Under fire from lawmakers, the Florida Department of Health has proposed a sweeping plan to reorganize --- and shrink -- its operations. Among other things, it would move the state out of the primary-care business.

The recommendations, released in a 154-page report, call for cutting 1,608 department jobs and consolidating dozens of divisions and bureaus. One of the proposals would buck the powerful doctors' lobby by lifting a requirement that the department secretary be a physician.

House Health and Human Services Chairman Rob Schenck does not like Florida's prescription-drug database. That much is clear.

But after listening to more than two hours of testimony last week about the state's notorious pill mills, the Spring Hill Republican refused to say how he wants to combat prescription-drug abuse.