Topic: FL Agency for Health Care Administration

Lawmakers failed to reach agreement on addressing a physician shortage and resolving a trauma center dispute but did agree to prop up the Low Income Pool for at least another year.

SB 1354 would expand a formula used by State Managed Medical Assistance contracts.

HB 1047 would prohibit late-term abortions if the fetus can live outside the womb. Current law sets the 24th week as the threshold to prohibit abortion and the proposal would set fetus viability as the standard.

Senate President Don Gaetz says lawmakers are on track to get to work on a five-point work plan developed by the House Speaker and Senate President. Gaetz expects the Senate to pass bills dealing with sexual predators and assisted living facilities on the first day of the 2014 legislative session.

The Senate President and House Speaker say the 2014 session will pass legislation to protect children, the elderly and the disabled. The plan includes reducing the critical-needs waiting list, expanding the Guardian Ad Litem Program, more regulation of ALFs and a scorched-earth policy when it comes to sexual predators. ... Related Research: Dec. 8, 2011 Final Report of the Miami-Dade County Grand Jury.

The chair of a key House committee wants to set up an advisory board and research program to find a cure for Alzheimer's disease. The bill also creates an emergency shelter registration program for people afflicted with dementia and sets staffing requirements.

Judge John Van Laningham's nonbinding recommendation hinges on whether Prestige Health Choice is a provider service network -- 50 percent of the company owned by health providers. Prestige holds seven other Medicaid managed care contracts in the state.

The proposal would lift a moratorium on new nursing homes and beds. The sponsor said it's an attempt to modernize the industry and allow beds to follow changing population trends. Critics, however, question whether the repeal will allow too many new nursing home beds.

The Florida Department of Health said it would take an additional million dollars for it to fulfill its regulatory obligations if the proposed ballot initiative were to pass. State economists think fees charged to users would cover DOH's expenses, but the analysts said they don't know whether legal marijuana would produce any sales or property tax revenue. ... Related Research: Materials from the EDR's conference held Nov. 4, 2013 on the medicinal marijuana constitutional amendment.

Florida lawmakers are pushing the use of telemedicine to provide better health care access to rural communities and to help curb inflation. Proposals filed in the House and Senate would require insurers to cover video-conference visits with doctors and direct the Department of Health to recommend how to expand the use of telemedicine technologies.

State economists polled a half dozen state agencies and city, county and law enforcement associations for input in calculating the cost of implementing a proposed marijuana amendment and got little feedback. The FIEC scheduled a meeting Thursday with DOR and DBPR representatives to determine whether an agricultural and or common household remedy designation would affect government's bottom line if the amendment were to pass. ... Related Research: EDR Notebook from the FIEC public workshop

Before the EDR can determine the fiscal impact of a proposed medical marijuana constitutional amendment, it has to decide whether cannabis is exempt from taxes as an over-the-counter drug. Two more workshops are scheduled to try to calculate whether voter approval of a medical marijuana initiative would add or subtract from government's bottom line. ... Related Research: Public Notice of FIEC workshops and conference, and EDR Notebook from the FIEC public workshop.

SB 248 cleared the Children, Families and Elder Affairs Committee on a unanimous vote. It specifies and clarifies responsibilities and obligations for the more than 3,000 facilities providing extended care to elderly and disabled residents. Sen. Eleanor Sobel intends to amend the measure at its next stop to empower AHCA to crack down on unlicensed operators.

Two years ago the U.S. Department of Justice began investigating why Florida used nursing homes for the elderly to provide services to disabled children. This summer, the feds filed suit saying the civil rights of more than 200 children were being violated. On Friday, Disability Rights Florida joined the lawsuit, saying the state doesn't have a screening process to determine whether the children could be treated at home.