Florida Senate - 2009 SB 1564
By Senator Wise
5-01164B-09 20091564__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to mental health and substance abuse
3 services; amending s. 394.67, F.S.; redefining the
4 term “residential treatment center for children and
5 adolescents”; amending s. 394.674, F.S.; establishing
6 priority populations of persons who are eligible for
7 services funded by the Department of Children and
8 Family Services; amending s. 766.101, F.S.; redefining
9 the term “medical review committee” to include a
10 committee to review mental health and substance abuse
11 treatment services provided by the department;
12 repealing s. 394.9081, F.S., relating to target groups
13 for substance abuse and mental health services;
14 providing an effective date.
15
16 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
17
18 Section 1. Subsection (21) of section 394.67, Florida
19 Statutes, is amended to read:
20 394.67 Definitions.—As used in this part, the term:
21 (21) “Residential treatment center for children and
22 adolescents” means a 24-hour residential program, including a
23 therapeutic group home, which provides mental health services to
24 emotionally disturbed children or adolescents as defined in s.
25 394.492(5) or (6) and which is a private for-profit or not-for
26 profit corporation licensed by the agency under contract with
27 the department which offers a variety of treatment modalities in
28 a more restrictive setting.
29 Section 2. Subsections (1) and (4) of section 394.674,
30 Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
31 394.674 Client Clinical eligibility for publicly funded
32 substance abuse and mental health services; fee collection
33 requirements.—
34 (1) To be eligible to receive substance abuse and mental
35 health services funded by the department, a person must be a
36 member of at least one of the department's priority populations
37 target groups approved by the Legislature, pursuant to s.
38 216.0166. The priority populations include:
39 (a) For adult mental health services:
40 1. Adults who have severe and persistent mental illness, as
41 designated by the department using criteria that include
42 severity of diagnosis, duration of the mental illness, ability
43 to independently perform activities of daily living, and receipt
44 of disability income for a psychiatric condition. Included
45 within this group are:
46 a. Older adults in crisis.
47 b. Older adults who are at risk of being placed in a more
48 restrictive environment because of their mental illness.
49 c. Persons deemed incompetent to proceed or not guilty by
50 reason of insanity under chapter 916.
51 d. Other persons involved in the criminal justice system.
52 e. Persons diagnosed as having co-occurring mental illness
53 and substance use disorders.
54 2. Persons who are experiencing an acute mental or
55 emotional crisis as defined in s. 394.67(17).
56 (b) For children's mental health services:
57 1. Children who are at risk of emotional disturbance as
58 defined in s. 394.492(4).
59 2. Children who have an emotional disturbance as defined in
60 s. 394.492(5).
61 3. Children who have a serious emotional disturbance as
62 defined in s. 394.492(6).
63 4. Children diagnosed as having a co-occurring substance
64 abuse and emotional disturbance or serious emotional
65 disturbance.
66 (c) For substance abuse treatment services:
67 1. Adults who have substance abuse disorders and a history
68 of intravenous drug use.
69 2. Persons diagnosed as having co-occurring substance abuse
70 and mental health disorders.
71 3. Parents who put children at risk due to a substance
72 abuse disorder.
73 4. Persons who have a substance abuse disorder and have
74 been ordered by the court to receive treatment.
75 5. Children at risk for initiating drug use.
76 6. Children under state supervision.
77 7. Children who have a substance abuse disorder but who are
78 not under the supervision of a court or in the custody of a
79 state agency.
80 8. Persons identified as being part of a priority
81 population as a condition for receiving services funded through
82 the Mental Health and Substance Abuse Block Grant.
83 (4) The department shall adopt rules to implement client
84 the clinical eligibility, client enrollment, and fee collection
85 requirements for publicly funded substance abuse and mental
86 health services.
87 (a) The rules must require that each provider under
88 contract with the department which enrolls eligible persons into
89 treatment to develop a sliding fee scale for persons who have a
90 net family income at or above 150 percent of the Federal Poverty
91 Income Guidelines, unless otherwise required by state or federal
92 law. The sliding fee scale must use the uniform schedule of
93 discounts by which a provider under contract with the department
94 discounts its established client charges for services supported
95 with state, federal, or local funds, using, at a minimum,
96 factors such as family income, financial assets, and family size
97 as declared by the person or the person's guardian. The rules
98 must include uniform criteria to be used by all service
99 providers in developing the schedule of discounts for the
100 sliding fee scale.
101 (b) The rules must address the most expensive types of
102 treatment, such as residential and inpatient treatment, in order
103 to make it possible for a client to responsibly contribute to
104 his or her mental health or substance abuse care without
105 jeopardizing the family's financial stability. A person who is
106 not eligible for Medicaid and whose net family income is less
107 than 150 percent of the Federal Poverty Income Guidelines must
108 pay a portion of his or her treatment costs which is comparable
109 to the copayment amount required by the Medicaid program for
110 Medicaid clients pursuant to s. 409.9081.
111 (c) The rules must require that persons who receive
112 financial assistance from the Federal Government because of a
113 disability and are in long-term residential treatment settings
114 contribute to their board and care costs and treatment costs and
115 must be consistent with the provisions in s. 409.212.
116 (5) A person who meets the eligibility criteria in
117 subsection (1) shall be served in accordance with the
118 appropriate district substance abuse and mental health services
119 plan specified in s. 394.75 and within available resources.
120 Section 3. Paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section
121 766.101, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
122 766.101 Medical review committee, immunity from liability.—
123 (1) As used in this section:
124 (a) The term “medical review committee” or “committee”
125 means:
126 1.a. A committee of a hospital or ambulatory surgical
127 center licensed under chapter 395 or a health maintenance
128 organization certificated under part I of chapter 641,
129 b. A committee of a physician-hospital organization, a
130 provider-sponsored organization, or an integrated delivery
131 system,
132 c. A committee of a state or local professional society of
133 health care providers,
134 d. A committee of a medical staff of a licensed hospital or
135 nursing home, provided the medical staff operates pursuant to
136 written bylaws that have been approved by the governing board of
137 the hospital or nursing home,
138 e. A committee of the Department of Corrections or the
139 Correctional Medical Authority as created under s. 945.602, or
140 employees, agents, or consultants of either the department or
141 the authority or both,
142 f. A committee of a professional service corporation formed
143 under chapter 621 or a corporation organized under chapter 607
144 or chapter 617, which is formed and operated for the practice of
145 medicine as defined in s. 458.305(3), and which has at least 25
146 health care providers who routinely provide health care services
147 directly to patients,
148 g. A committee of the Department of Children and Family
149 Services which includes employees, agents, or consultants to the
150 department as deemed necessary to provide peer review,
151 utilization review, and mortality review of treatment services
152 provided pursuant to chapters 394, 397, and 916,
153 h.g. A committee of a mental health treatment facility
154 licensed under chapter 394 or a community mental health center
155 as defined in s. 394.907, provided the quality assurance program
156 operates pursuant to the guidelines which have been approved by
157 the governing board of the agency,
158 i.h. A committee of a substance abuse treatment and
159 education prevention program licensed under chapter 397 provided
160 the quality assurance program operates pursuant to the
161 guidelines which have been approved by the governing board of
162 the agency,
163 j.i. A peer review or utilization review committee
164 organized under chapter 440,
165 k.j. A committee of the Department of Health, a county
166 health department, healthy start coalition, or certified rural
167 health network, when reviewing quality of care, or employees of
168 these entities when reviewing mortality records, or
169 l.k. A continuous quality improvement committee of a
170 pharmacy licensed pursuant to chapter 465,
171 which committee is formed to evaluate and improve the quality of
172 health care rendered by providers of health service, or to
173 determine that health services rendered were professionally
174 indicated or were performed in compliance with the applicable
175 standard of care, or that the cost of health care rendered was
176 considered reasonable by the providers of professional health
177 services in the area; or
178 2. A committee of an insurer, self-insurer, or joint
179 underwriting association of medical malpractice insurance, or
180 other persons conducting review under s. 766.106.
181 Section 4. Section 394.9081, Florida Statutes, is repealed.
182 Section 5. This act shall take effect July 1, 2009.