Gabrielle Russon
Families whose loved ones die in hospice are often stuck waiting for death certificates because of a backlog. One lawmaker wants to speed up the process to help them get the documents they need.
Fort Pierce Republican Rep. Dana Trabulsy is pushing a bill that would allow advanced practice registered nurses providing hospice care to sign death certificates with a physician’s protocol.
HB 647 passed its first committee stop Thursday with a 17-0 vote in front of the Health Professions and Programs Subcommittee.
Without death certificates, families typically can’t file insurance claims or get a spouse’s benefits. They also need that documentation for a cremation or funeral.
Trabulsy argued that other states don’t have administrative rules like Florida’s that bottleneck the system, especially in rural areas, where there aren’t many physicians.
“This will solve a problem and be able to help these families move on sooner with the things that they need to do to start healing,” Trabulsy said during the hearing. “Survivors of deceased hospice patients are currently experiencing delays and securing death certificates due in part to the administrative load upon physicians. … Over 56% of deaths in Florida occur under the services of a hospice program.”
She won bipartisan praise during Thursday’s meeting.
“You always seem to find compassion bills and bills that really affect people,” said Republican Rep. Toby Overdorf. “Fully support the bill.”
Democratic Rep. Wallace Aristide called Trabulsy a “problem-solver.”
Paul Ledford, President and CEO of Florida Hospice and Palliative Care Association, and Kaylee Peters, the program assistant for AARP, both waived in support of the bill.
The bill’s next stop is the Health and Human Services Committee.
The delay in getting death certificates made headlines in 2024 when the Department of Health got hit by a cyberattack, affecting thousands of families and frustrating the funeral directors trying to help them. People also couldn’t obtain birth certificates.
