HB 0645

CS

CHAMBER ACTION

1	The Committee on Health Care recommends the following:
2
3	Committee Substitute
4	Remove the entire bill and insert:
5	A bill to be entitled
6	An act relating to minority health care; creating s.
7	381.736, F.S.; providing for the Department of Health to
8	monitor and report on Florida's status regarding the
9	Healthy People 2010 goals and objectives currently tracked
10	by the department; requiring an annual report to the
11	Legislature; requiring the department to work with various
12	groups to educate health care professionals on racial and
13	ethnic issues in health and to recruit and train health
14	care professionals from minority backgrounds; providing
15	educational program guidelines; amending s. 409.901, F.S.;
16	defining the term "minority physician network"; amending s.
17	409.912, F.S.; requiring the Agency for Health Care
18	Administration to contract for a Medicaid minority
19	physician network; providing guidelines for the operation
20	of the network; providing an effective date.
21
22	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
23
24	Section 1.  Section 381.736, Florida Statutes, is created
25	to read:
26	381.736  Florida Healthy People 2010 objectives.--
27	(1)  The Department of Health shall, using existing
28	resources, monitor and report Florida's status on the Healthy
29	People 2010 goals and objectives currently tracked and available
30	to the department. The federal Healthy People 2010 goals and
31	objectives are designed to measure and help to improve the
32	health of all Americans by advancing the following goals:
33	(a)  Increase the quality and years of healthy life.
34	(b)  Eliminate health disparities among different segments
35	of the population.
36	(2)  The department shall report to the Legislature by
37	December 31 of each year on the status of disparities in health
38	among minorities and nonminorities, using health indicators
39	currently available that are consistent with those identified by
40	the federal Healthy People 2010 goals and objectives.
41	(3)  To reduce negative health consequences that result
42	from ignoring racial and ethnic cultures, the department shall
43	work with minority physician networks to develop programs to
44	educate health care professionals about the importance of
45	culture in health status. These programs shall include, but need
46	not be limited to:
47	(a)  The education of health care providers about the
48	prevalence of specific health conditions among certain minority
49	groups.
50	(b)  The training of clinicians to be sensitive to cultural
51	diversity among patients and to recognize that inherent biases
52	can lead to disparate treatments.
53	(c)  The creation of initiatives that educate private-
54	sector health care and managed care organizations about the
55	importance of cross-cultural training of health care
56	professionals and the effect of such training on the
57	professional-patient relationship.
58	(d)  The fostering of increased use of interpreter services
59	in health care settings.
60	(4)  The department shall work with and promote the
61	establishment of public and private partnerships with charitable
62	organizations, hospitals, and minority physician networks to
63	increase the proportion of health care professionals from
64	minority backgrounds.
65	(5)  The department shall promote research on methods by
66	which to reduce disparities in health care at colleges and
67	universities that have historically large minority enrollments,
68	including centers of excellence in this state identified by the
69	National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities, by
70	working with those colleges and universities and with community
71	representatives to encourage local minority students to pursue
72	professions in health care.
73	Section 2.  Subsections (23), (24), (25), and (26) of
74	section 409.901, Florida Statutes, are renumbered as subsections
75	(24), (25), (26), and (27), respectively, and a new subsection
76	(23) is added to said section, to read:
77	409.901  Definitions; ss. 409.901-409.920.--As used in ss.
78	409.901-409.920, except as otherwise specifically provided, the
79	term:
80	(23)  "Minority physician network" means a network of
81	primary care physicians that is predominantly minority owned, as
82	defined in s. 288.703, which may have a collaborative
83	partnership with a public college or university and a tax-exempt
84	charitable corporation.
85	Section 3.  Subsection (45) is added to section 409.912,
86	Florida Statutes, to read:
87	409.912  Cost-effective purchasing of health care.--The
88	agency shall purchase goods and services for Medicaid recipients
89	in the most cost-effective manner consistent with the delivery
90	of quality medical care. The agency shall maximize the use of
91	prepaid per capita and prepaid aggregate fixed-sum basis
92	services when appropriate and other alternative service delivery
93	and reimbursement methodologies, including competitive bidding
94	pursuant to s. 287.057, designed to facilitate the cost-
95	effective purchase of a case-managed continuum of care. The
96	agency shall also require providers to minimize the exposure of
97	recipients to the need for acute inpatient, custodial, and other
98	institutional care and the inappropriate or unnecessary use of
99	high-cost services. The agency may establish prior authorization
100	requirements for certain populations of Medicaid beneficiaries,
101	certain drug classes, or particular drugs to prevent fraud,
102	abuse, overuse, and possible dangerous drug interactions. The
103	Pharmaceutical and Therapeutics Committee shall make
104	recommendations to the agency on drugs for which prior
105	authorization is required. The agency shall inform the
106	Pharmaceutical and Therapeutics Committee of its decisions
107	regarding drugs subject to prior authorization.
108	(45)  The agency shall contract with an established
109	minority physician network that provides services to
110	historically underserved minority patients. The network must
111	provide cost-effective Medicaid services, comply with the
112	requirements to be a MediPass provider, and provide its primary
113	care physicians with access to data and other management tools
114	necessary to assist them in ensuring the appropriate use of
115	services, including inpatient hospital services and
116	pharmaceuticals.
117	(a)  The agency shall provide for the development and
118	expansion of minority physician networks in each service area to
119	provide services to Medicaid recipients who are eligible to
120	participate under federal law and rules.
121	(b)  The agency shall reimburse the minority physician
122	network as a fee-for-service provider or capitated rate provider
123	for Medicaid services and shall also pay a case-management fee
124	for primary care. Any savings shall be divided, with one-half
125	going to the minority physician network and one-half going to
126	the agency.
127	(c)  Medicaid recipients who are enrolled in MediPass shall
128	be assigned to a minority physician network pursuant to the
129	assignment ratios provided in s. 409.9122.
130	Section 4.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2004.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.