Brazilian butt lift bill clears House health care spending panel

Photo via American Society of Plastic Surgeons.

Lawmakers appear to be knee-deep in ass once again this year.

A House health care spending panel unanimously approved a bill (HB 1561) that closes loopholes in a statute regulating Brazilian butt lifts (BBLs) that was passed last year.

“I know we’ve heard this issue in the past. It’s an ongoing problem here in Florida. People are coming all across the country to get this procedure done,” the HB 1561 sponsor, Rep. Demi Cabrera Busatta, told members of the House Healthcare Appropriations Subcommittee.

BBLs, or gluteal fat grafting, are the fastest-growing plastic surgery procedure in the nation. BBLs involve two steps: the liposuction of fat from the abdomen or back, and the injection of the purified fat into the subcutaneous layer of the buttocks, which is below the skin but above the gluteal muscle.

Florida law requires surgeons to register their offices with the Department of Health (DOH) if they perform a liposuction procedure that removes more than 1,000 cubic centimeters of supernatant fat. The law also requires surgeons who perform BBLs to use ultrasounds for the part of the procedure where fat is injected back into the patient’s body.

The 2023 law was meant to settle an ongoing regulatory dispute between surgeons and Florida’s two state medical boards but, as written, provides wiggle room to surgeons who don’t want to register their offices with the state, according to the bill sponsor.

HB 1561 changes the law to make clear that physicians are required to register their offices as surgery centers if 1,000 cubic centimeters of supernatant fat is removed, regardless of whether the removal is temporary or permanent. The bill also tightens current law to make clear that a physician must register their office with the state if any liposuction is performed that requires the patient’s body to be moved 180 degrees or more or if a gluteal fat grafting procedure is performed.

The financial penalties surgeons face for not registering their offices with the state also are altered under HB 1561 from a $5,000 fine per day to a $5,000 fine per violation. The change, Cabrera Busatta said, allows the DOH to “fine a physician for multiple offenses committed the same day.”

According to the bill staff analysis there currently are 724 office surgery centers registered with DOH.

The bill requires all those surgery centers to re-register with the state according to a yet-to-be-published DOH timeline. State surgery center inspections must be done in person. The bill includes a new provision that would allow the DOH to refer to the state Agency for Health Care Administration office surgery centers if the DOH determines the centers would cause significant risk to safety and that patients would be better served at ambulatory surgical centers or hospitals.

There was no public debate on the bill and little discussion from the members of the subcommittee other than a comment made by Rep. Michelle Salzman, who said, “I look forward to supporting this good bill, no buts about it.”