Florida Senate - 2020                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. SB 1544
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Ì858654HÎ858654                         
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
                  Comm: RCS            .                                
                  02/04/2020           .                                
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       The Committee on Health Policy (Albritton) recommended the
       following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Delete everything after the enacting clause
    4  and insert:
    5         Section 1. Paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection (3) of
    6  section 409.979, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
    7         409.979 Eligibility.—
    8         (3) WAIT LIST, RELEASE, AND OFFER PROCESS.—The Department
    9  of Elderly Affairs shall maintain a statewide wait list for
   10  enrollment for home and community-based services through the
   11  long-term care managed care program.
   12         (a) The Department of Elderly Affairs shall prioritize
   13  individuals for potential enrollment for home and community
   14  based services through the long-term care managed care program
   15  using a frailty-based screening tool that results in a priority
   16  score. The priority score is used to set an order for releasing
   17  individuals from the wait list for potential enrollment in the
   18  long-term care managed care program. If capacity is limited for
   19  individuals with identical priority scores, the individual with
   20  the oldest date of placement on the wait list shall receive
   21  priority for release.
   22         1. Pursuant to s. 430.2053, aging resource center personnel
   23  certified by the Department of Elderly Affairs shall perform the
   24  screening for each individual requesting enrollment for home and
   25  community-based services through the long-term care managed care
   26  program. The Department of Elderly Affairs shall request that
   27  the individual or the individual’s authorized representative
   28  provide alternate contact names and contact information.
   29         2. The individual requesting the long-term care services,
   30  or the individual’s authorized representative, must participate
   31  in an initial screening or rescreening for placement on the wait
   32  list. The screening or rescreening must be completed in its
   33  entirety before placement on the wait list.
   34         3. Pursuant to s. 430.2053, aging resource center personnel
   35  shall administer rescreening annually or upon notification of a
   36  significant change in an individual’s circumstances for an
   37  individual with a high priority score. Aging resource center
   38  personnel may administer rescreening annually or upon
   39  notification of a significant change in an individual’s
   40  circumstances for an individual with a low priority score.
   41         4. The Department of Elderly Affairs shall adopt by rule a
   42  screening tool that generates the priority score, and shall make
   43  publicly available on its website the specific methodology used
   44  to calculate an individual’s priority score.
   45         (b) Upon completion of the screening or rescreening
   46  process, the Department of Elderly Affairs shall notify the
   47  individual or the individual’s authorized representative that
   48  the individual has been placed on the wait list, unless the
   49  individual has a low priority score. The Department of Elderly
   50  Affairs must maintain contact information for each individual
   51  with a low priority score for purposes of any future
   52  rescreening. Aging resource center personnel shall inform
   53  individuals with low priority scores of community resources
   54  available to assist them and inform them that they may contact
   55  the aging resource center for a new assessment at any time if
   56  they experience a change in circumstances.
   57         Section 2. Paragraph (a) of subsection (5) of section
   58  430.205, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
   59         430.205 Community care service system.—
   60         (5) Any person who has been classified as a functionally
   61  impaired elderly person is eligible to receive community-care
   62  for-the-elderly core services.
   63         (a) Those elderly persons who are determined by protective
   64  investigations to be vulnerable adults in need of services,
   65  pursuant to s. 415.104(3)(b), or to be victims of abuse,
   66  neglect, or exploitation who are in need of immediate services
   67  to prevent further harm and are referred by the adult protective
   68  services program, shall be given primary consideration for
   69  receiving community-care-for-the-elderly services. As used in
   70  this paragraph, “primary consideration” means that an assessment
   71  and services must commence within 72 hours after referral to the
   72  department or as established in accordance with department
   73  contracts by local protocols developed between department
   74  service providers and the adult protective services program.
   75  Regardless, a community-care-for-the-elderly services provider
   76  may dispute a referral under this paragraph by requesting that
   77  adult protective services negotiate the referral placement of,
   78  and the services to be provided to, a vulnerable adult or victim
   79  of abuse, neglect, or exploitation. If an agreement cannot be
   80  reached with adult protective services for modification of the
   81  referral decision, the determination by adult protective
   82  services shall prevail.
   83         Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2020.
   84  
   85  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
   86  And the title is amended as follows:
   87         Delete everything before the enacting clause
   88  and insert:
   89                        A bill to be entitled                      
   90         An act relating to long-term care; amending s.
   91         409.979, F.S.; requiring aging resource center
   92         personnel to annually rescreen certain individuals
   93         with high priority scores for purposes of the
   94         statewide wait list for enrollment for home and
   95         community-based services; authorizing such personnel
   96         to administer rescreening for certain individuals with
   97         low priority scores; requiring the Department of
   98         Elderly Affairs to maintain contact information for
   99         individuals with low priority scores for rescreening
  100         purposes; requiring aging resource center personnel to
  101         inform such individuals of community resources;
  102         amending s. 430.205, F.S.; authorizing community-care
  103         for-the-elderly services providers to dispute certain
  104         referrals; providing that a referral decision by adult
  105         protective service prevails; providing an effective
  106         date.