit or per procedure (basic HMO), with non-surgical back treatments to 10 visits in all policies.

* Hospital services, 80/20 coinsurance (standard indemnity), 60/40 coinsurance (basic indemnity), $100 per dav, days 1-5, with the balance paid at 100 pereent and a $50 co-payment per procedure for outpatient surgical care (standard HMO), $250 per day, days 1-5, with the balance paid at 100 pereent and a $100 co-payment per procedure for outpatient surgical care (basic HMO).

Hall to lead Florida Board of Bar Examiners. - Florida Bar News

Evaluating the validity of the Florida bar exam as a measurement tool for Bar applicants and expediting background investigations are the goals Gloretta H. Hall has set for her year as chair of the Florida Board of Bar Examiners.

Hall, who replaced outgoing Chair Michael J. Keane and is the first African-American woman to chair the board, assumed her new duties in October. The Supreme Court also has appointed Alexander Caballero, Frank Nussbaum, and Joan Panchal to the board, and the board elected Paul J. Schwiep to serve as the FBBE vice chair.

Hall--who practices with Gary, Williams, Parenti, et al., in Stuart--said she plans to complete an assessment or evaluation of the validity and reliability of the bar exam as a measurement tool for Bar applicants.

'We would like to take a look at the bar examination itself to be sure that it accurately and comprehensively measures minimum academic knowledge for students coming out,' Hall said. 'It has been a very long time since the entire exam has been looked at. You need that to make sure you are giving an accurate test and not just relying on tradition.'

Hall said this new study will look more at the test itself than the 1999 review of the current test's passing standard, which the Supreme Court used as an impetus to raise the pass/fail line from 131 to 133 last March. The passing standard will be raised again to 136 in March 2004.

Hall said there is an assortment of ways to conduct bar exams, including the use of practicums, where the students are given a legal project to complete as a part of the examination. That approach is used by bar examiners in other states, and is often used to test the skills of those entering health care fields, she said. As an example, Hall said, medical school graduates may be given a patient and told to do a physical examination of the neurologic system as part of the exam process.

'But there is nothing in the bar examination which has a practicum component,' said Hall, who earned a nursing degree at Florida Atlantic University before getting her JD from the University of Miami School of Law. 'It is all essay or objective tests.'

Hall said she also will continue to protect the public and safeguard the judiciary by implementing the Rules of the Supreme Court Relating to Admissions to the Bar, while striving to accelerate the background investigations processing of Bar applicants.

Hall said it now takes about 135 days for the board to process an applicant and she will continue to work to expedite the process. Hall said the character and fitness review of applicants takes up 60 percent of the FBBE activities.

'You want to be sure the people not only have the academic ability to practice law, but the requisite character and fitness,' Hall said, adding one way to speed the review is to get the students to start the process sooner in their law school careers.

'Each one of us goes to law schools at least once a year to tell students firsthand to do that,' Hall said, adding that if the character and fitness review is completed by the time a student graduates 'then it is just a matter of sitting for and passing the exam, and you are admitted.'

Hall also said if a problem arises, it can be identified and addressed while the student is still in school, preventing a graduate from delaying the start of her career. It also costs less to start the process early.

'As you get closer to the exam, the fees get higher because it creates a hurry-up offense on the part of the bar examiners to get you processed,' Hall said.

Hall said she was introduced to bar examiner work by Jacksonville lawyer Noel Lawrence, a friend who served on the FBBE and encouraged her to apply for an opening. Since her appointment, Hall said she has a newfound appreciation for the job.

'I, like a lot of people, thought it was a bunch of people behind a wall harassing people trying to get in,' Hall said with a laugh, noting board members put in between 300 to 400 hours of volunteer service a year. 'Being on the other side of it is a wonderful opportunity to try to do a service for the legal consuming public and for all citizens of Florida.'

Hall also said she is 'especially proud' to be the first African American woman to hold the position of chair.

'It is amazing to me that there never has been one since the board was created back in 1955, but although I am the first I can tell you I certainly hope that I am not the last,' Hall said.

Hall was born in Louisville, Georgia, and grew up in West Palm Beach. She was admitted to the Bar in 1991, and also is a member of the ABA, the Virgil Hawkins Florida Chapter of the National Bar Association, Palm Beach County Bar Association, the Martin County Bar Association, and the Florida Academy of Trial Lawyers.

Schwiep

Paul Schwiep of Aragon, Burlington, Well, Schwiep, Kaplan & Blonsky, Miami, was elected to the position of vice chair by his fellow board members. His term of office began November 1, and will extend through October 31, 2004, when he will become chair.

Schwiep was born in New York, New York. He attended Abilene Christian University where he received his undergraduate degree, and University of Oregon School of Law. Thereafter, he served as a law clerk to Judge Ted Milburn, United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He was admitted to The Florida Bar in 1989, and is a member of the Federal Bar Association and the ABA.

Nussbaum

Frank Nussbaum of Sinclair, Louis, Heath, Nussbaum, & Zavertnik, Miami, was appointed to the board by the Supreme Court to succeed retiring member Allan C. Peter Brandt of Ft. Lauderdale. His term of office will extend through October 31, 2008.

Nussbaum was born in Shanghai, China. He attended the University of Miami where he received his undergraduate degree, his J.D., and a LL.M in international law. He was admitted to The Florida Bar in 1965.

Caballero

The court also appointed Alexander Caballero of Sessums Mason & Black, Tampa, to the board to succeed retiring member Noel C. Lawrence of Jacksonville. His term will extend through October 31, 2008.

Caballero was born in Tampa, attended the University of South Florida where he received his undergraduate degree in psychology and criminology, and Florida State University College of Law. He was admitted to the Bar in 1993.

Panchal

Dr. Joan Panchal of Winter Park also has been appointed to the board, succeeding retiring member Dr. Larry C. Carey of Tampa. Her term of office will extend through October 31, 2006.

Dr. Panchal was born in Pittsburgh and attended Pennsylvania State University where she received her undergraduate degree in nursing. She also has a masters degree in Public Health Nursing, and a Ph.D in higher education administration. Both degrees are also from the University of Pittsburgh.