The Florida Senate

383.011  Administration of maternal and child health programs.--

(1)  The Department of Health is designated as the state agency for:

(a)  Administering or providing for maternal and child health services to provide periodic prenatal care for patients who are at low or medium risk of complications during pregnancy and to provide referrals to higher level medical facilities for those patients who develop medical conditions for which treatment is beyond the scope and capabilities of the county health departments. Maternal and child health services shall include encouragement of breastfeeding.

(b)  Administering or providing for periodic medical examinations, nursing appraisals, and nutrition counseling for infant and child patients to assess developmental progress and general health conditions; administering or providing for treatment for health complications when such treatment is within the scope and capabilities of the county health departments or ¹Children's Medical Services. Nutrition counseling for newborn babies shall include encouragement of breastfeeding.

(c)  Administering and providing for the expansion of the maternal and child health services to include pediatric primary care programs subject to the availability of moneys and the limitations established by the General Appropriations Act or chapter 216.

(d)  Administering and providing for prenatal and infant health care delivery services through county health departments or subcontractors for the provision of the following enhanced services for medically and socially high-risk clients, subject to the availability of moneys and the limitations established by the General Appropriations Act or chapter 216:

1.  Case finding or outreach.

2.  Assessment of health, social, environmental, and behavioral risk factors.

3.  Case management utilizing a service delivery plan.

4.  Home visiting to support the delivery of and participation in prenatal and infant primary health care services.

5.  Childbirth and parenting education, including encouragement of breastfeeding.

(e)  The department shall establish in each county health department a Healthy Start Care Coordination Program in which a care coordinator is responsible for receiving screening reports and risk assessment reports from the Office of Vital Statistics; conducting assessments as part of a multidisciplinary team, where appropriate; providing technical assistance to the district prenatal and infant care coalitions; directing family outreach efforts; and coordinating the provision of services within and outside the department using the plan developed by the coalition. The care coordination process must include, at a minimum, family outreach workers and health paraprofessionals who will assist in providing the following enhanced services to pregnant women, infants, and their families that are determined to be at potential risk by the department's screening instrument: case finding or outreach; assessment of health, social, environmental, and behavioral risk factors; case management utilizing the family support plan; home visiting to support the delivery of and participation in prenatal and infant primary care services; childbirth and parenting education, including encouragement of breastfeeding; counseling; and social services, as appropriate. Family outreach workers may include social work professionals or nurses with public health education and counseling experience. Paraprofessionals may include resource mothers and fathers, trained health aides, and parent educators. The care coordination program shall be developed in a coordinated, nonduplicative manner with the Developmental Evaluation and Intervention Program of ¹Children's Medical Services, using the local assessment findings and plans of the prenatal and infant care coalitions and the programs and services established in chapter 411, Pub. L. No. 99-457, and this chapter.

1.  Families determined to be at potential risk based on the thresholds established in the department's screening instrument must be notified by the department of the determination and recommendations for followup services. All Medicaid-eligible families shall receive Early Periodic Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment (EPSDT) Services of the Florida Medicaid Program to help ensure continuity of care. All other families identified at potential risk shall be directed to seek additional health care followup visits as provided under s. 627.6579. A family identified as a family at potential risk is eligible for enhanced services under the care coordination process within the resources allocated, if it is not already receiving services from the Developmental Evaluation and Intervention Program. The department shall adopt rules regulating the assignment of family outreach workers and paraprofessionals based on the thresholds established in the department's risk assessment tool.

2.  As part of the care coordination process, the department must ensure that subsequent screenings are conducted for those families identified as families at potential risk. Procedures for subsequent screenings of all infants and toddlers must be consistent with the established periodicity schedule and the level of risk. Screening programs must be conducted in accessible locations, such as child care centers, local schools, teenage pregnancy programs, community centers, and county health departments. Care coordination must also include initiatives to provide immunizations in accessible locations. Such initiatives must seek ways to ensure that children not currently being served by immunization efforts are reached.

3.  The provision of services under this section must be consistent with the provisions and plans established under chapter 411, Pub. L. No. 99-457, and this chapter.

(f)  Receiving the federal maternal and child health and preventive health services block grant funds.

(g)  Receiving the federal funds for the "Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children," or WIC, authorized by the Child Nutrition Act of 1966, as amended, and for administering the statewide WIC program. (The WIC program provides nutrition education and supplemental foods, by means of food instruments called checks that are redeemed by authorized food vendors, to participants certified by the department as pregnant, breastfeeding, or postpartum women; infants; or children.)

(h)  Designating facilities that provide maternity services or newborn infant care as "baby-friendly" when the facility has established a breastfeeding policy under s. 383.016.

(2)  The Department of Health may adopt any rules necessary for the implementation of the maternal and child health care program or the WIC program.

History.--s. 1, ch. 88-153; s. 23, ch. 91-282; s. 3, ch. 94-217; s. 54, ch. 97-101.

¹Note.--Section 6(2), ch. 96-403, transfers all existing legal authorities and actions of the Children's Medical Services program, except for child protection and sexual abuse treatment teams established in chapter 415, to the Department of Health, Division of Children's Medical Services.