Senate Bill sb1178c2

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    Florida Senate - 2004                    CS for CS for SB 1178

    By the Committees on Appropriations; Health, Aging, and
    Long-Term Care; and Senators Miller, Lawson, Dawson, Hill,
    Saunders, Bullard, Siplin, Wilson, Bennett and Klein



    309-2693-04

  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to minority health care;

  3         creating s. 381.736, F.S.; providing for the

  4         Department of Health to monitor and report on

  5         Florida's status regarding the Healthy People

  6         2010 goals and objectives currently tracked by

  7         the department; requiring an annual report to

  8         the Legislature; requiring the department to

  9         work with various groups to educate health care

10         professionals on racial and ethnic issues in

11         health, to recruit and train health care

12         professionals from minority backgrounds, and to

13         promote certain research; amending s. 409.901,

14         F.S.; defining the term "minority physician

15         network"; amending s. 409.912, F.S.; requiring

16         the Agency for Health Care Administration to

17         contract for a Medicaid minority physician

18         network; providing guidelines for the operation

19         of the network; defining the term

20         "cost-effective"; requiring the agency to

21         conduct actuarially sound audits; providing an

22         effective date.

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

25  

26         Section 1.  Section 381.736, Florida Statutes, is

27  created to read:

28         381.736  Florida Healthy People 2010 Program.--

29         (1)  The Department of Health shall, using existing

30  resources, monitor and report Florida's status on the Florida

31  Healthy People 2010 goals and objectives currently tracked and

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    Florida Senate - 2004                    CS for CS for SB 1178
    309-2693-04




 1  available to the department.  The federal Healthy People 2010

 2  goals and objectives are designed to measure and help to

 3  improve the health of all Americans by advancing the following

 4  goals:

 5         (a)  Increase the quality and years of healthy life.

 6         (b)  Eliminate health disparities among different

 7  segments of the population.

 8         (2)  The department shall report to the Legislature by

 9  December 31 of each year on the status of disparities in

10  health among minorities and nonminorities, using health

11  indicators that are consistent with those identified by the

12  federal Healthy People 2010 goals and objectives.

13         (3)  To reduce negative health consequences that result

14  from ignoring racial and ethnic cultures, the department shall

15  work with minority physician networks to develop programs to

16  educate health care professionals about the importance of

17  culture in health status. These programs shall include, but

18  need not be limited to:

19         (a)  The education of health care providers about the

20  prevalence of specific health conditions among certain

21  minority groups.

22         (b)  The training of clinicians to be sensitive to

23  cultural diversity among patients and to recognize that

24  inherent biases can lead to disparate treatments.

25         (c)  The creation of initiatives that educate

26  private-sector health care and managed care organizations

27  about the importance of cross-cultural training of health care

28  professionals and the effect of such training on the

29  professional-patient relationship.

30         (d)  The fostering of increased use of interpreter

31  services in health care settings.

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    Florida Senate - 2004                    CS for CS for SB 1178
    309-2693-04




 1         (4)  The department shall work with and promote the

 2  establishment of public and private partnerships with

 3  charitable organizations, hospitals, and minority physician

 4  networks to increase the proportion of health care

 5  professionals from minority backgrounds.

 6         (5)  The department shall work with and promote

 7  research on methods by which to reduce disparities in health

 8  care at colleges and universities that have historically large

 9  minority enrollments, including centers of excellence in this

10  state identified by the National Center on Minority Health and

11  Health Disparities, by working with those colleges,

12  universities, and with community representatives to encourage

13  local minority students to pursue professions in health care.

14         Section 2.  Present subsections (23), (24), (25), and

15  (26) of section 409.901, Florida Statutes, are renumbered as

16  subsections (24), (25), (26), and (27), respectively, and a

17  new subsection (23) is added to that section, to read:

18         409.901  Definitions; ss. 409.901-409.920.--As used in

19  ss. 409.901-409.920, except as otherwise specifically

20  provided, the term:

21         (23)  "Minority physician network" means a network of

22  primary care physicians with experience managing Medicaid or

23  Medicare recipients that is predominantly minority-owned, as

24  defined in s. 288.703, which may have a collaborative

25  partnership with a public college or university and a

26  tax-exempt charitable corporation.

27         Section 3.  Subsection (45) is added to section

28  409.912, Florida Statutes, to read:

29         409.912  Cost-effective purchasing of health care.--The

30  agency shall purchase goods and services for Medicaid

31  recipients in the most cost-effective manner consistent with

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    Florida Senate - 2004                    CS for CS for SB 1178
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 1  the delivery of quality medical care.  The agency shall

 2  maximize the use of prepaid per capita and prepaid aggregate

 3  fixed-sum basis services when appropriate and other

 4  alternative service delivery and reimbursement methodologies,

 5  including competitive bidding pursuant to s. 287.057, designed

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

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

 8  minimize the exposure of recipients to the need for acute

 9  inpatient, custodial, and other institutional care and the

10  inappropriate or unnecessary use of high-cost services. The

11  agency may establish prior authorization requirements for

12  certain populations of Medicaid beneficiaries, certain drug

13  classes, or particular drugs to prevent fraud, abuse, overuse,

14  and possible dangerous drug interactions. The Pharmaceutical

15  and Therapeutics Committee shall make recommendations to the

16  agency on drugs for which prior authorization is required. The

17  agency shall inform the Pharmaceutical and Therapeutics

18  Committee of its decisions regarding drugs subject to prior

19  authorization.

20         (45)  The agency shall contract with minority physician

21  networks that have a history of providing health care services

22  to historically underserved minorities. The network must

23  provide cost-effective Medicaid services, comply with the

24  requirements of the MediPass program, and provide its primary

25  care physicians with access to data and other management tools

26  necessary to assist them in ensuring the appropriate use of

27  services, including inpatient hospital services and

28  pharmaceuticals.  The providers in the network must be

29  enrolled in the MediPass program.

30         (a)  The agency shall provide for the development and

31  expansion of minority physician networks in each service area

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    Florida Senate - 2004                    CS for CS for SB 1178
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 1  to provide services to Medicaid recipients who are eligible to

 2  participate under federal law and rules.

 3         (b)  The agency shall reimburse the minority physician

 4  network as a fee-for-service provider, including the case

 5  management fee for primary care, or as a capitated rate

 6  provider for Medicaid services. Any savings shall be shared

 7  with the minority physician network pursuant to the contract.

 8         (c)  Medicaid recipients who are enrolled in MediPass

 9  shall be assigned to a minority physician network pursuant to

10  the assignment ratios provided in s. 409.9122.

11         (d)  For purposes of this subsection, the term

12  "cost-effective" means that a network's per-member, per-month

13  costs to the state, including, but not limited to,

14  fee-for-service costs, administrative costs, and

15  case-management fees, must be no greater than the state's

16  costs associated with contracts for Medicaid services

17  established under subsection (3), as applicable, by service

18  area. The agency shall conduct actuarially sound audits to

19  ensure such cost-effectiveness and shall publish the audit

20  results on its website and submit the audit results annually

21  to the Governor, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker

22  of the House of Representatives no later than December 31.

23  Contracts established pursuant to this subsection which are

24  not cost-effective may not be renewed.

25         (e)  The agency may apply for any federal waivers

26  needed to implement this paragraph.

27         Section 4.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2004.

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    Florida Senate - 2004                    CS for CS for SB 1178
    309-2693-04




 1          STATEMENT OF SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES CONTAINED IN
                       COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
 2                          CS for SB 1178

 3                                 

 4  Provides a definition of "cost-effective" and requires the
    Agency for Health Care Administration to conduct an
 5  actuarially sound audit to ensure the networks are
    cost-effective.
 6  
    Clarifies that the Agency for Health Care Administration shall
 7  reimburse the minority physician network as a fee-for-service
    provider, including the case management fee for primary care,
 8  or as a capitated provider for Medicaid services.  Any savings
    is to be shared with the minority physician network pursuant
 9  to the contract.

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