A Leon County circuit judge has rejected a request for a temporary injunction in a dispute involving a Medicaid contract to provide care to HIV and AIDS patients in South Florida.
Circuit Judge Charles Dodson on Friday turned down an injunction request filed by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which has been locked in a contract battle with competitor Simply Healthcare and the state Agency for Health Care Administration.
The injunction request was aimed at halting the movement of HIV and AIDS patients from an AIDS Healthcare Foundation managed-care plan to Simply Healthcare. The Agency for Health Care Administration last year awarded a contract to Simply Healthcare to serve HIV and AIDS patients in Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe counties.
The AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s current contract expires Thursday. Dodson, who held a hearing last week, wrote that he could not grant the temporary injunction because evidence on some key factors in the case was “conflicting.”
During the hearing last week, Simply Healthcare attorney Kevin Reck told Dodson that the state and Simply have taken steps to ensure a smooth transfer of 1,500-plus patients and that granting an injunction would be even more disruptive.
But AIDS Healthcare Foundation attorney Brian Newman told Dodson that an injunction halting the transfer was necessary because Medicaid patients would be irreparably harmed if they were forced to switch primary health-care providers.
