| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to health and human services contracts; |
| 3 | creating s. 287.0576, F.S.; requiring the Departments of |
| 4 | Children and Family Services, Health, and Juvenile Justice |
| 5 | and the Agencies for Persons with Disabilities and Health |
| 6 | Care Administration to adopt certain policies relating to |
| 7 | the monitoring of provider contracts and access to |
| 8 | provider data; providing an exception; amending s. |
| 9 | 409.1671, F.S.; providing funding requirements for |
| 10 | contracts established between the Department of Children |
| 11 | and Family Services and certain community-based agencies; |
| 12 | requiring community-based agencies to document federal |
| 13 | earnings and return undocumented earnings to the |
| 14 | department; permitting contracts with the agencies to be |
| 15 | increased by excess federal earnings; authorizing the |
| 16 | department to outsource certain functions of the agencies; |
| 17 | permitting the agencies to make specified expenditures; |
| 18 | specifying method of payment for fixed-price contracts; |
| 19 | providing an effective date. |
| 20 |
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| 21 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 22 |
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| 23 |
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| 24 | Section 1. Section 287.0576, Florida Statutes, is created |
| 25 | to read: |
| 26 | 287.0576 Contracts for health and human services.--The |
| 27 | Department of Children and Family Services, the Department of |
| 28 | Health, the Agency for Persons with Disabilities, the Agency for |
| 29 | Health Care Administration, and the Department of Juvenile |
| 30 | Justice shall identify and implement changes that improve |
| 31 | efficiency in health and human services contract administration. |
| 32 | To assist with that goal, each agency shall adopt the following |
| 33 | policies: |
| 34 | (1) Limit administrative monitoring to once every 3 years |
| 35 | if the contracted provider is accredited by the Joint Commission |
| 36 | on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, the Commission |
| 37 | on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities, or the Council on |
| 38 | Accreditation. By accepting the survey or inspection of an |
| 39 | accrediting organization, the department or agency does not |
| 40 | forfeit its right to monitor in order to ensure that services |
| 41 | for which the department or agency is paying are provided. The |
| 42 | department or agency may investigate complaints or suspected |
| 43 | problems and monitor the provider's compliance with negotiated |
| 44 | terms and conditions, including provisions relating to consent |
| 45 | decrees, which are unique to a specific contract and are not |
| 46 | statements of general applicability. The department or agency |
| 47 | may also monitor compliance with federal and state laws, federal |
| 48 | regulations, or state rules if such monitoring does not |
| 49 | duplicate the accrediting organization's review pursuant to |
| 50 | accreditation standards. Medicaid provider agreements are |
| 51 | excluded from the provisions of this subsection. |
| 52 | (2) Allow private-sector development and implementation of |
| 53 | an Internet-based, secure consolidated data warehouse and |
| 54 | archive for maintaining corporate, fiscal, and administrative |
| 55 | records of child welfare provider contracts. Providers must |
| 56 | ensure that the data is up to date and accessible to contracting |
| 57 | state agencies and the contracting providers. State agencies |
| 58 | that contract with health and human services providers must use |
| 59 | the data warehouse for document requests. If information is not |
| 60 | current or is unavailable on the provider's Internet-based data |
| 61 | warehouse and archive, the state agency may contact the provider |
| 62 | directly. At a minimum, the records must include: |
| 63 | (a) Articles of incorporation. |
| 64 | (b) Bylaws. |
| 65 | (c) Governing board and committee minutes. |
| 66 | (d) Financial audits. |
| 67 | (e) Expenditure reports. |
| 68 | (f) Compliance audits. |
| 69 | (g) Organizational charts. |
| 70 | (h) Staff resumes. |
| 71 | (i) Governing board membership information. |
| 72 | (j) Human resource policies and procedures. |
| 73 | Section 2. Subsection (12) is added to section 409.1671, |
| 74 | Florida Statutes, to read: |
| 75 | 409.1671 Foster care and related services; outsourcing.-- |
| 76 | (12) A contract established between the department and a |
| 77 | community-based agency under this section must be funded by a |
| 78 | grant of general revenue, other state trust funds, and |
| 79 | applicable federal funding sources. Community-based agencies |
| 80 | must document federal funds earned, and federal funds earned |
| 81 | that are not documented must be returned to the department. |
| 82 | Notwithstanding subsection (8), the amount of the annual |
| 83 | contract for a community-based agency may be increased by excess |
| 84 | federal funds earned in accordance with s. 216.181(11). The |
| 85 | department may outsource programmatic, administrative, or fiscal |
| 86 | monitoring oversight of community-based agencies. |
| 87 | Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a community-based |
| 88 | agency may make expenditures for staff cellular telephone |
| 89 | allowances, contracts requiring deferred payments and |
| 90 | maintenance agreements, security deposits for office leases, |
| 91 | related professional membership dues, costs of promotional |
| 92 | materials, and costs of food and refreshment provided to clients |
| 93 | in the care of the organization and to foster parents, adoptive |
| 94 | parents, and caseworkers during training sessions. The method of |
| 95 | payment for a fixed-price contract with a community-based agency |
| 96 | shall include provisions for a 2-month advance payment at the |
| 97 | beginning of each fiscal year with equal monthly payments |
| 98 | thereafter. |
| 99 | Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2009. |