Latest news with #HB1103
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
New law brings managed care to people with intellectual disabilities
Gov. Ron DeSantis, left, and House Speaker Daniel Perez, right. (Photos by Jay Waagmeester/Florida Phoenix) Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday signed into law priority legislation for House Speaker Daniel Perez that addresses how people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) receive health care. There were fears in the IDD advocacy community that DeSantis was going to veto the bill but he signed HB 1103 into law without any ceremony or a press conference. He acted three days after receiving it and while the House and Senate met in an extended session to craft the next state budget. Jim DeBeaugrine, a former Agency for Persons with Disabilities (APD) director and now a lobbyist, praised language that requires the agency to make public information about the number of people served in the Medicaid waiver program known as iBudget, plus the number of individuals on the waiting list, broken down by the counties in which they live. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Federal Medicaid law provides coverage for health care services to cure or ameliorate diseases but generally doesn't cover services that won't. Specific to IDD, Medicaid covers the costs of institutional care but not of home- and community-based services that, if provided, can help people with IDD live outside of institutions. Former Gov. Jeb Bush applied for a Medicaid waiver to provide these services to people with IDD. Eligible diagnoses include disorders or syndromes attributable to intellectual disability, cerebral palsy, autism, spina bifida, Down syndrome, Phelan-McDermid syndrome, or Prader-Willi syndrome so long as the disorder manifested itself before the age 18. But the program is underfunded and has had lengthy waiting lists on which sometimes people have lingered for more than a decade. The Legislature has required APD to provide it with information about the program but while the information was once easily publicly available, the DeSantis administration stopped posting it online. The bill requires the information to be made public again. 'You know, APD has gotten hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars over the last several years. And I think it'll help to hold the agency accountable. And it's good for the public, particularly the advocacy community, to understand what happens with those dollars, how many people we're funding, whether the dollars are being spent for services,' DeBeaugrine told the Florida Phoenix Tuesday. 'You know, the rub on all of this is that the agency used to publish that data without the law telling them to. But since they stopped, I believe this is a positive step towards re-establishing accountability and transparency.' The law also involves a Medicaid managed-care pilot program launched at the behest of then-House Speaker-Designate, now speaker, Perez in 2023. The pilot was designed to care for up to 600 individuals and was approved for Medicaid regions D and I, which serve Hillsborough, Polk, Manatee, Hardee, Highlands, Miami-Dade, and Monroe counties. The state received federal approval for the pilot in February 2024. The Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) issued a competitive procurement for the pilot with two vendors, Florida Community Care and Simply Healthcare Plans Inc., vying for the contract. AHCA eventually awarded the contract to Florida Community Care. Three hundred and fifty eight people were enrolled in the pilot program as of May 5. During testimony before the House Health and Human Services Committee in February, Carol Gormley, vice president for government affairs for Independent Living Systems, attributed the slow start-up to administrative barriers on APD's part. Independent Living Systems is the parent company of Florida Community Care. The new law lifts the 600-person cap on the pilot program on Oct. 1, expanding enrollment statewide for qualifying disabled people on the Medicaid iBudget wait list. There are 21,000 plus people on the waitlist, according to a legislative analysis. In a statement to the Florida Phoenix Tuesday, Gormley lauded DeSantis and the Legislature for their 'commitment to expanding and improving services for persons with disabilities. 'We look forward to the opportunity to extend the comprehensive benefits offered through the pilot program to families who choose to participate,' she said. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
All eyes on Florida's new statewide Medicaid managed-care bill
The Florida Capitol building on Aug. 12, 2024. (Photo by Jay Waagmeester/Florida Phoenix) Some of Florida's most vulnerable people who rely on Medicaid may wind up having their care flow through managed care organizations under a bill the Legislature passed this session. Advocates for people with intellectual disabilities are willing to make this move because the proposal, HB 1103, also makes changes to how the Agency for Persons with Disabilities (APD) operates, requiring, among other things, for it to be more transparent about the billion-dollar Medicaid iBudget program it administers. Now there are fears the bill won't become law because the Legislature heavily recast the original agency bill. For example, it provides for a no-bid statewide expansion of a Medicaid pilot program, imposes transparency requirements on the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis, and is a priority for House Speaker Daniel Perez, who has been rowing with the governor. 'Everyone is worried he's going to veto it,' Alan Abramowitz, executive director of the social services agency The Arc of Florida, told the Florida Phoenix in a telephone interview. The legislation involves a Medicaid managed-care pilot program launched at the behest of then-House Speaker-Designate, now Speaker, Daniel Perez in 2023. The pilot was designed to care for up to 600 individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and was approved for Medicaid regions D and I, which serve Hillsborough, Polk, Manatee, Hardee, Highlands, Miami-Dade, and Monroe counties. The state received federal approval for the pilot in February 2024. The Agency for Health Care Administration issued a competitive procurement for the pilot with two vendors, Florida Community Care and Simply Healthcare Plans Inc., vying for the contract. AHCA eventually awarded the contract to Florida Community Care. Three hundred and fifty eight people were enrolled in the pilot program as of May 5. During testimony in a House Health and Human Services Committee in February, Carol Gormley, vice president for government affairs for Independent Living Systems, attributed the slow start-up to administrative barriers on APD's part. Independent Living Systems is the parent company of Florida Community Care. HB 1103 would lift the 600-person cap on the pilot program on Oct. 1, expanding enrollment statewide for qualifying disabled people on the Medicaid iBudget wait list. There are 21,000 plus people on the waitlist, according to a legislative analysis. iBudget provides clients with money to choose services to help with activities of daily living such as eating and bathing. Those home- and community-based services allow clients to live in their communities and outside of institutions. APD serves 35,790 individuals through iBudget Florida. Under the bill, in July 2026 the program would open to every Medicaid-eligible intellectually disabled person, including those already enrolled in the iBudget program and a different Medicaid managed-care program known as the Statewide Medicaid Managed Care (SMMC) long-term care program. Some observers feel the statewide expansion may be premature, though. Valerie Breen, executive director of the Florida Developmental Disabilities Council, told the Florida Phoenix that there hasn't been enough experience with the pilot program to take it statewide. '[The] council believes there should be more data before it goes statewide. In addition, we believe that people should have the ability to choose their long-term support and services,' Breen said. Senate bill sponsor Sen. Jennifer Bradley tagged two amendments onto HB 1103 late in the session that ensured Florida Community Care will continue to be the only contracted managed-care plan for the intellectual disabled for the next six years. The Arc of Florida doesn't oppose statewide expansion of the pilot program because enrollment in it isn't mandatory, Abramowitz said. Indeed, Abramowitz lauded HB 1103 because it makes it clear that intellectually disabled clients or their guardians must affirmatively agree to be placed into a managed-care plan and cannot be mandatorily assigned into one. The affirmation applies to the intellectually disabled program and the Medicaid managed-care program. While most Medicaid beneficiaries in Florida are required to enroll in that managed-care program, people with intellectual disabilities are not. Nevertheless, the AHCA has been assigning Medicaid-eligible intellectually disabled people into the managed-care program unless they tell the state they don't want to be enrolled. Again, Florida Medicaid statutes don't authorize AHCA to randomly assign people, but the DeSantis administration has done it nonetheless, including through mandatory assignment language in the last managed-care contract. AHCA was rolling out the managed-care policy change while APD was announcing the new intellectually disabled managed care pilot program. 'It confused everyone. It was a mess. People were unhappy,' Abramowitz said. HB 1103 quickly went from a priority bill for APD to a priority bill for House leadership and advocates. The bill was filed in February when Taylor Hatch still headed the agency (she now heads the Department of Children and Families.) As initially filed, the bill would have increased the size and power of the APD and made it the single state agency to serve Florida residents with disabilities. To that end, an early version of the bill would have transferred the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, the Division of Blind Services, and the Federal Rehabilitation Trust Fund from the Department of Education and placed them within APD. It also would have changed the title of the person who runs the agency from 'executive director' to secretary. None of that is in the final bill, though. That's because the House Human Services Subcommittee tagged a lengthy amendment onto the measure, replacing the agency's wish list with the House leadership's instead. The amended bill would create a statewide advisory council to make recommendations to the APD. The idea that information about the number of people served at the expense of the service being accessed, those on the waiting list, those sorts of things, once again being available online is certainly going to be a positive. – Former APD Executive Director, advocate, and lobbyist Jim DeBeaugrine It also would require ADP to post its quarterly reports on its website regarding Medicaid iBudget and its operations, including the numbers of clients and of people on the iBudget wait list. APD routinely posted the information on its website for years but in the last two years under the DeSantis administration has stopped making the information — which the agency is required to submit to the Legislature — publicly available. Former APD Executive Director Jim DeBeaugrine lauded the transparency requirements for the iBudget reports. 'The idea that information about the number of people served at the expense of the service being accessed, those on the waiting list, those sorts of things, once again being available online is certainly going to be a positive,' DeBeaugrine said. Abramowitz said the transparency requirements, along with creation of a Statewide Family Council, represent important changes for people with intellectually disabled family members. The Statewide Family Council would advise APD on policy, working alongside the existing local Family Care councils. These councils have for the last 31 years worked with families of people with disabilities, sharing information about programs, services, and resources available in Florida. The bill would require APD to publish on its website all local family care council reports plus local council findings, policy recommendations, and an assessment of the agency's actions in response to previous recommendations of the local councils. Lastly, the bill would require APD to contract for a study to review, evaluate, and identify recommendations regarding the algorithm used to set a person's iBudget allocation. The study must, at a minimum, assess the performance of the existing algorithm used by the agency and determine whether a different algorithm would better meet clients' needs. Abramowitz said a lot of the bill was 'grassroots written' and that there's been a surge of support for it in the community. Stephanie Nordin is a mother of four, including twins with severe autism, who wrote a letter to DeSantis beseeching him to sign the bill. 'Like so many parents across Florida, I live with the constant weight of trying to secure support for my children in a system that feels impossible to navigate. This bill would bring meaningful, desperately needed change to families like mine,' she wrote. 'And just as importantly, this bill creates real transparency. For the first time, agencies will be required to publish updates about waitlists and funding, so families aren't left in the dark wondering where they stand.' Abramowitz, too, wrote a letter to the governor asking that he sign the bill into law. 'Our families, self-advocates, and providers would be honored to celebrate this moment alongside you and your staff. I hope you will consider holding a bill signing ceremony. We would be there in force to celebrate with you. . I would be happy to help coordinate and bring families to the event,' Abramowitz wrote. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Florida legislative session to resume May 12. Here are the key measures already on the governor's desk
The Brief Florida lawmakers will work beyond the typical 60-day legislative session to iron out the state budget. The session will resume on May 12 in Tallahassee. Several key bills have already been passed and await the governor's signature. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The Florida legislative session is set to be extended as the House and Senate struggle to agree on terms for the upcoming fiscal year's budget. House Speaker Daniel Perez and Gov. Ron DeSantis reached a point of contention where Speaker Perez announced the legislative session will pick back up on Monday, May 12, and conclude on Friday, June 6. Throughout the session there has been notable disagreement on topics like immigration and condo fees. Big picture view Meanwhile, the fate of a number of bills that have been passed in the House and Senate is now in the hands of Gov. DeSantis. Lucy's Law is named after a 17-year-old killed in a reckless boating incident and has garnered bipartisan support. The measure would align penalties for reckless boating offenses with those for dangerous driving offenses. Current Florida law only requires boaters born after 1988 to take a boater education and safety course to obtain a boater safety card. With Lucy's Law, anyone who's lived in the state for less than five years, regardless of age, would also be required to take the course. Lucy's Law would also force anyone with one reckless boating criminal charge or two reckless boating citations in the span of 12 months to take a boater education and safety course. RELATED: Parents of teen killed in boating crash want stronger penalties for reckless boaters Dexter's Law stems from a case out of Pinellas County last May in which a dog adopted from the shelter was found bagged, decapitated, and dumped in Fort DeSoto Park days after he was adopted. If signed into law, it would strengthen penalties for offenders of especially heinous aggravated animal cruelty crimes, like Dexter's case. It would also create an FDLE online database for animal abusers. PREVIOUS: Fight for 'Dexter's Law' heads to Tallahassee This measure would block the construction of pickleball and tennis courts, hotels, and golf courses in more than 20 Florida state parks, following the introduction of Gov. DeSantis' "Great Outdoors Initiative" last summer. HB 1103/SB 1050 would give people the freedom to choose whether they want their loved ones in managed care. It would also speed up access to state-funded care for families that have been on a waitlist for months, or even years. Follow FOX 13 on YouTube The Source Information for this story was gathered by FOX 13's Jennifer Kveglis. STAY CONNECTED WITH FOX 13 TAMPA: Download the FOX Local app for your smart TV Download FOX Local mobile app: Apple | Android Download the FOX 13 News app for breaking news alerts, latest headlines Download the SkyTower Radar app Sign up for FOX 13's daily newsletter
