Florida Senate - 2010                                     SB 918
       
       
       
       By Senator Detert
       
       
       
       
       23-00779A-10                                           2010918__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to the screening of newborns; amending
    3         s. 383.14, F.S.; authorizing the Department of Health
    4         to charge a fee for each live birth to cover the
    5         administrative costs incurred in providing for
    6         followup evaluation of abnormal screening results;
    7         deleting a requirement that the department certify the
    8         annual costs of the newborn screening program in its
    9         legislative budget request; requiring that the
   10         department be reimbursed by Medicaid for newborn
   11         screening tests and followup reevaluations as a
   12         covered benefit under Medicaid; requiring health
   13         insurance policies and health maintenance contracts,
   14         except for supplemental policies, to compensate the
   15         department for newborn screening tests at the Medicaid
   16         rate; providing an effective date.
   17  
   18  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   19  
   20         Section 1. Paragraph (g) of subsection (3) of section
   21  383.14, Florida Statutes, is amended, and paragraph (i) is added
   22  to that subsection, to read:
   23         383.14 Screening for metabolic disorders, other hereditary
   24  and congenital disorders, and environmental risk factors.—
   25         (3) DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH; POWERS AND DUTIES.—The department
   26  shall administer and provide certain services to implement the
   27  provisions of this section and shall:
   28         (g) Have the authority to charge and collect fees for the
   29  administration of the newborn screening program authorized in
   30  this section, as follows:
   31         1. a fee not to exceed $15 per year will be charged for
   32  each live birth, as recorded by the Office of Vital Statistics,
   33  occurring in a hospital licensed under part I of chapter 395 or
   34  a birth center licensed under s. 383.305 for purposes of
   35  administering the newborn screening program authorized in this
   36  section per year. The department shall calculate the annual
   37  assessment for each hospital and birth center, and this
   38  assessment must be paid in equal amounts quarterly. Quarterly,
   39  the department shall generate and mail to each hospital and
   40  birth center a statement of the amount due. Administrative costs
   41  that are incurred by the department in providing for followup
   42  evaluation of abnormal screening results, including the costs of
   43  confirmatory testing, shall be paid from this fee.
   44         2. As part of the department’s legislative budget request
   45  prepared pursuant to chapter 216, the department shall submit a
   46  certification by the department’s inspector general, or the
   47  director of auditing within the inspector general’s office, of
   48  the annual costs of the uniform testing and reporting procedures
   49  of the newborn screening program. In certifying the annual
   50  costs, the department’s inspector general or the director of
   51  auditing within the inspector general’s office shall calculate
   52  the direct costs of the uniform testing and reporting
   53  procedures, including applicable administrative costs.
   54  Administrative costs shall be limited to those department costs
   55  which are reasonably and directly associated with the
   56  administration of the uniform testing and reporting procedures
   57  of the newborn screening program.
   58         (i) Be reimbursed by the Medicaid Program Office at the
   59  Medicaid rate for newborn screening tests, and any medically
   60  necessary followup reevaluations leading to a diagnosis, as a
   61  covered benefit under Medicaid. For a Medicaid patient enrolled
   62  in a health maintenance organization, the department shall be
   63  reimbursed directly by the Medicaid Program Office at the
   64  Medicaid rate. These services are not considered covered
   65  services for purposes of establishing the payment rate for
   66  Medicaid health maintenance organizations. All health insurance
   67  policies and health maintenance contracts as provided under ss.
   68  627.6416, 627.6579, and 641.31(30), except for supplemental
   69  policies, shall compensate the department for newborn screening
   70  tests at the Medicaid rate.
   71  
   72  All provisions of this subsection must be coordinated with the
   73  provisions and plans established under this chapter, chapter
   74  411, and Pub. L. No. 99-457.
   75         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2010.