HB 7065

1
A bill to be entitled
2An act relating to Medicaid; amending s. 409.912, F.S.;
3requiring the Agency for Health Care Administration to
4implement federal waivers to administer an integrated,
5fixed-payment delivery program for Medicaid recipients 60
6years of age or older or dually eligible for Medicare and
7Medicaid; providing for voluntary enrollment in the
8program in specified locations, in accordance with certain
9requirements; providing eligibility for managed care
10entities to operate the program; providing for entities to
11choose to serve certain enrollees; providing for the
12establishment of informal and formal provider grievance
13systems; requiring payment of certain nursing home claims
14within a time certain; providing a timeframe for
15evaluation of the program by the Office of Program Policy
16Analysis and Government Accountability; extending the
17deadline for submission of the evaluation report;
18authorizing the agency to seek Medicaid state plan
19amendments; requiring the agency to submit a report to the
20Governor and the Legislature; amending s. 408.040, F.S.;
21conforming terminology to changes made by the act;
22amending s. 409.915, F.S.; requiring counties to
23participate in Medicaid payments for certain nursing home
24or intermediate facilities care for both health
25maintenance members and fee-for-service beneficiaries;
26providing an effective date.
27
28Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
29
30     Section 1.  Subsection (5) of section 409.912, Florida
31Statutes, is amended to read:
32     409.912  Cost-effective purchasing of health care.--The
33agency shall purchase goods and services for Medicaid recipients
34in the most cost-effective manner consistent with the delivery
35of quality medical care. To ensure that medical services are
36effectively utilized, the agency may, in any case, require a
37confirmation or second physician's opinion of the correct
38diagnosis for purposes of authorizing future services under the
39Medicaid program. This section does not restrict access to
40emergency services or poststabilization care services as defined
41in 42 C.F.R. part 438.114. Such confirmation or second opinion
42shall be rendered in a manner approved by the agency. The agency
43shall maximize the use of prepaid per capita and prepaid
44aggregate fixed-sum basis services when appropriate and other
45alternative service delivery and reimbursement methodologies,
46including competitive bidding pursuant to s. 287.057, designed
47to facilitate the cost-effective purchase of a case-managed
48continuum of care. The agency shall also require providers to
49minimize the exposure of recipients to the need for acute
50inpatient, custodial, and other institutional care and the
51inappropriate or unnecessary use of high-cost services. The
52agency shall contract with a vendor to monitor and evaluate the
53clinical practice patterns of providers in order to identify
54trends that are outside the normal practice patterns of a
55provider's professional peers or the national guidelines of a
56provider's professional association. The vendor must be able to
57provide information and counseling to a provider whose practice
58patterns are outside the norms, in consultation with the agency,
59to improve patient care and reduce inappropriate utilization.
60The agency may mandate prior authorization, drug therapy
61management, or disease management participation for certain
62populations of Medicaid beneficiaries, certain drug classes, or
63particular drugs to prevent fraud, abuse, overuse, and possible
64dangerous drug interactions. The Pharmaceutical and Therapeutics
65Committee shall make recommendations to the agency on drugs for
66which prior authorization is required. The agency shall inform
67the Pharmaceutical and Therapeutics Committee of its decisions
68regarding drugs subject to prior authorization. The agency is
69authorized to limit the entities it contracts with or enrolls as
70Medicaid providers by developing a provider network through
71provider credentialing. The agency may competitively bid single-
72source-provider contracts if procurement of goods or services
73results in demonstrated cost savings to the state without
74limiting access to care. The agency may limit its network based
75on the assessment of beneficiary access to care, provider
76availability, provider quality standards, time and distance
77standards for access to care, the cultural competence of the
78provider network, demographic characteristics of Medicaid
79beneficiaries, practice and provider-to-beneficiary standards,
80appointment wait times, beneficiary use of services, provider
81turnover, provider profiling, provider licensure history,
82previous program integrity investigations and findings, peer
83review, provider Medicaid policy and billing compliance records,
84clinical and medical record audits, and other factors. Providers
85shall not be entitled to enrollment in the Medicaid provider
86network. The agency shall determine instances in which allowing
87Medicaid beneficiaries to purchase durable medical equipment and
88other goods is less expensive to the Medicaid program than long-
89term rental of the equipment or goods. The agency may establish
90rules to facilitate purchases in lieu of long-term rentals in
91order to protect against fraud and abuse in the Medicaid program
92as defined in s. 409.913. The agency may seek federal waivers
93necessary to administer these policies.
94     (5)  By December 1, 2005, The Agency for Health Care
95Administration, in partnership with the Department of Elderly
96Affairs, shall create an integrated, fixed-payment delivery
97program system for Medicaid recipients who are 60 years of age
98or older or dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid. The
99Agency for Health Care Administration shall implement the
100integrated program system initially on a pilot basis in two
101areas of the state. The pilot areas shall be Area 7 and Area 11
102of the Agency for Health Care Administration. In one of the
103areas Enrollment in the pilot areas shall be on a voluntary
104basis and in accordance with approved federal waivers and this
105section. The agency and its program contractors and providers
106shall not enroll any individual in the integrated program
107because the individual or the person legally responsible for the
108individual fails to choose to enroll in the integrated program.
109Enrollment in the integrated program shall be exclusively by
110affirmative choice of the eligible individual or by the person
111legally responsible for the individual. The integrated program
112must transfer all Medicaid services for eligible elderly
113individuals who choose to participate into an integrated-care
114management model designed to serve Medicaid recipients in the
115community. The integrated program must combine all funding for
116Medicaid services provided to individuals who are 60 years of
117age or older or dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid into
118the integrated program system, including funds for Medicaid home
119and community-based waiver services; all Medicaid services
120authorized in ss. 409.905 and 409.906, excluding funds for
121Medicaid nursing home services unless the agency is able to
122demonstrate how the integration of the funds will improve
123coordinated care for these services in a less costly manner; and
124Medicare coinsurance and deductibles for persons dually eligible
125for Medicaid and Medicare as prescribed in s. 409.908(13).
126     (a)  Individuals who are 60 years of age or older or dually
127eligible for Medicare and Medicaid and enrolled in the
128developmental disabilities waiver program, the family and
129supported-living waiver program, the project AIDS care waiver
130program, the traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury
131waiver program, the consumer-directed care waiver program, and
132the program of all-inclusive care for the elderly program, and
133residents of institutional care facilities for the
134developmentally disabled, must be excluded from the integrated
135program system.
136     (b)  Managed care The program must use a competitive
137procurement process to select entities who meet or exceed the
138agency's minimum standards are eligible to operate the
139integrated program system. Entities eligible to participate
140submit bids include managed care organizations licensed under
141chapter 641, including entities eligible to participate in the
142nursing home diversion program, other qualified providers as
143defined in s. 430.703(7), community care for the elderly lead
144agencies, and other state-certified community service networks
145that meet comparable standards as defined by the agency, in
146consultation with the Department of Elderly Affairs and the
147Office of Insurance Regulation, to be financially solvent and
148able to take on financial risk for managed care. Community
149service networks that are certified pursuant to the comparable
150standards defined by the agency are not required to be licensed
151under chapter 641. Managed care entities who operate the
152integrated program shall be subject to s. 408.7056. Eligible
153entities shall choose to serve enrollees who are dually eligible
154for Medicare and Medicaid, enrollees who are 60 years of age or
155older, or both.
156     (c)  The agency must ensure that the capitation-rate-
157setting methodology for the integrated program system is
158actuarially sound and reflects the intent to provide quality
159care in the least restrictive setting. The agency must also
160require integrated-program integrated-system providers to
161develop a credentialing system for service providers and to
162contract with all Gold Seal nursing homes, where feasible, and
163exclude, where feasible, chronically poor-performing facilities
164and providers as defined by the agency. The integrated program
165must develop and maintain an informal provider grievance system
166that addresses provider payment and contract problems. The
167agency shall also establish a formal grievance system to address
168those issues that were not resolved through the informal
169grievance system. The integrated program system must provide
170that if the recipient resides in a noncontracted residential
171facility licensed under chapter 400 or chapter 429 at the time
172of enrollment in the integrated program system is initiated, the
173recipient must be permitted to continue to reside in the
174noncontracted facility as long as the recipient desires. The
175integrated program system must also provide that, in the absence
176of a contract between the integrated-program integrated-system
177provider and the residential facility licensed under chapter 400
178or chapter 429, current Medicaid rates must prevail. The
179integrated-program provider must ensure that electronic nursing
180home claims that contain sufficient information for processing
181are paid within 10 business days after receipt. Alternately, the
182integrated-program provider may establish a capitated payment
183mechanism to prospectively pay nursing homes at the beginning of
184each month. The agency and the Department of Elderly Affairs
185must jointly develop procedures to manage the services provided
186through the integrated program system in order to ensure quality
187and recipient choice.
188     (d)  Within 24 months after implementation, The Office of
189Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability, in
190consultation with the Auditor General, shall comprehensively
191evaluate the pilot project for the integrated, fixed-payment
192delivery program system for Medicaid recipients created under
193this subsection who are 60 years of age or older. The evaluation
194shall begin as soon as Medicaid recipients are enrolled in the
195managed care pilot program plans and shall continue for 24
196months thereafter. The evaluation must include assessments of
197each managed care plan in the integrated program with regard to
198cost savings; consumer education, choice, and access to
199services; coordination of care; and quality of care. The
200evaluation must describe administrative or legal barriers to the
201implementation and operation of the pilot program and include
202recommendations regarding statewide expansion of the pilot
203program. The office shall submit its an evaluation report to the
204Governor, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the
205House of Representatives no later than December 31, 2009 June
20630, 2008.
207     (e)  The agency may seek federal waivers or Medicaid state
208plan amendments and adopt rules as necessary to administer the
209integrated program system. The agency may implement the approved
210federal waivers and other provisions as specified in this
211subsection must receive specific authorization from the
212Legislature prior to implementing the waiver for the integrated
213system.
214     (f)  No later than December 31, 2007, the agency shall
215provide a report to the Governor, the President of the Senate,
216and the Speaker of the House of Representatives containing an
217analysis of the merits and challenges of seeking a waiver to
218implement a voluntary program that integrates payments and
219services for dually enrolled Medicare and Medicaid recipients
220who are 65 years of age or older.
221     Section 2.  Paragraph (d) of subsection (1) of section
222408.040, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
223     408.040  Conditions and monitoring.--
224     (1)
225     (d)  If a nursing home is located in a county in which a
226long-term care community diversion pilot project has been
227implemented under s. 430.705 or in a county in which an
228integrated, fixed-payment delivery program system for Medicaid
229recipients who are 60 years of age or older or dually eligible
230for Medicare and Medicaid has been implemented under s.
231409.912(5), the nursing home may request a reduction in the
232percentage of annual patient days used by residents who are
233eligible for care under Title XIX of the Social Security Act,
234which is a condition of the nursing home's certificate of need.
235The agency shall automatically grant the nursing home's request
236if the reduction is not more than 15 percent of the nursing
237home's annual Medicaid-patient-days condition. A nursing home
238may submit only one request every 2 years for an automatic
239reduction. A requesting nursing home must notify the agency in
240writing at least 60 days in advance of its intent to reduce its
241annual Medicaid-patient-days condition by not more than 15
242percent. The agency must acknowledge the request in writing and
243must change its records to reflect the revised certificate-of-
244need condition. This paragraph expires June 30, 2011.
245     Section 3.  Paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of section
246409.915, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
247     409.915  County contributions to Medicaid.--Although the
248state is responsible for the full portion of the state share of
249the matching funds required for the Medicaid program, in order
250to acquire a certain portion of these funds, the state shall
251charge the counties for certain items of care and service as
252provided in this section.
253     (1)  Each county shall participate in the following items
254of care and service:
255     (b)  For both health maintenance members and fee-for-
256service beneficiaries, payments for nursing home or intermediate
257facilities care in excess of $170 per month, with the exception
258of skilled nursing care for children under age 21.
259     Section 4.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2007.


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