Senate Bill 2622
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Florida Senate - 2000 SB 2622
By Senator Cowin
11-1249-00
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to child welfare; amending s.
3 383.011, F.S.; providing for the Department of
4 Health to develop and implement a public
5 awareness campaign and hotline through which
6 certain pregnant teens may receive information
7 with respect to their pregnancies; providing an
8 effective date.
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10 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
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12 Section 1. Paragraph (e) of subsection (1) of section
13 383.011, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
14 383.011 Administration of maternal and child health
15 programs.--
16 (1) The Department of Health is designated as the
17 state agency for:
18 (e) The department shall establish in each county
19 health department a Healthy Start Care Coordination Program in
20 which a care coordinator is responsible for receiving
21 screening reports and risk assessment reports from the Office
22 of Vital Statistics; conducting assessments as part of a
23 multidisciplinary team, where appropriate; providing technical
24 assistance to the district prenatal and infant care
25 coalitions; directing family outreach efforts; and
26 coordinating the provision of services within and outside the
27 department using the plan developed by the coalition. The care
28 coordination process must include, at a minimum, family
29 outreach workers and health paraprofessionals who will assist
30 in providing the following enhanced services to pregnant
31 women, infants, and their families that are determined to be
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Florida Senate - 2000 SB 2622
11-1249-00
1 at potential risk by the department's screening instrument:
2 case finding or outreach; assessment of health, social,
3 environmental, and behavioral risk factors; case management
4 utilizing the family support plan; home visiting to support
5 the delivery of and participation in prenatal and infant
6 primary care services; childbirth and parenting education,
7 including encouragement of breastfeeding; counseling; and
8 social services, as appropriate. Family outreach workers may
9 include social work professionals or nurses with public health
10 education and counseling experience. Paraprofessionals may
11 include resource mothers and fathers, trained health aides,
12 and parent educators. The care coordination program shall be
13 developed in a coordinated, nonduplicative manner with the
14 Developmental Evaluation and Intervention Program of
15 Children's Medical Services, using the local assessment
16 findings and plans of the prenatal and infant care coalitions
17 and the programs and services established in chapter 411, Pub.
18 L. No. 99-457, and this chapter.
19 1. Families determined to be at potential risk based
20 on the thresholds established in the department's screening
21 instrument must be notified by the department of the
22 determination and recommendations for followup services. All
23 Medicaid-eligible families shall receive Early Periodic
24 Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment (EPSDT) Services of the
25 Florida Medicaid Program to help ensure continuity of care.
26 All other families identified at potential risk shall be
27 directed to seek additional health care followup visits as
28 provided under s. 627.6579. A family identified as a family at
29 potential risk is eligible for enhanced services under the
30 care coordination process within the resources allocated, if
31 it is not already receiving services from the Developmental
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Florida Senate - 2000 SB 2622
11-1249-00
1 Evaluation and Intervention Program. The department shall
2 adopt rules regulating the assignment of family outreach
3 workers and paraprofessionals based on the thresholds
4 established in the department's risk assessment tool.
5 2. As part of the care coordination process, the
6 department must ensure that subsequent screenings are
7 conducted for those families identified as families at
8 potential risk. Procedures for subsequent screenings of all
9 infants and toddlers must be consistent with the established
10 periodicity schedule and the level of risk. Screening programs
11 must be conducted in accessible locations, such as child care
12 centers, local schools, teenage pregnancy programs, community
13 centers, and county health departments. Care coordination must
14 also include initiatives to provide immunizations in
15 accessible locations. Such initiatives must seek ways to
16 ensure that children not currently being served by
17 immunization efforts are reached.
18 3. The provision of services under this section must
19 be consistent with the provisions and plans established under
20 chapter 411, Pub. L. No. 99-457, and this chapter.
21 4. Contingent upon provision of a specific
22 appropriation, the department shall make funding available to
23 Healthy Start Coalitions for the development and
24 implementation of a Pregnant-And-In-Need (PAIN) public
25 awareness campaign targeting pregnant teens who are not
26 seeking prenatal care and may be at high risk of abandoning
27 their babies. The purpose of this campaign is to get prenatal
28 care and care coordination services to pregnant teens to
29 promote healthy newborns and to prevent the abandoning of
30 babies. The department will make funds available to the
31 Healthy Start Coalitions through a grant process. The
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Florida Senate - 2000 SB 2622
11-1249-00
1 department will establish a statewide 1-800-PAIN hotline that
2 uses the current hotline for Healthy Start Coalition services.
3 The public awareness campaign funded through these grant funds
4 must include information on the PAIN hotline that pregnant
5 teens can use to receive counseling and access prenatal care
6 while remaining anonymous. The provision of funding for this
7 campaign must include an evaluation component on the impact of
8 each of the campaigns.
9 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2000.
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12 SENATE SUMMARY
13 Provides for the Department of Health to develop and
implement a Pregnant-And-In-Need public awareness
14 campaign and hotline for pregnant teens who need
information about their pregnancies.
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