The Florida Senate and the Florida House have passed their budgets for the 2014 legislative session.
From a Florida Senate news release, here is a look at the health funding in the Senate’s $74.9 billion budget:
Health and Human Services The budget includes funding to transition wait list individuals to the home and community-based services waiver (approximately 1,400 individuals) through $8.1 million GR (general revenue), $11.9 million TF (trust funds) and funding to serve additional clients in the long-term care managed care program (approximately 1,136 individuals), $6.6 million GR; $9.7 million TF. The budget increases PACE slots, $1.9 million GR; $2.9 million TF, and includes funds to serve frail elders waiting for Alzheimer’s Disease services (392 Slots), $4 million GR. Funding will also serve additional clients in the community care for the elderly program (601 Slots), $4 million GR and civil commitment facility capacity for violent sexual predators, $1.5 million TF. The budget will provide substance abuse services for pregnant women, $10 million GR; children’s mental health Community Action Teams, $8.1 million GR; adult community mental health funding, $4 million GR; domestic violence services, $4 million GR; and adult/children community substance abuse funding, $3.6 million GR. The budget also doubles the personal needs allowance (currently $35 per month) for Medicaid patients living in nursing homes, $9.1 million GR; $10.9 million TF; provides for the phase one construction of new state veterans’ nursing home, $11 million TF; and funds ongoing maintenance and repair of state veterans’ nursing homes and other domiciliary, $7.8 million TF.
From a Florida House news release, here is a look at the health funding in the House’s $75.3 billion budget:
Healthcare The Health Care Appropriations Subcommittee overall proposed budget totals $30.7 Billion ($8.2 billion from General Revenue and $22.5 billion from Trust Funds). This total includes funding for 32,943 authorized positions. Highlights · Medicaid Price Level and Workload Adjustment - ($600.4) M, $260.0 M GR - Funding for Medicaid caseloads and price level adjustments as agreed upon by the February 2014 Social Service Estimating Conference for an anticipated 3.7 million Medicaid beneficiaries. No category of Medicaid eligibility is eliminated or reduced. No provider rates are reduced. · Long Term Care Waitlist Reductions - $19.8 M, $8.0 M GR - Funding to reduce waitlist clients for the Elderly Long Term Care Medicaid Waiver to serve approximately 1,295 additional individuals. · Florida Kid Care Enrollment - ($36.3) M, ($12.7) M GR – Fully funds the KidCare program for the 2014-15 Fiscal Year to serve approximately 269,778 children. · Medicaid Electronic Health Record Incentive Program - $156.6 M TF - Funding to continue the Medicaid Provider Incentive Payment program, which provides incentive payments to eligible Medicaid providers and hospitals for the adoption and meaningful use of electronic health records. · Medicaid Provider Rate Increases - $14.0 M total, $5.6 M GR - Provides funding to increase private duty nursing rates by 10% and Prescribed Pediatric Extended Care (PPEC) reimbursement rates by 3.5% , and provides a 2% increase to Adult Day Training Providers. · Medicaid Rural Hospital Reimbursement Adjustment - $2.7 M, $1.1 M GR - Funding to increase reimbursement to rural Medicaid hospitals. · Enriching Seniors Initiative - $6.0 M GR - Nonrecurring funding to expand the Public Guardianship program statewide ($3.0 M) and for increasing visits by the State Ombudsman ($3.0 M). · Alzheimer’s Disease and Community Care for the Elderly Initiatives - $9.0 M GR - Funding ($8.0 million recurring and $1.0 million nonrecurring) to reduce the waitlist by 392 individuals for Alzheimer’s respite services and 751 for the Community Care for the Elderly program. · Program of All Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) - $5.1 M, $2.1 M GR - Funding to support the Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) by funding 250 additional slots in Palm Beach County (200), Lee County (30), Collier County (10), and Charlotte County (10). · Restoration of Nonrecurring Funds in DCF - $38.3 M, $33.1 M GR o $2.0 million Healthy Families Program o $1.1 million children’s substance abuse services o $2.5 million community adult substance abuse services o $4.0 million community adult mental health services o $3.0 million community adult mental health services - County Criminal Justice Grants o $8.1 million support for regional and circuit administration o $17.6 million maintenance adoption subsidies (MAS) · Maintenance Adoption Subsidies (MAS) Growth - $11.2 M, $7.8 M GR - Provides additional funding for an anticipated increase of 3,000 new adoptions. · Improvements to the Child Welfare System - $44.5 M GR o $13.1 million for an additional 191 additional Child Protective Investigators (CPIs) to reduce the investigator to caseload ratio and supervisor to investigator ratio. o $8.1 million to six county Sheriffs who perform child abuse investigations in lieu of the Department. o $7.5 million to expand the Healthy Families Program, which provides voluntary, in-home services to prevent child abuse and neglect that may lead to the removal of the child from the home. o $2.8 million to the Department of Health’s Child Protection Teams to support costs associated with developing new assessment tools for alleged child abuse and neglect cases. o $10.0 million to the Community Based Care (CBC) agencies. o $3.0 million specifically for sexually exploited youth. · Continuation of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Initiatives - $16.5 M GR o $7.6 million to continue and expand the children and adolescent Community Action Treatment (CAT) teams. o $8.9 million to continue substance abuse services directed towards pregnant women and their affected children. · APD Medicaid Waiver Waiting List - $20.0 M, $8.1 M GR - Funding to serve all “intensive needs” clients who are currently on the waiting list for services. Funding is expected to serve approximately 1,260. · Alzheimer’s Research Funding - $3 M GR - Provides funding for Alzheimer’s Research through the Ed and Ethel Moore Alzheimer’s Research Program contingent upon the passage of House Bill 709. · Epilepsy Services Program - $1 M GR - Provides additional nonrecurring funding to support the statewide program. · Biomedical Research Funding - $28.6 M, $11 M GR - Provides biomedical research funding to the following: o $10 million - James and Ester King Biomedical Research Program o $10 million - William G. “Bill” Bankhead, Jr. and David Coley Cancer Research Program o $5.6 million - Sanford-Burnham (nonrecurring) o $3 million - Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute (nonrecurring) · Cancer Centers Funding - $60 M, $42.4 M GR - Provides funding to support the Florida Consortium of National Cancer Institute Centers Program to enhance the quality and competitiveness of cancer care in the state, further a statewide biomedical research strategy responsive to the health needs of Florida’s citizens, and capitalize on the potential educational opportunities available to its students. o Realigns $26.75 million from existing funding for biomedical research. o Provides an additional $33.25 from the General Revenue Fund. · New State Veterans’ Nursing Home - $11 M TF - Provides funding for the planning, design, and construction of one new State Veterans’ Nursing Home – Year 1 of 3-year construction project.
