Florida Statutes
Chapter 381 - Public Health: General Provisions
381.915 - Casey Desantis Cancer Research Program.

(1) This section may be cited as the “Casey DeSantis Cancer Research Act.”
(2) The Casey DeSantis Cancer Research Program is established to enhance the quality and competitiveness of cancer care in this state, further a statewide biomedical research strategy directly responsive to the health needs of Florida’s citizens, and capitalize on the potential educational opportunities available to its students. The department shall make payments to Florida-based cancer centers recognized by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) at the National Institutes of Health as NCI-designated cancer centers or NCI-designated comprehensive cancer centers, and cancer centers working toward achieving NCI designation. The department shall distribute funds to participating cancer centers on a quarterly basis during each fiscal year for which an appropriation is made.
(3) On or before September 15 of each year, the department shall calculate an allocation fraction to be used for distributing funds to participating cancer centers. On or before the final business day of each quarter of the state fiscal year, the department shall distribute to each participating cancer center one-fourth of that cancer center’s annual allocation calculated under subsection (6). The allocation fraction for each participating cancer center is based on the cancer center’s tier-designated weight under subsection (4) multiplied by each of the following allocation factors: number of reportable cases, peer-review costs, and biomedical education and training. As used in this section, the term:
(a) “Biomedical education and training” means instruction that is offered to a student who is enrolled in a biomedical research program at an affiliated university as a medical student or a student in a master’s or doctoral degree program, or who is a resident physician trainee or postdoctoral trainee in such program. An affiliated university biomedical research program must be accredited or approved by a nationally recognized agency and offered through an institution accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Full-time equivalency for trainees shall be prorated for training received in oncologic sciences and oncologic medicine.
(b) “Cancer center” means a freestanding center, a center situated within an academic institution, or a formal research-based consortium under centralized leadership that has achieved NCI designation or is prepared to achieve NCI designation by July 1, 2019.
(c) “Florida-based” means that a cancer center’s actual or sought designated status is or would be recognized by the NCI as primarily located in Florida and not in another state.
(d) “Peer-review costs” means the total annual direct costs for peer-reviewed cancer-related research projects, consistent with reporting guidelines provided by the NCI, for the most recent annual reporting period available.
(e) “Reportable cases” means cases of cancer in which a cancer center is involved in the diagnosis, evaluation of the diagnosis, evaluation of the extent of cancer spread at the time of diagnosis, or administration of all or any part of the first course of therapy for the most recent annual reporting period available. Cases relating to patients enrolled in institutional or investigator-initiated interventional clinical trials shall be weighted at 1.2 relative to other cases weighted at 1.0. Determination of institutional or investigator-initiated interventional clinical trials must be consistent with reporting guidelines provided by the NCI.

(4) Tier designations and corresponding weights within the Casey DeSantis Cancer Research Program are as follows:
(a) Tier 1: Florida-based NCI-designated comprehensive cancer centers, which shall be weighted at 1.5.
(b) Tier 2: Florida-based NCI-designated cancer centers, which shall be weighted at 1.25.
(c) Tier 3: Florida-based cancer centers seeking designation as either a NCI-designated cancer center or NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center, which shall be weighted at 1.0.
1. A cancer center shall meet the following minimum criteria to be considered eligible for Tier 3 designation in any given fiscal year:
a. Conducting cancer-related basic scientific research and cancer-related population scientific research;
b. Offering and providing the full range of diagnostic and treatment services on site, as determined by the Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons;
c. Hosting or conducting cancer-related interventional clinical trials that are registered with the NCI’s Clinical Trials Reporting Program;
d. Offering degree-granting programs or affiliating with universities through degree-granting programs accredited or approved by a nationally recognized agency and offered through the center or through the center in conjunction with another institution accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools;
e. Providing training to clinical trainees, medical trainees accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education or the American Osteopathic Association, and postdoctoral fellows recently awarded a doctorate degree; and
f. Having more than $5 million in annual direct costs associated with their total NCI peer-reviewed grant funding.

2. The General Appropriations Act or accompanying legislation may limit the number of cancer centers which shall receive Tier 3 designations or provide additional criteria for such designation.
3. A cancer center’s participation in Tier 3 may not extend beyond June 30, 2024.
4. A cancer center that qualifies as a designated Tier 3 center under the criteria provided in subparagraph 1. by July 1, 2014, is authorized to pursue NCI designation as a cancer center or a comprehensive cancer center until June 30, 2024.


(5) The department shall use the following formula to calculate a participating cancer center’s allocation fraction:
CAF=[0.4x(CRC÷TCRC)]+[0.3x(CPC÷TCPC)]+[0.3x(CBE÷TCBE)]
Where:
CAF=A cancer center’s allocation fraction.
CRC=A cancer center’s tier-weighted reportable cases.
TCRC=The total tier-weighted reportable cases for all cancer centers.
CPC=A cancer center’s tier-weighted peer-review costs.
TCPC=The total tier-weighted peer-review costs for all cancer centers.
CBE=A cancer center’s tier-weighted biomedical education and training.
TCBE=The total tier-weighted biomedical education and training for all cancer centers.

(6) A cancer center’s annual allocation shall be calculated by multiplying the funds appropriated for the Casey DeSantis Cancer Research Program in the General Appropriations Act by that cancer center’s allocation fraction. If the calculation results in an annual allocation that is less than $16 million, that cancer center’s annual allocation shall be increased to a sum equaling $16 million, with the additional funds being provided proportionally from the annual allocations calculated for the other participating cancer centers.
(7) Beginning July 1, 2017, and every 3 years thereafter, the department, in conjunction with participating cancer centers, shall submit a report to the Cancer Control and Research Advisory Council on specific metrics relating to cancer mortality and external funding for cancer-related research in the state. If a cancer center does not endorse this report or produce an equivalent independent report, the cancer center shall be suspended from the program for 1 year. The report must include:
(a) An analysis of trending age-adjusted cancer mortality rates in the state, which must include, at a minimum, overall age-adjusted mortality rates for cancer statewide and age-adjusted mortality rates by age group, geographic region, and type of cancer, which must include, at a minimum:
1. Lung cancer.
2. Pancreatic cancer.
3. Sarcoma.
4. Melanoma.
5. Leukemia and myelodysplastic syndromes.
6. Brain cancer.

(b) Identification of trends in overall federal funding, broken down by institutional source, for cancer-related research in the state.
(c) A list and narrative description of collaborative grants and interinstitutional collaboration among participating cancer centers, a comparison of collaborative grants in proportion to the grant totals for each cancer center, a catalogue of retreats and progress seed grants using state funds, and targets for collaboration in the future and reports on progress regarding such targets where appropriate.

(8) This section is subject to annual appropriation by the Legislature.
(9) The department may adopt rules to administer this section.
History.—s. 3, ch. 2014-165; s. 10, ch. 2018-24; ss. 20, 21, 110, ch. 2020-114; s. 4, ch. 2020-133; s. 1, ch. 2020-156; s. 4, ch. 2022-150.

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