Florida Senate - 2009                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. CS for SB 556
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Barcode 838864                          
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
                  Comm: RCS            .                                
                  04/07/2009           .                                
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       The Policy and Steering Committee on Ways and Means (Gaetz)
       recommended the following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Delete everything after the enacting clause
    4  and insert:
    5         Section 1. Subsection (9) of section 409.911, Florida
    6  Statutes, is amended to read:
    7         409.911 Disproportionate share program.—Subject to specific
    8  allocations established within the General Appropriations Act
    9  and any limitations established pursuant to chapter 216, the
   10  agency shall distribute, pursuant to this section, moneys to
   11  hospitals providing a disproportionate share of Medicaid or
   12  charity care services by making quarterly Medicaid payments as
   13  required. Notwithstanding the provisions of s. 409.915, counties
   14  are exempt from contributing toward the cost of this special
   15  reimbursement for hospitals serving a disproportionate share of
   16  low-income patients.
   17         (9) The Agency for Health Care Administration shall create
   18  a Medicaid Low-Income Pool Council by July 1, 2006. The Low
   19  Income Pool Council shall consist of 24 17 members, including 2
   20  members appointed by the President of the Senate, 2 members
   21  appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, 3
   22  representatives of statutory teaching hospitals, 3
   23  representatives of public hospitals, 3 representatives of
   24  nonprofit hospitals, 3 representatives of for-profit hospitals,
   25  2 representatives of rural hospitals, 2 representatives of units
   26  of local government which contribute funding, and 1
   27  representative of family practice teaching hospitals, 1
   28  representative of federally qualified health centers, 1
   29  representative from the Department of Health, and 1 nonvoting
   30  representative of the Agency for Health Care Administration who
   31  shall serve as chair of the council. Except for a full-time
   32  employee of a public entity, an individual who qualifies as a
   33  lobbyist under s. 11.045 or s. 112.3215 may not serve as a
   34  member of the council. Of the members appointed by the Senate
   35  President, only one shall be a physician. Of the members
   36  appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, only
   37  one shall be a physician. The physician member appointed by the
   38  Senate President and the physician member appointed by the
   39  Speaker of the House of Representatives must be physicians who
   40  routinely take calls in a trauma center, as defined in s.
   41  395.4001, or a hospital emergency department. The council shall:
   42         (a) Make recommendations on the financing of the low-income
   43  pool and the disproportionate share hospital program and the
   44  distribution of their funds.
   45         (b) Advise the Agency for Health Care Administration on the
   46  development of the low-income pool plan required by the federal
   47  Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services pursuant to the
   48  Medicaid reform waiver.
   49         (c) Advise the Agency for Health Care Administration on the
   50  distribution of hospital funds used to adjust inpatient hospital
   51  rates, rebase rates, or otherwise exempt hospitals from
   52  reimbursement limits as financed by intergovernmental transfers.
   53         (d) Submit its findings and recommendations to the Governor
   54  and the Legislature no later than February 1 of each year.
   55         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2009.
   56  
   57  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
   58         And the title is amended as follows:
   59         Delete everything before the enacting clause
   60  and insert:
   61                        A bill to be entitled                      
   62         An act relating to the Medicaid low-income pool and
   63         disproportionate share program; amending s. 409.911,
   64         F.S.; expanding the membership of the Medicaid Low
   65         Income Pool Council; providing for composition of
   66         expanded membership; designating a council chair;
   67         providing restrictions on specified appointments;
   68         providing an effective date.