Senate Bill 1840 (2025) — Attorney fees and costs for motor vehicle personal injury protection benefits
SB 1840
Florida Bills
Florida Senate - 2025 SB 1840 By Senator Martin 33-01811-25 20251840__ Page 1 of 5 CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions. A bill to be entitled 1
An act relating to attorney fees and costs for motor 2 vehicle personal injury protection benefits; amending 3 s. 627.736, F.S.; providing that prevailing parties in 4 suits by certain health care providers for overdue 5 medical benefits under motor vehicle personal injury 6 protection policies are entitled to reasonable 7 attorney fees and costs; providing an effective date. 8 9 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 10 11
Section 1. Paragraph (
f) is added to subsection (10) of 12
section 627.736, Florida Statutes, and paragraph (
a) of 13 subsection (1) of that
section is republished, to read: 14 627.736 Required personal injury protection benefits; 15 exclusions; priority; claims.— 16
(1) REQUIRED BENEFITS.—An insurance policy complying with 17 the security requirements of s. 627.733 must provide personal 18 injury protection to the named insured, relatives residing in 19 the same household unless excluded under s. 627.747, persons 20 operating the insured motor vehicle, passengers in the motor 21 vehicle, and other persons struck by the motor vehicle and 22 suffering bodily injury while not an occupant of a self-23 propelled vehicle, subject to subsection (2) and paragraph 24 (4)(e), to a limit of $10,000 in medical and disability benefits 25 and $5,000 in death benefits resulting from bodily injury, 26 sickness, disease, or death arising out of the ownership, 27 maintenance, or use of a motor vehicle as follows: 28 (
a) Medical benefits.—Eighty percent of all reasonable 29
Florida Senate - 2025 SB 1840 33-01811-25 20251840__ Page 2 of 5 CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions. expenses for medically necessary medical, surgical, X-ray, 30 dental, and rehabilitative services, including prosthetic 31 devices and medically necessary ambulance, hospital, and nursing 32 services if the individual receives initial services and care 33 pursuant to subparagraph 1. within 14 days after the motor 34 vehicle accident. The medical benefits provide reimbursement 35 only for: 36 1. Initial services and care that are lawfully provided, 37 supervised, ordered, or prescribed by a physician licensed under 38
chapter 458 or
chapter 459, a dentist licensed under
chapter 39 466, a chiropractic physician licensed under
chapter 460, or an 40 advanced practice registered nurse registered under s. 464.0123 41 or that are provided in a hospital or in a facility that owns, 42 or is wholly owned by, a hospital. Initial services and care may 43 also be provided by a person or entity licensed under
part III 44 of
chapter 401 which provides emergency transportation and 45 treatment. 46 2. Upon referral by a provider described in subparagraph 47 1., followup services and care consistent with the underlying 48 medical diagnosis rendered pursuant to subparagraph 1. which may 49 be provided, supervised, ordered, or prescribed only by a 50 physician licensed under
chapter 458 or
chapter 459, a 51 chiropractic physician licensed under
chapter 460, a dentist 52 licensed under
chapter 466, or an advanced practice registered 53 nurse registered under s. 464.0123, or, to the extent permitted 54 by applicable law and under the supervision of such physician, 55 osteopathic physician, chiropractic physician, or dentist, by a 56 physician assistant licensed under
chapter 458 or
chapter 459 or 57 an advanced practice registered nurse licensed under
chapter 58
Florida Senate - 2025 SB 1840 33-01811-25 20251840__ Page 3 of 5 CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions. 464. Followup services and care may also be provided by the 59 following persons or entities: 60 a. A hospital or ambulatory surgical center licensed under 61
chapter 395. 62 b. An entity wholly owned by one or more physicians 63 licensed under
chapter 458 or
chapter 459, chiropractic 64 physicians licensed under
chapter 460, advanced practice 65 registered nurses registered under s. 464.0123, or dentists 66 licensed under
chapter 466 or by such practitioners and the 67 spouse, parent, child, or sibling of such practitioners. 68 c. An entity that owns or is wholly owned, directly or 69 indirectly, by a hospital or hospitals. 70 d. A physical therapist licensed under
chapter 486, based 71 upon a referral by a provider described in this subparagraph. 72 e. A health care clinic licensed under
part X of
chapter 73 400 which is accredited by an accrediting organization whose 74 standards incorporate comparable regulations required by this 75 state, or 76 (
I) Has a medical director licensed under
chapter 458, 77
chapter 459, or
chapter 460; 78 (II) Has been continuously licensed for more than 3 years 79 or is a publicly traded corporation that issues securities 80 traded on an exchange registered with the United States 81 Securities and Exchange Commission as a national securities 82 exchange; and 83 (III) Provides at least four of the following medical 84 specialties: 85 (
A) General medicine. 86 (
B) Radiography. 87
Florida Senate - 2025 SB 1840 33-01811-25 20251840__ Page 4 of 5 CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions. (
C) Orthopedic medicine. 88 (
D) Physical medicine. 89 (
E) Physical therapy. 90 (
F) Physical rehabilitation. 91 (
G) Prescribing or dispensing outpatient prescription 92 medication. 93 (
H) Laboratory services. 94 3. Reimbursement for services and care provided in 95 subparagraph 1. or subparagraph 2. up to $10,000 if a physician 96 licensed under
chapter 458 or
chapter 459, a dentist licensed 97 under
chapter 466, a physician assistant licensed under
chapter 98 458 or
chapter 459, or an advanced practice registered nurse 99 licensed under
chapter 464 has determined that the injured 100 person had an emergency medical condition. 101 4. Reimbursement for services and care provided in 102 subparagraph 1. or subparagraph 2. is limited to $2,500 if a 103 provider listed in subparagraph 1. or subparagraph 2. determines 104 that the injured person did not have an emergency medical 105 condition. 106 5.
Medical benefits do not include massage therapy as 107 defined in s. 480.033 or acupuncture as defined in s. 457.102, 108 regardless of the person, entity, or licensee providing massage 109 therapy or acupuncture, and a licensed massage therapist or 110 licensed acupuncturist may not be reimbursed for medical 111 benefits under this section. 112 6. The Financial Services Commission shall adopt by rule 113 the form that must be used by an insurer and a health care 114 provider specified in sub-subparagraph 2.b., sub-subparagraph 115 2.c., or sub-subparagraph 2.e. to document that the health care 116
Florida Senate - 2025 SB 1840 33-01811-25 20251840__ Page 5 of 5 CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions. provider meets the criteria of this paragraph.
Such rule must 117 include a requirement for a sworn statement or affidavit. 118 119 Only insurers writing motor vehicle liability insurance in this 120 state may provide the required benefits of this section, and 121 such insurer may not require the purchase of any other motor 122 vehicle coverage other than the purchase of property damage 123 liability coverage as required by s. 627.7275 as a condition for 124 providing such benefits. Insurers may not require that property 125 damage liability insurance in an amount greater than $10,000 be 126 purchased in conjunction with personal injury protection.
Such 127 insurers shall make benefits and required property damage 128 liability insurance coverage available through normal marketing 129 channels. An insurer writing motor vehicle liability insurance 130 in this state who fails to comply with such availability 131 requirement as a general business practice violates
part IX of 132
chapter 626, and such violation constitutes an unfair method of 133 competition or an unfair or deceptive act or practice involving 134 the business of insurance. An insurer committing such violation 135 is subject to the penalties provided under that part, as well as 136 those provided elsewhere in the insurance code. 137
(10) DEMAND LETTER; ATTORNEY FEES AND COSTS.— 138 (
f) If the insurer fails to pay an overdue medical benefit 139 for any service or care described in subparagraph (1)(a)1. or 140 subparagraph (1)(a)2. and the provider who rendered the service 141 or care files a lawsuit, the prevailing party, by judgment or 142 decree at the trial or appellate court, is entitled to 143 reasonable attorney fees and costs. 144