Florida Senate - 2009                             CS for SB 1666
       
       
       
       By the Committee on Health and Human Services Appropriations;
       and Senator Peaden
       
       
       
       603-03994-09                                          20091666c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to health and human service contracts;
    3         creating s. 287.0576, F.S.; requiring the Departments
    4         of Children and Family Services, Health, Elderly
    5         Affairs, and Juvenile Justice and the Agencies for
    6         Persons with Disabilities and Health Care
    7         Administration to adopt certain policies relating to
    8         the monitoring of provider contracts, access to
    9         provider data, and the imposition of new provider
   10         requirements; amending s. 409.1671, F.S.; requiring
   11         the Department of Children and Family Services to
   12         ensure that contracts entered into with community
   13         based agencies are funded by a grant of general
   14         revenue and federal funding sources; requiring
   15         community-based agencies to document federal earnings;
   16         authorizing the department to contract for the
   17         oversight of the community-based agencies; specifying
   18         permissible expenditures; requiring the department to
   19         enter into certain contracts with community-based
   20         agencies; providing an effective date.
   21  
   22  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   23  
   24         Section 1. Section 287.0576, Florida Statutes, is created
   25  to read:
   26         287.0576Contracts for health and human services.—The
   27  Department of Children and Family Services, the Department of
   28  Health, the Department of Elderly Affairs, the Agency for
   29  Persons with Disabilities, the Agency for Health Care
   30  Administration, and the Department of Juvenile Justice shall
   31  identify and implement changes that improve efficiency in health
   32  and human services contract administration. To assist with that
   33  goal, each agency shall adopt the following policies:
   34         (1)Limit administrative and fiscal monitoring to once
   35  every 3 years if the contracted provider is accredited by a
   36  nationally recognized organization. By accepting the survey or
   37  inspection of an accrediting organization, the department or
   38  agency does not forfeit its right to monitor in order to ensure
   39  that services for which the department or agency is paying are
   40  provided. The department or agency may investigate complaints or
   41  suspected problems and monitor the provider’s compliance with
   42  negotiated terms and conditions, including provisions relating
   43  to consent decrees, which are unique to a specific contract and
   44  are not statements of general applicability. The department or
   45  agency may also monitor compliance with federal and state laws,
   46  federal regulations, or state rules if such monitoring does not
   47  duplicate the accrediting organization’s review pursuant to
   48  accreditation standards.
   49         (2)Allow private-sector development and implementation of
   50  a secure consolidated data warehouse and archive for maintaining
   51  corporate, fiscal, and administrative records of child welfare
   52  provider contracts. Providers must ensure that the data is up to
   53  date and accessible to contracting state agencies and the
   54  contracting providers. State agencies that contract with child
   55  welfare providers must use the data warehouse for document
   56  requests. If information is not current or is unavailable on the
   57  provider’s website, the state agency may contact the provider
   58  directly. At a minimum, the records must include:
   59         (a)Articles of incorporation.
   60         (b)Bylaws.
   61         (c)Governing board and committee minutes.
   62         (d)Financial audits.
   63         (e)Expenditure reports.
   64         (f)Compliance audits.
   65         (g)Organizational charts.
   66         (h)Staff resumes.
   67         (i)Governing board membership information.
   68         (j)Human resource policies and procedures.
   69         (3)Not impose a new form, procedure, or mandate on a
   70  health and human services contract provider without determining,
   71  in conjunction with the provider, the fiscal and programmatic
   72  effect of the new requirement.
   73         Section 2. Subsections (12) and (13) are added to section
   74  409.1671, Florida Statutes, to read:
   75         409.1671 Foster care and related services; outsourcing.—
   76         (12)The department shall ensure that a contract entered
   77  into with each community-based agency pursuant to this section
   78  is funded by a grant of general revenue and by applicable
   79  federal funding sources. Each community-based agency is
   80  responsible for documenting federal earnings, and federal
   81  earnings not documented shall be returned to the department.
   82  Notwithstanding subsection (8), each community-based agency’s
   83  annual contract amount may be increased by excess federal
   84  earnings in accordance with s. 216.181(11). The department may
   85  contract for the programmatic, administration, or fiscal
   86  oversight of each community-based agency. Notwithstanding any
   87  other provision of law, the following community-based-agency
   88  expenditures are permissible:
   89         (a)Cellular telephone allowances for staff;
   90         (b)Contracts requiring deferred payments and maintenance
   91  agreements;
   92         (c)Security deposits for office leases;
   93         (d)Related professional membership dues and professional
   94  state license fees;
   95         (e)Food and refreshment; and
   96         (f)Promotional materials.
   97         (13)The department shall enter into a fixed-price contract
   98  with each community-based agency which has a 2-month advance
   99  payment at the beginning of the fiscal year followed by equal
  100  monthly payments.
  101         Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2009.