Senate Bill sb2750

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    Florida Senate - 2006                                  SB 2750

    By Senator Atwater





    25-1653-06

  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to the Medicaid program;

  3         amending s. 409.912, F.S.; requiring the Agency

  4         for Health Care Administration to work with the

  5         Agency for Persons with Disabilities to develop

  6         a Medicaid waiver program for children who have

  7         autism spectrum disorder; providing a

  8         definition; providing for implementation of the

  9         program subject to the availability of funds;

10         authorizing the agency to adopt rules;

11         providing an effective date.

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

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15         Section 1.  Subsection (53) is added to section

16  409.912, Florida Statutes, as amended by section 2 of chapter

17  2005-358, Laws of Florida, to read:

18         409.912  Cost-effective purchasing of health care.--The

19  agency shall purchase goods and services for Medicaid

20  recipients in the most cost-effective manner consistent with

21  the delivery of quality medical care. To ensure that medical

22  services are effectively utilized, the agency may, in any

23  case, require a confirmation or second physician's opinion of

24  the correct diagnosis for purposes of authorizing future

25  services under the Medicaid program. This section does not

26  restrict access to emergency services or poststabilization

27  care services as defined in 42 C.F.R. part 438.114. Such

28  confirmation or second opinion shall be rendered in a manner

29  approved by the agency. The agency shall maximize the use of

30  prepaid per capita and prepaid aggregate fixed-sum basis

31  services when appropriate and other alternative service

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    Florida Senate - 2006                                  SB 2750
    25-1653-06




 1  delivery and reimbursement methodologies, including

 2  competitive bidding pursuant to s. 287.057, designed to

 3  facilitate the cost-effective purchase of a case-managed

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

 5  minimize the exposure of recipients to the need for acute

 6  inpatient, custodial, and other institutional care and the

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

 8  agency shall contract with a vendor to monitor and evaluate

 9  the clinical practice patterns of providers in order to

10  identify trends that are outside the normal practice patterns

11  of a provider's professional peers or the national guidelines

12  of a provider's professional association. The vendor must be

13  able to provide information and counseling to a provider whose

14  practice patterns are outside the norms, in consultation with

15  the agency, to improve patient care and reduce inappropriate

16  utilization. The agency may mandate prior authorization, drug

17  therapy management, or disease management participation for

18  certain populations of Medicaid beneficiaries, certain drug

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

20  and possible dangerous drug interactions. The Pharmaceutical

21  and Therapeutics Committee shall make recommendations to the

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

23  agency shall inform the Pharmaceutical and Therapeutics

24  Committee of its decisions regarding drugs subject to prior

25  authorization. The agency is authorized to limit the entities

26  it contracts with or enrolls as Medicaid providers by

27  developing a provider network through provider credentialing.

28  The agency may competitively bid single-source-provider

29  contracts if procurement of goods or services results in

30  demonstrated cost savings to the state without limiting access

31  to care. The agency may limit its network based on the

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    Florida Senate - 2006                                  SB 2750
    25-1653-06




 1  assessment of beneficiary access to care, provider

 2  availability, provider quality standards, time and distance

 3  standards for access to care, the cultural competence of the

 4  provider network, demographic characteristics of Medicaid

 5  beneficiaries, practice and provider-to-beneficiary standards,

 6  appointment wait times, beneficiary use of services, provider

 7  turnover, provider profiling, provider licensure history,

 8  previous program integrity investigations and findings, peer

 9  review, provider Medicaid policy and billing compliance

10  records, clinical and medical record audits, and other

11  factors. Providers shall not be entitled to enrollment in the

12  Medicaid provider network. The agency shall determine

13  instances in which allowing Medicaid beneficiaries to purchase

14  durable medical equipment and other goods is less expensive to

15  the Medicaid program than long-term rental of the equipment or

16  goods. The agency may establish rules to facilitate purchases

17  in lieu of long-term rentals in order to protect against fraud

18  and abuse in the Medicaid program as defined in s. 409.913.

19  The agency may seek federal waivers necessary to administer

20  these policies.

21         (53)  The Agency for Health Care Administration shall

22  work with the Agency for Persons with Disabilities to develop

23  a home and community-based waiver program to provide personal

24  care assistance, respite, and applied behavioral analysis for

25  children who are diagnosed as having autism spectrum disorder.

26  As used in this subsection, the term "autism spectrum

27  disorder" means a neurological disorder that affects

28  reasoning, social interaction, and communication; may affect

29  the functioning of the brain; and is usually evident before a

30  child is 3 years of age. The Agency for Health Care

31  Administration shall seek federal waiver approval and

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    Florida Senate - 2006                                  SB 2750
    25-1653-06




 1  implement the approved waiver subject to the availability of

 2  funds and any limitations provided in the General

 3  Appropriations Act. The Agency for Health Care Administration

 4  may adopt rules to administer this waiver program.

 5         Section 2.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2006.

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 8                          SENATE SUMMARY

 9    Requires that the Agency for Health Care Administration
      work with the Agency for Persons with Disabilities to
10    develop a Medicaid waiver program for children who have
      autism spectrum disorder. Provides for the program to be
11    implemented subject to the availability of funds.

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