Florida Senate - 2011                              CS for SB 226
       
       
       
       By the Committee on Children, Families, and Elder Affairs; and
       Senators Smith and Gaetz
       
       
       
       586-02856-11                                           2011226c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to human services; creating s.
    3         287.0576, F.S.; providing definitions; allowing the
    4         national accreditation of human service providers to
    5         substitute for certain agency licensure and monitoring
    6         requirements; providing exceptions; requiring a single
    7         lead agency to be responsible for monitoring human
    8         services delivery for designated populations;
    9         requiring the lead agency to develop monitoring
   10         protocols, develop a plan for coordinating monitoring
   11         activities, adopt rules, provide a list of required
   12         documents, and develop forms by a certain date;
   13         providing that background screening conducted for one
   14         agency satisfies the screening requirements of other
   15         agencies; requiring the agency to accept all mandated
   16         reports and invoices electronically and to allow all
   17         core documents to be posted in secure electronic
   18         storage; requiring agencies to provide an analysis of
   19         every new governmental mandate to an affected
   20         contractor before the mandate may be required or
   21         imposed; requiring a contracting agency to negotiate a
   22         contract amendment for any material change to a
   23         contract that will have a financial impact on a
   24         contractor; requiring human service contracts to
   25         include a cost-of-living adjustment or allow the
   26         contractor to reduce services; providing an exception
   27         under certain circumstances; requiring a contract to
   28         ensure payment for undisputed issues, not allow a
   29         private entity performing contract monitoring to
   30         impose additional requirements, and allow unexpended
   31         funds to be carried forward; providing that failure by
   32         an agency to negotiate a contract amendment or provide
   33         a remedy to a material adverse impact of a new
   34         governmental mandate constitutes an agency action for
   35         the purposes of ch. 120, F.S.; requiring each agency
   36         to compile a list of contractor requirements and
   37         submit such list to the Governor; providing an
   38         effective date.
   39  
   40  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   41  
   42         Section 1. Section 287.0576, Florida Statutes, is created
   43  to read:
   44         287.0576Outsourced human services.—
   45         (1)As used in this section, the term:
   46         (a)“Financial impact” means an increase in reasonable
   47  costs of 5 percent or more in the annual aggregate payment to a
   48  contractor performing a contract for outsourced human services.
   49         (b)“Human services” means services related to mental
   50  health, substance abuse, child welfare, or juvenile justice.
   51         (c)“New governmental mandate” means a statutory
   52  requirement, administrative rule, regulation, assessment,
   53  executive order, judicial order, or other governmental
   54  requirement, or an agency policy, that was not in effect when a
   55  contract for the outsourcing of human services was originally
   56  entered into and that directly imposes an obligation on the
   57  contractor to take, or to refrain from taking, an action in
   58  order to fulfill its contractual obligation.
   59         (2)Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in order to
   60  create a more stable business environment for contractors
   61  providing outsourced human services and to ensure
   62  accountability, eliminate duplication, and improve efficiency
   63  with respect to the provision of such services, national
   64  accreditation of human services providers by the Joint
   65  Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, the
   66  Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities, and
   67  the Council on Accreditation shall be accepted by an agency in
   68  lieu of the agency’s facility licensure onsite review and
   69  administrative requirements, and as a substitute for the
   70  agency’s licensure, administrative, and program monitoring
   71  requirements. Accreditation for administrative requirements
   72  satisfies the administrative requirements for licensure during
   73  the time period that the accreditation is effective.
   74  Notwithstanding a survey or inspection by an accreditation
   75  organization, the agency may continue to inspect and monitor the
   76  contractor as necessary with respect to:
   77         (a)Reimbursement matters for any contract.
   78         (b)Complaint investigations, suspected problems, or the
   79  implementation of the terms of consent decrees or other orders.
   80         (c)Ensuring compliance with federal or state laws and
   81  rules that are not covered by the accreditation.
   82         (3)To facilitate service delivery and compliance with the
   83  provisions of this part, a single agency shall take the lead
   84  with respect to developing policies and monitoring requirements
   85  for specified human services. The agency that has been
   86  designated by the Federal Government or state law as the
   87  authorized state entity with respect to a defined human service
   88  population shall be the lead agency for the provision of all
   89  related human services.
   90         (a) By October 1, 2011, each lead agency shall:
   91         1.Develop a common monitoring protocol to be used by all
   92  agencies serving the same population;
   93         2.Develop and implement a plan that coordinates monitoring
   94  activities related to the delivery of services to the
   95  populations being served by multiple agencies. Monitoring by
   96  multiple agencies shall be combined so that interruptions to the
   97  contractor and to the services provided are minimized;
   98         3.Adopt rules that guide the delivery of services across
   99  the jurisdictions of multiple agencies serving the same
  100  population and coordinate all monitoring activities;
  101         4.Provide a master list of core documents required for
  102  contract monitoring purposes and provide for the submission or
  103  posting of such documentation by each contractor; and
  104         5.If the same information or documentation is required by
  105  more than one agency, develop a common form to be used by all
  106  agencies requesting that information or documentation.
  107         (b)Level 2 background screening conducted for one lead
  108  agency shall satisfy the screening requirements for all agencies
  109  requiring such screening.
  110         (4)The department or agency must accept all mandated
  111  reports and invoices from human services contractors
  112  electronically, and allow all core documents required under
  113  subparagraph (3)(a)4. to be posted in secure electronic storage.
  114  The department shall recognize electronic document vaults
  115  established for the purpose of storing, delivering, and
  116  retrieving documents required in monitoring and regulatory
  117  review processes. To the greatest extent possible, the
  118  department shall promote the development, implementation, and
  119  maintenance of such vaults by service providers or provider
  120  trade associations. If a contractor uses such storage, the
  121  department or agency must have access to the electronic storage
  122  in order to monitor required documents, and shall by rule or
  123  contract require the contractor to deposit documents requested
  124  by the agency in such storage.
  125         (5)Agencies shall provide to the contractor an analysis of
  126  every new governmental mandate affecting the human services
  127  contractor. The analysis must identify the estimated cost of the
  128  mandate to the contractor and must be transmitted to the
  129  contractor before the mandate may be required or imposed.
  130         (6)Contracts to outsource human services must:
  131         (a) Provide that if a material change to the scope of the
  132  contract is imposed upon a contractor and compliance with such
  133  change will have a financial impact on the contractor, the
  134  contracting agency shall negotiate a contract amendment to
  135  increase the maximum obligation amount or unit price of the
  136  contract to offset the financial impact of the change if the
  137  contractor furnishes evidence of such impact along with a
  138  request to renegotiate the contract based on the proposed change
  139  to the agency. The contractor may not be held to requirements or
  140  obligations that are not required by law or are not included in
  141  the original contract or by negotiated amendment to the
  142  contract. The agency may issue emergency requirements to ensure
  143  the continued safety of the population served by the contractor
  144  for up to 90 days, during which the agency shall negotiate
  145  contract changes as described in this paragraph.
  146         (b)Provide, subject to appropriations, an annual cost-of
  147  living adjustment that reflects increases in the consumer price
  148  index. In the absence of a cost-of-living adjustment, the
  149  contract must allow the contractor to reduce the number of
  150  services or units contracted for, or require the agency to
  151  provide documentation substantiating the reasons a reduction is
  152  not possible.
  153         (c)Ensure that:
  154         1.Payment will be made on all items not under dispute and
  155  that payment will not be withheld on undisputed issues pending
  156  the resolution of disputed issues.
  157         2.If the agency engages a private entity to conduct
  158  contract monitoring or otherwise delegates any contract
  159  administration functions to an outside entity, such entity shall
  160  uniformly administer the contract and not impose any
  161  requirements that exceed law, rule, or the contract terms.
  162         3.Notwithstanding s. 216.301, any dispersed funds that
  163  remain unexpended during the contract term are approved as
  164  authorized revenue and carry over into the next year for the
  165  purposes of cash flow and continuation of the contract.
  166         (7)Any material change to a human services contract
  167  imposed pursuant to paragraph (6)(a) constitutes an agency
  168  action pursuant to chapter 120. Any contractor aggrieved by the
  169  refusal or failure of an agency to negotiate a contract
  170  amendment to provide a remedy for the fiscal impact of a
  171  material change to the scope of the contract may seek a remedy
  172  pursuant to chapter 120.
  173         (8)Each agency shall annually compile and list all
  174  contract requirements, mandated reports, outcome measures, and
  175  other requirements imposed on its human services contractors.
  176  The list must provide a law, rule, contract, or policy citation
  177  for each requirement. The list shall be submitted to the
  178  Governor.
  179         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2011.