Florida Senate - 2009                                    SB 2422
       
       
       
       By Senator Storms
       
       
       
       
       10-00328A-09                                          20092422__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to Medicaid; amending s. 409.912,
    3         F.S.; requiring a contract between the Agency for
    4         Health Care Administration and certain health
    5         maintenance organizations or entities that do not
    6         provide prepaid health care services to set rates on a
    7         beneficiary-specific, risk-adjusted basis; requiring
    8         that funds repaid to the agency by managed care plans
    9         that spend less than a certain percentage of the
   10         capitation paid to the plan to be deposited into a
   11         trust fund by the agency and transferred to the
   12         Department of Children and Family Services; requiring
   13         the agency to assess interest and fines; requiring the
   14         agency to continue to offer beneficiaries a choice of
   15         and contract with prepaid mental health plans under
   16         certain conditions; prohibiting MediPass beneficiaries
   17         from enrolling in a health maintenance organization
   18         for behavioral health services; amending s. 409.91211,
   19         F.S.; conforming a provision to changes made by the
   20         act; amending s. 409.9122, F.S.; providing that mental
   21         illness is a showing of good cause to allow a Medicaid
   22         recipient to disenroll and select another managed care
   23         plan or MediPass after a specified period of time;
   24         providing an effective date.
   25  
   26  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   27  
   28         Section 1. Subsection (3) and paragraphs (a) and (b) of
   29  subsection (4) of section 409.912, Florida Statutes, are amended
   30  to read:
   31         409.912 Cost-effective purchasing of health care.—The
   32  agency shall purchase goods and services for Medicaid recipients
   33  in the most cost-effective manner consistent with the delivery
   34  of quality medical care. To ensure that medical services are
   35  effectively utilized, the agency may, in any case, require a
   36  confirmation or second physician's opinion of the correct
   37  diagnosis for purposes of authorizing future services under the
   38  Medicaid program. This section does not restrict access to
   39  emergency services or poststabilization care services as defined
   40  in 42 C.F.R. part 438.114. Such confirmation or second opinion
   41  shall be rendered in a manner approved by the agency. The agency
   42  shall maximize the use of prepaid per capita and prepaid
   43  aggregate fixed-sum basis services when appropriate and other
   44  alternative service delivery and reimbursement methodologies,
   45  including competitive bidding pursuant to s. 287.057, designed
   46  to facilitate the cost-effective purchase of a case-managed
   47  continuum of care. The agency shall also require providers to
   48  minimize the exposure of recipients to the need for acute
   49  inpatient, custodial, and other institutional care and the
   50  inappropriate or unnecessary use of high-cost services. The
   51  agency shall contract with a vendor to monitor and evaluate the
   52  clinical practice patterns of providers in order to identify
   53  trends that are outside the normal practice patterns of a
   54  provider's professional peers or the national guidelines of a
   55  provider's professional association. The vendor must be able to
   56  provide information and counseling to a provider whose practice
   57  patterns are outside the norms, in consultation with the agency,
   58  to improve patient care and reduce inappropriate utilization.
   59  The agency may mandate prior authorization, drug therapy
   60  management, or disease management participation for certain
   61  populations of Medicaid beneficiaries, certain drug classes, or
   62  particular drugs to prevent fraud, abuse, overuse, and possible
   63  dangerous drug interactions. The Pharmaceutical and Therapeutics
   64  Committee shall make recommendations to the agency on drugs for
   65  which prior authorization is required. The agency shall inform
   66  the Pharmaceutical and Therapeutics Committee of its decisions
   67  regarding drugs subject to prior authorization. The agency is
   68  authorized to limit the entities it contracts with or enrolls as
   69  Medicaid providers by developing a provider network through
   70  provider credentialing. The agency may competitively bid single
   71  source-provider contracts if procurement of goods or services
   72  results in demonstrated cost savings to the state without
   73  limiting access to care. The agency may limit its network based
   74  on the assessment of beneficiary access to care, provider
   75  availability, provider quality standards, time and distance
   76  standards for access to care, the cultural competence of the
   77  provider network, demographic characteristics of Medicaid
   78  beneficiaries, practice and provider-to-beneficiary standards,
   79  appointment wait times, beneficiary use of services, provider
   80  turnover, provider profiling, provider licensure history,
   81  previous program integrity investigations and findings, peer
   82  review, provider Medicaid policy and billing compliance records,
   83  clinical and medical record audits, and other factors. Providers
   84  shall not be entitled to enrollment in the Medicaid provider
   85  network. The agency shall determine instances in which allowing
   86  Medicaid beneficiaries to purchase durable medical equipment and
   87  other goods is less expensive to the Medicaid program than long
   88  term rental of the equipment or goods. The agency may establish
   89  rules to facilitate purchases in lieu of long-term rentals in
   90  order to protect against fraud and abuse in the Medicaid program
   91  as defined in s. 409.913. The agency may seek federal waivers
   92  necessary to administer these policies.
   93         (3) The agency may contract with health maintenance
   94  organizations certified pursuant to part I of chapter 641 for
   95  the provision of services to recipients. Any such contract must
   96  set rates on a beneficiary-specific, risk-adjusted basis, based
   97  on the beneficiary's age, geographic area, eligibility category,
   98  gender, prior use of services, diagnoses, and prescription use,
   99  consistent with the methodology established for the reform areas
  100  referenced in s. 409.91211.
  101         (4) The agency may contract with:
  102         (a) An entity that provides no prepaid health care services
  103  other than Medicaid services under contract with the agency and
  104  which is owned and operated by a county, county health
  105  department, or county-owned and operated hospital to provide
  106  health care services on a prepaid or fixed-sum basis to
  107  recipients, which entity may provide such prepaid services
  108  either directly or through arrangements with other providers.
  109  Such prepaid health care services entities must be licensed
  110  under parts I and III of chapter 641. An entity recognized under
  111  this paragraph which demonstrates to the satisfaction of the
  112  Office of Insurance Regulation of the Financial Services
  113  Commission that it is backed by the full faith and credit of the
  114  county in which it is located may be exempted from s. 641.225.
  115  Any contract with an entity described in this paragraph must set
  116  rates on a beneficiary-specific, risk-adjusted basis based on
  117  the beneficiary's age, geographic area, eligibility category,
  118  gender, prior use of services, diagnoses, and prescription use,
  119  consistent with the methodology established for the reform areas
  120  referenced in s. 409.91211.
  121         (b) An entity that is providing comprehensive behavioral
  122  health care services to certain Medicaid recipients through a
  123  capitated, prepaid arrangement pursuant to the federal waiver
  124  provided for by s. 409.905(5). Such an entity must be licensed
  125  under chapter 624, chapter 636, or chapter 641 and must possess
  126  the clinical systems and operational competence to manage risk
  127  and provide comprehensive behavioral health care to Medicaid
  128  recipients. As used in this paragraph, the term “comprehensive
  129  behavioral health care services” means covered mental health and
  130  substance abuse treatment services that are available to
  131  Medicaid recipients. The secretary of the Department of Children
  132  and Family Services shall approve provisions of procurements
  133  related to children in the department's care or custody prior to
  134  enrolling such children in a prepaid behavioral health plan. Any
  135  contract awarded under this paragraph must be competitively
  136  procured. In developing the behavioral health care prepaid plan
  137  procurement document, the agency shall ensure that the
  138  procurement document requires the contractor to develop and
  139  implement a plan to ensure compliance with s. 394.4574 related
  140  to services provided to residents of licensed assisted living
  141  facilities that hold a limited mental health license. Except as
  142  provided in subparagraph 8., and except in counties where the
  143  Medicaid managed care pilot program is authorized pursuant to s.
  144  409.91211, the agency shall seek federal approval to contract
  145  with a single entity meeting these requirements to provide
  146  comprehensive behavioral health care services to all Medicaid
  147  recipients not enrolled in a Medicaid managed care plan
  148  authorized under s. 409.91211 or a Medicaid health maintenance
  149  organization in an AHCA area. In an AHCA area where the Medicaid
  150  managed care pilot program is authorized pursuant to s.
  151  409.91211 in one or more counties, the agency may procure a
  152  contract with a single entity to serve the remaining counties as
  153  an AHCA area or the remaining counties may be included with an
  154  adjacent AHCA area and shall be subject to this paragraph. Each
  155  entity must offer sufficient choice of providers in its network
  156  to ensure recipient access to care and the opportunity to select
  157  a provider with whom they are satisfied. The network shall
  158  include all public mental health hospitals. To ensure unimpaired
  159  access to behavioral health care services by Medicaid
  160  recipients, all contracts issued pursuant to this paragraph
  161  shall require 80 percent of the capitation paid to the managed
  162  care plan, including health maintenance organizations, to be
  163  expended for the provision of behavioral health care services.
  164  In the event the managed care plan expends less than 80 percent
  165  of the capitation paid pursuant to this paragraph for the
  166  provision of behavioral health care services, the difference
  167  shall be returned to the agency. The agency shall provide the
  168  managed care plan with a certification letter indicating the
  169  amount of capitation paid during each calendar year for the
  170  provision of behavioral health care services pursuant to this
  171  section. Any funds repaid to the agency by a managed care plan
  172  that fails to meet the 80-percent requirement shall be deposited
  173  into a trust fund by the agency and transferred to the
  174  Department of Children and Family Services for reinvestment in
  175  community health services provided by providers enrolled in the
  176  networks of managed care plans that failed to the meet the 80
  177  percent requirement. The agency shall assess interest and fines
  178  on the amounts below the 80-percent threshold. The agency may
  179  reimburse for substance abuse treatment services on a fee-for
  180  service basis until the agency finds that adequate funds are
  181  available for capitated, prepaid arrangements. The agency shall
  182  continue to offer beneficiaries a choice of and contract with
  183  prepaid mental health plans as long as the agency operates its
  184  MediPass program. However, beneficiaries enrolled in MediPass
  185  may not be enrolled in a health maintenance organization for
  186  behavioral health services.
  187         1. By January 1, 2001, the agency shall modify the
  188  contracts with the entities providing comprehensive inpatient
  189  and outpatient mental health care services to Medicaid
  190  recipients in Hillsborough, Highlands, Hardee, Manatee, and Polk
  191  Counties, to include substance abuse treatment services.
  192         2. By July 1, 2003, the agency and the Department of
  193  Children and Family Services shall execute a written agreement
  194  that requires collaboration and joint development of all policy,
  195  budgets, procurement documents, contracts, and monitoring plans
  196  that have an impact on the state and Medicaid community mental
  197  health and targeted case management programs.
  198         3. Except as provided in subparagraph 8., by July 1, 2006,
  199  the agency and the Department of Children and Family Services
  200  shall contract with managed care entities in each AHCA area
  201  except area 6 or arrange to provide comprehensive inpatient and
  202  outpatient mental health and substance abuse services through
  203  capitated prepaid arrangements to all Medicaid recipients who
  204  are eligible to participate in such plans under federal law and
  205  regulation. In AHCA areas where eligible individuals number less
  206  than 150,000, the agency shall contract with a single managed
  207  care plan to provide comprehensive behavioral health services to
  208  all recipients who are not enrolled in a Medicaid health
  209  maintenance organization or a Medicaid capitated managed care
  210  plan authorized under s. 409.91211. The agency may contract with
  211  more than one comprehensive behavioral health provider to
  212  provide care to recipients who are not enrolled in a Medicaid
  213  capitated managed care plan authorized under s. 409.91211 or a
  214  Medicaid health maintenance organization in AHCA areas where the
  215  eligible population exceeds 150,000. In an AHCA area where the
  216  Medicaid managed care pilot program is authorized pursuant to s.
  217  409.91211 in one or more counties, the agency may procure a
  218  contract with a single entity to serve the remaining counties as
  219  an AHCA area or the remaining counties may be included with an
  220  adjacent AHCA area and shall be subject to this paragraph.
  221  Contracts for comprehensive behavioral health providers awarded
  222  pursuant to this section shall be competitively procured. Both
  223  for-profit and not-for-profit corporations shall be eligible to
  224  compete. Managed care plans contracting with the agency under
  225  subsection (3) shall provide and receive payment for the same
  226  comprehensive behavioral health benefits as provided in AHCA
  227  rules, including handbooks incorporated by reference. In AHCA
  228  area 11, the agency shall contract with at least two
  229  comprehensive behavioral health care providers to provide
  230  behavioral health care to recipients in that area who are
  231  enrolled in, or assigned to, the MediPass program. One of the
  232  behavioral health care contracts shall be with the existing
  233  provider service network pilot project, as described in
  234  paragraph (d), for the purpose of demonstrating the cost
  235  effectiveness of the provision of quality mental health services
  236  through a public hospital-operated managed care model. Payment
  237  shall be at an agreed-upon capitated rate to ensure cost
  238  savings. Of the recipients in area 11 who are assigned to
  239  MediPass under the provisions of s. 409.9122(2)(k), a minimum of
  240  50,000 of those MediPass-enrolled recipients shall be assigned
  241  to the existing provider service network in area 11 for their
  242  behavioral care.
  243         4. By October 1, 2003, the agency and the department shall
  244  submit a plan to the Governor, the President of the Senate, and
  245  the Speaker of the House of Representatives which provides for
  246  the full implementation of capitated prepaid behavioral health
  247  care in all areas of the state.
  248         a. Implementation shall begin in 2003 in those AHCA areas
  249  of the state where the agency is able to establish sufficient
  250  capitation rates.
  251         b. If the agency determines that the proposed capitation
  252  rate in any area is insufficient to provide appropriate
  253  services, the agency may adjust the capitation rate to ensure
  254  that care will be available. The agency and the department may
  255  use existing general revenue to address any additional required
  256  match but may not over-obligate existing funds on an annualized
  257  basis.
  258         c. Subject to any limitations provided for in the General
  259  Appropriations Act, the agency, in compliance with appropriate
  260  federal authorization, shall develop policies and procedures
  261  that allow for certification of local and state funds.
  262         5. Children residing in a statewide inpatient psychiatric
  263  program, or in a Department of Juvenile Justice or a Department
  264  of Children and Family Services residential program approved as
  265  a Medicaid behavioral health overlay services provider shall not
  266  be included in a behavioral health care prepaid health plan or
  267  any other Medicaid managed care plan pursuant to this paragraph.
  268         6. In converting to a prepaid system of delivery, the
  269  agency shall in its procurement document require an entity
  270  providing only comprehensive behavioral health care services to
  271  prevent the displacement of indigent care patients by enrollees
  272  in the Medicaid prepaid health plan providing behavioral health
  273  care services from facilities receiving state funding to provide
  274  indigent behavioral health care, to facilities licensed under
  275  chapter 395 which do not receive state funding for indigent
  276  behavioral health care, or reimburse the unsubsidized facility
  277  for the cost of behavioral health care provided to the displaced
  278  indigent care patient.
  279         7. Traditional community mental health providers under
  280  contract with the Department of Children and Family Services
  281  pursuant to part IV of chapter 394, child welfare providers
  282  under contract with the Department of Children and Family
  283  Services in areas 1 and 6, and inpatient mental health providers
  284  licensed pursuant to chapter 395 must be offered an opportunity
  285  to accept or decline a contract to participate in any provider
  286  network for prepaid behavioral health services.
  287         8. All Medicaid-eligible children, except children in area
  288  1 and children in Highlands County, Hardee County, Polk County,
  289  or Manatee County of area 6, who are open for child welfare
  290  services in the HomeSafeNet system, shall receive their
  291  behavioral health care services through a specialty prepaid plan
  292  operated by community-based lead agencies either through a
  293  single agency or formal agreements among several agencies. The
  294  specialty prepaid plan must result in savings to the state
  295  comparable to savings achieved in other Medicaid managed care
  296  and prepaid programs. Such plan must provide mechanisms to
  297  maximize state and local revenues. The specialty prepaid plan
  298  shall be developed by the agency and the Department of Children
  299  and Family Services. The agency is authorized to seek any
  300  federal waivers to implement this initiative. Medicaid-eligible
  301  children whose cases are open for child welfare services in the
  302  HomeSafeNet system and who reside in AHCA area 10 are exempt
  303  from the specialty prepaid plan upon the development of a
  304  service delivery mechanism for children who reside in area 10 as
  305  specified in s. 409.91211(3)(dd).
  306         Section 2. Paragraph (w) of subsection (3) of section
  307  409.91211, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
  308         409.91211 Medicaid managed care pilot program.—
  309         (3) The agency shall have the following powers, duties, and
  310  responsibilities with respect to the pilot program:
  311         (w) To implement procedures to minimize the risk of
  312  Medicaid fraud and abuse in all plans operating in the Medicaid
  313  managed care pilot program authorized in this section.
  314         1. The agency shall ensure that applicable provisions of
  315  this chapter and chapters 414, 626, 641, and 932 which relate to
  316  Medicaid fraud and abuse are applied and enforced at the
  317  demonstration project sites.
  318         2. Providers must have the certification, license, and
  319  credentials that are required by law and waiver requirements.
  320         3. The agency shall ensure that the plan is in compliance
  321  with s. 409.912(4)(b), (21), s. 409.912(21) and (22).
  322         4. The agency shall require that each plan establish
  323  functions and activities governing program integrity in order to
  324  reduce the incidence of fraud and abuse. Plans must report
  325  instances of fraud and abuse pursuant to chapter 641.
  326         5. The plan shall have written administrative and
  327  management arrangements or procedures, including a mandatory
  328  compliance plan, which are designed to guard against fraud and
  329  abuse. The plan shall designate a compliance officer who has
  330  sufficient experience in health care.
  331         6.a. The agency shall require all managed care plan
  332  contractors in the pilot program to report all instances of
  333  suspected fraud and abuse. A failure to report instances of
  334  suspected fraud and abuse is a violation of law and subject to
  335  the penalties provided by law.
  336         b. An instance of fraud and abuse in the managed care plan,
  337  including, but not limited to, defrauding the state health care
  338  benefit program by misrepresentation of fact in reports, claims,
  339  certifications, enrollment claims, demographic statistics, or
  340  patient-encounter data; misrepresentation of the qualifications
  341  of persons rendering health care and ancillary services; bribery
  342  and false statements relating to the delivery of health care;
  343  unfair and deceptive marketing practices; and false claims
  344  actions in the provision of managed care, is a violation of law
  345  and subject to the penalties provided by law.
  346         c. The agency shall require that all contractors make all
  347  files and relevant billing and claims data accessible to state
  348  regulators and investigators and that all such data is linked
  349  into a unified system to ensure consistent reviews and
  350  investigations.
  351         Section 3. Paragraph (i) of subsection (2) of section
  352  409.9122, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
  353         409.9122 Mandatory Medicaid managed care enrollment;
  354  programs and procedures.—
  355         (2)
  356         (i) After a recipient has made his or her selection or has
  357  been enrolled in a managed care plan or MediPass, the recipient
  358  shall have 90 days to exercise the opportunity to voluntarily
  359  disenroll and select another managed care plan or MediPass.
  360  After 90 days, no further changes may be made except for good
  361  cause. Good cause includes, but is not limited to, poor quality
  362  of care, lack of access to necessary specialty services, an
  363  unreasonable delay or denial of service, mental illness of the
  364  recipient, or fraudulent enrollment. The agency shall develop
  365  criteria for good cause disenrollment for chronically ill and
  366  disabled populations who are assigned to managed care plans if
  367  more appropriate care is available through the MediPass program.
  368  The agency must make a determination as to whether cause exists.
  369  However, the agency may require a recipient to use the managed
  370  care plan's or MediPass grievance process prior to the agency's
  371  determination of cause, except in cases in which immediate risk
  372  of permanent damage to the recipient's health is alleged. The
  373  grievance process, when utilized, must be completed in time to
  374  permit the recipient to disenroll by the first day of the second
  375  month after the month the disenrollment request was made. If the
  376  managed care plan or MediPass, as a result of the grievance
  377  process, approves an enrollee's request to disenroll, the agency
  378  is not required to make a determination in the case. The agency
  379  must make a determination and take final action on a recipient's
  380  request so that disenrollment occurs no later than the first day
  381  of the second month after the month the request was made. If the
  382  agency fails to act within the specified timeframe, the
  383  recipient's request to disenroll is deemed to be approved as of
  384  the date agency action was required. Recipients who disagree
  385  with the agency's finding that cause does not exist for
  386  disenrollment shall be advised of their right to pursue a
  387  Medicaid fair hearing to dispute the agency's finding.
  388         Section 4. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.