Despite a majority contingent of speakers testifying on behalf of dispensing physicians, HB 511 -- a bill limiting how much dispensing physicians can charge for their repackaged drugs -- sailed through the House Insurance and Banking Subcommittee on Wednesday.

Fort Lauderdale Democrat Evan Jenne was the lone dissenter.

It was a first-round victory for the insurance industry and its business community support group, in particular the Florida Chamber of Commerce and Associated Industries of Florida.

Calling HB 511 "a bill that creates an even playing field" -- meaning physicians shouldn't make any more profit than, say, Wal-Mart -- sponsor Matt Hudson, R-Naples, reiterated that his bill "does not keep physicians from dispensing drugs. They can continue to do so. They just have to play by the same rules as the pharmacies."

Since 2003 those rules mean a cap of three times the drug manufacturers' wholesale price on pharmacy-dispensed drugs, plus a $4.18 dispensing fee.

Hudson said that if his bill passes, it will save the state and businesses some $62 million in workers' comp rates. He said that $62 million represents 2.5 percent of the average 8.9 percent increase in workers' comp rates that insurance regulators approved this fall.

But one after another, a stream of physicians and their representatives disputed Hudson's statements.

Among them was Tom Panza, a Florida attorney for Automated Health Care Solutions, which represents the physicians. "The $62 million is bogus," Panza said. "I have no idea where it came from and neither does anybody else.

"The National Council on Compensation Insurance produced a 1,000-page report they said contains the justification for this. ... We've been through it cover to cover, there is no 2.5 percent figure anywhere in it. I've asked anybody at NCCI to show me where it is and they can't. They can't because it isn't there."

Panza said the $62 million is entirely arbitrary. "First they said the savings would be $34 million, then they said $100 million and now they're saying $62 million. I can't get a straight answer. ..."

He said the total bill in Florida for all physician-dispensed workers' comp meds last year was $63.3 million. "If we assume we can save $62 million of that, it will leave us $1.3 million for repackaged drugs. That's completely impossible -- and it shows how wrong that $62 million number is."

Miami-Dade County dispensing physician Gary Kelman, who said he has attended "hundreds, perhaps thousands" of workers' comp patients over the course of his career, told the subcommittee, "Doctors won't be able to continue dispensing repackaged drugs if you make them charge the same as Wal-Mart or Walgreen's. They can't afford it.

"Those big box companies buy in millions of pills at a cut rate. We buy all generics to keep the price as low as we can, but we just don't have the ability to buy in bulk and do the packaging ourselves," he said. "I'm telling you now, if this bill passes, most of us won't (dispense drugs) anymore."

Kelman explained the importance of being among the 5,500 workers' comp doctors who dispense repackaged drugs. He said the majority of his patients show up with muscular and skeletal injuries. The first 90 to 120 days is critical to get the best outcome for the patient.