Florida Senate - 2009                       CS for CS for SB 556
       
       
       
       By the Policy and Steering Committee on Ways and Means; the
       Committee on Health Regulation; and Senators Gaetz, Bennett,
       Detert, Dean, Wise, Smith, Fasano, Altman, Siplin, Pruitt,
       Lawson, Haridopolos, Lynn, and Baker
       
       576-04524-09                                           2009556c2
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to the Medicaid low-income pool and
    3         disproportionate share program; amending s. 409.911,
    4         F.S.; expanding the membership of the Medicaid Low
    5         Income Pool Council; providing for composition of
    6         expanded membership; designating a council chair;
    7         providing restrictions on specified appointments;
    8         providing an effective date.
    9  
   10  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   11  
   12         Section 1. Subsection (9) of section 409.911, Florida
   13  Statutes, is amended to read:
   14         409.911 Disproportionate share program.—Subject to specific
   15  allocations established within the General Appropriations Act
   16  and any limitations established pursuant to chapter 216, the
   17  agency shall distribute, pursuant to this section, moneys to
   18  hospitals providing a disproportionate share of Medicaid or
   19  charity care services by making quarterly Medicaid payments as
   20  required. Notwithstanding the provisions of s. 409.915, counties
   21  are exempt from contributing toward the cost of this special
   22  reimbursement for hospitals serving a disproportionate share of
   23  low-income patients.
   24         (9) The Agency for Health Care Administration shall create
   25  a Medicaid Low-Income Pool Council by July 1, 2006. The Low
   26  Income Pool Council shall consist of 24 17 members, including 2
   27  members appointed by the President of the Senate, 2 members
   28  appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, 3
   29  representatives of statutory teaching hospitals, 3
   30  representatives of public hospitals, 3 representatives of
   31  nonprofit hospitals, 3 representatives of for-profit hospitals,
   32  2 representatives of rural hospitals, 2 representatives of units
   33  of local government which contribute funding, and 1
   34  representative of family practice teaching hospitals, 1
   35  representative of federally qualified health centers, 1
   36  representative from the Department of Health, and 1 nonvoting
   37  representative of the Agency for Health Care Administration who
   38  shall serve as chair of the council. Except for a full-time
   39  employee of a public entity, an individual who qualifies as a
   40  lobbyist under s. 11.045 or s. 112.3215 may not serve as a
   41  member of the council. Of the members appointed by the President
   42  of the Senate, only one shall be a physician. Of the members
   43  appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, only
   44  one shall be a physician. The physician member appointed by the
   45  President of the Senate and the physician member appointed by
   46  the Speaker of the House of Representatives must be physicians
   47  who routinely take calls in a trauma center, as defined in s.
   48  395.4001, or a hospital emergency department. The council shall:
   49         (a) Make recommendations on the financing of the low-income
   50  pool and the disproportionate share hospital program and the
   51  distribution of their funds.
   52         (b) Advise the Agency for Health Care Administration on the
   53  development of the low-income pool plan required by the federal
   54  Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services pursuant to the
   55  Medicaid reform waiver.
   56         (c) Advise the Agency for Health Care Administration on the
   57  distribution of hospital funds used to adjust inpatient hospital
   58  rates, rebase rates, or otherwise exempt hospitals from
   59  reimbursement limits as financed by intergovernmental transfers.
   60         (d) Submit its findings and recommendations to the Governor
   61  and the Legislature no later than February 1 of each year.
   62         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2009.