House Bill 0931

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    Florida House of Representatives - 2000                 HB 931

        By the Committee on Health Care Licensing & Regulation and
    Representatives Fasano and Peaden





  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to public medical assistance;

  3         amending s. 395.701, F.S.; reducing the annual

  4         assessment on hospitals to fund public medical

  5         assistance; providing for contingent effect;

  6         repealing s. 395.7015, F.S., to eliminate the

  7         annual assessment on certain health care

  8         entities; amending ss. 408.904, 409.905, and

  9         409.908, F.S.; increasing benefits for hospital

10         outpatient services under the MedAccess and

11         Medicaid programs; amending s. 409.912, F.S.;

12         providing for a contract with and reimbursement

13         of an entity in Pasco or Pinellas County that

14         provides in-home physician services to Medicaid

15         recipients with degenerative neurological

16         diseases; providing for future repeal;

17         providing appropriations; providing effective

18         dates.

19

20         WHEREAS, the Legislature finds that the annual

21  assessments on hospitals and certain other health care

22  entities that fund the Public Medical Assistance Trust Fund

23  are not uniformly applied to all health care entities, and

24         WHEREAS, the Legislature also finds that responsibility

25  for indigent care is a broader societal problem, not to be

26  placed just on those that provide or receive health care, and

27         WHEREAS, the Legislature further finds that the

28  economic conditions that exist today for health care entities

29  are different than when the assessment on hospitals was

30  instituted in 1984 and the assessment on other health care

31  entities was instituted in 1991, and

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  1         WHEREAS, because these assessments place a greater

  2  burden on the hospitals and other health care entities subject

  3  to such assessments, it is the intent of the Legislature by

  4  this act to provide such hospitals and health care entities

  5  some relief, NOW, THEREFORE,

  6

  7  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

  8

  9         Section 1.  Subsection (2) of section 395.701, Florida

10  Statutes, is amended to read:

11         395.701  Annual assessments on net operating revenues

12  for inpatient services to fund public medical assistance;

13  administrative fines for failure to pay assessments when due;

14  exemption.--

15         (2)  There is imposed upon each hospital an assessment

16  in an amount equal to 1.5 percent of the annual net operating

17  revenue for inpatient services for each hospital, such revenue

18  to be determined by the agency, based on the actual experience

19  of the hospital as reported to the agency.  Within 6 months

20  after the end of each hospital fiscal year, the agency shall

21  certify the amount of the assessment for each hospital.  The

22  assessment shall be payable to and collected by the agency in

23  equal quarterly amounts, on or before the first day of each

24  calendar quarter, beginning with the first full calendar

25  quarter that occurs after the agency certifies the amount of

26  the assessment for each hospital. All moneys collected

27  pursuant to this subsection shall be deposited into the Public

28  Medical Assistance Trust Fund.

29         Section 2.  Section 395.7015, Florida Statutes, is

30  repealed.

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  1         Section 3.  Paragraph (c) of subsection (2) of section

  2  408.904, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:

  3         408.904  Benefits.--

  4         (2)  Covered health services include:

  5         (c)  Hospital outpatient services.  Those services

  6  provided to a member in the outpatient portion of a hospital

  7  licensed under part I of chapter 395, up to a limit of $2,000

  8  $1,000 per calendar year per member, that are preventive,

  9  diagnostic, therapeutic, or palliative.

10         Section 4.  Subsection (6) of section 409.905, Florida

11  Statutes, is amended to read:

12         409.905  Mandatory Medicaid services.--The agency may

13  make payments for the following services, which are required

14  of the state by Title XIX of the Social Security Act,

15  furnished by Medicaid providers to recipients who are

16  determined to be eligible on the dates on which the services

17  were provided.  Any service under this section shall be

18  provided only when medically necessary and in accordance with

19  state and federal law. Nothing in this section shall be

20  construed to prevent or limit the agency from adjusting fees,

21  reimbursement rates, lengths of stay, number of visits, number

22  of services, or any other adjustments necessary to comply with

23  the availability of moneys and any limitations or directions

24  provided for in the General Appropriations Act or chapter 216.

25         (6)  HOSPITAL OUTPATIENT SERVICES.--The agency shall

26  pay for preventive, diagnostic, therapeutic, or palliative

27  care and other services provided to a recipient in the

28  outpatient portion of a hospital licensed under part I of

29  chapter 395, and provided under the direction of a licensed

30  physician or licensed dentist, except that payment for such

31  care and services is limited to $2,000 $1,000 per state fiscal

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  1  year per recipient, unless an exception has been made by the

  2  agency, and with the exception of a Medicaid recipient under

  3  age 21, in which case the only limitation is medical

  4  necessity.

  5         Section 5.  Paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section

  6  409.908, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:

  7         409.908  Reimbursement of Medicaid providers.--Subject

  8  to specific appropriations, the agency shall reimburse

  9  Medicaid providers, in accordance with state and federal law,

10  according to methodologies set forth in the rules of the

11  agency and in policy manuals and handbooks incorporated by

12  reference therein.  These methodologies may include fee

13  schedules, reimbursement methods based on cost reporting,

14  negotiated fees, competitive bidding pursuant to s. 287.057,

15  and other mechanisms the agency considers efficient and

16  effective for purchasing services or goods on behalf of

17  recipients.  Payment for Medicaid compensable services made on

18  behalf of Medicaid eligible persons is subject to the

19  availability of moneys and any limitations or directions

20  provided for in the General Appropriations Act or chapter 216.

21  Further, nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent

22  or limit the agency from adjusting fees, reimbursement rates,

23  lengths of stay, number of visits, or number of services, or

24  making any other adjustments necessary to comply with the

25  availability of moneys and any limitations or directions

26  provided for in the General Appropriations Act, provided the

27  adjustment is consistent with legislative intent.

28         (1)  Reimbursement to hospitals licensed under part I

29  of chapter 395 must be made prospectively or on the basis of

30  negotiation.

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  1         (a)  Reimbursement for inpatient care is limited as

  2  provided for in s. 409.905(5). Reimbursement for hospital

  3  outpatient care is limited to $2,000 $1,000 per state fiscal

  4  year per recipient, except for:

  5         1.  Such care provided to a Medicaid recipient under

  6  age 21, in which case the only limitation is medical

  7  necessity;

  8         2.  Renal dialysis services; and

  9         3.  Other exceptions made by the agency.

10         Section 6.  Paragraph (e) is added to subsection (3) of

11  section 409.912, Florida Statutes, to read:

12         409.912  Cost-effective purchasing of health care.--The

13  agency shall purchase goods and services for Medicaid

14  recipients in the most cost-effective manner consistent with

15  the delivery of quality medical care.  The agency shall

16  maximize the use of prepaid per capita and prepaid aggregate

17  fixed-sum basis services when appropriate and other

18  alternative service delivery and reimbursement methodologies,

19  including competitive bidding pursuant to s. 287.057, designed

20  to facilitate the cost-effective purchase of a case-managed

21  continuum of care. The agency shall also require providers to

22  minimize the exposure of recipients to the need for acute

23  inpatient, custodial, and other institutional care and the

24  inappropriate or unnecessary use of high-cost services.

25         (3)  The agency may contract with:

26         (e)  An entity in Pasco County or Pinellas County that

27  provides in-home physician services to Medicaid recipients

28  with degenerative neurological diseases in order to test the

29  cost-effectiveness of enhanced home-based medical care. The

30  entity providing the services shall be reimbursed on a

31  fee-for-service basis at a rate not less than comparable

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  1  Medicare reimbursement rates. The agency may apply for waivers

  2  of federal regulations necessary to implement such program.

  3  This paragraph shall be repealed on July 1, 2002.

  4         Section 7.  The Legislature shall appropriate each

  5  fiscal year from either the General Revenue Fund or the Agency

  6  for Health Care Administration Tobacco Settlement Trust Fund

  7  to the Public Medical Assistance Trust Fund an amount

  8  sufficient to replace the funds lost due to repeal by this act

  9  of the assessment on other health care entities under former

10  s. 395.7015, Florida Statutes, and the reduction by this act

11  in the assessment on hospitals under s. 395.701, Florida

12  Statutes, and to maintain federal approval of the reduced

13  amount of funds deposited into the Public Medical Assistance

14  Trust Fund under s. 395.701, Florida Statutes, as state match

15  for the state's Medicaid program.

16         Section 8.  There is hereby appropriated each fiscal

17  year from the Medical Care Trust Fund within the Agency for

18  Health Care Administration to the Public Medical Assistance

19  Trust Fund an amount sufficient to provide for the increased

20  reimbursement to hospitals for hospital outpatient care

21  provided to adults eligible under the MedAccess program or

22  Medicaid required by the amendment of ss. 408.904, 409.905,

23  and 409.908, Florida Statutes, by this act.

24         Section 9.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2000,

25  except that the amendment to s. 395.701, Florida Statutes, by

26  this act shall take effect only upon the Agency for Health

27  Care Administration receiving written confirmation from the

28  federal Health Care Financing Administration that the changes

29  contained in such amendment will not adversely affect the use

30  of the remaining assessments as state match for the state's

31  Medicaid program.

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    Florida House of Representatives - 2000                 HB 931

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  2                          HOUSE SUMMARY

  3
      Reduces the annual assessment on hospitals to fund public
  4    medical assistance by basing it on the annual net
      operating revenues for inpatient services only, rather
  5    than on all annual net operating revenues, contingent
      upon certain federal approval. Repeals the annual
  6    assessment on certain ambulatory surgical centers, mobile
      surgical facilities, clinical laboratories, blood,
  7    plasma, or tissue banks, and diagnostic-imaging centers.
      Increases benefits for hospital outpatient services under
  8    the MedAccess and Medicaid programs. Provides for a
      contract with and reimbursement of an entity in Pasco or
  9    Pinellas County that provides in-home physician services
      to Medicaid recipients with degenerative neurological
10    diseases, and provides for future repeal thereof.
      Provides certain continuing appropriations, to conform.
11    See bill for details.

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