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| 1 | A bill to be entitled | ||
| 2 | An act relating to nursing home facilities; providing that | ||
| 3 | the Agency for Health Care Administration must require | ||
| 4 | that a portion of a nursing home facility’s per diem be | ||
| 5 | earmarked for increases in the wages or benefits of | ||
| 6 | eligible staff members; providing definitions; providing | ||
| 7 | exclusions; providing minimum requirements; providing | ||
| 8 | agency duties and responsibilities; providing rulemaking | ||
| 9 | authority; providing an effective date. | ||
| 10 | |||
| 11 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: | ||
| 12 | |||
| 13 | Section 1. Medicaid per diem for nursing homes; portion to | ||
| 14 | benefit staff.-- | ||
| 15 | (1) The Agency for Health Care Administration shall | ||
| 16 | require that a portion of a nursing home facility’s Medicaid per | ||
| 17 | diem be earmarked for increases in the wages, benefits, or a | ||
| 18 | combination thereof for each eligible staff member. This | ||
| 19 | earmarked portion, which is to be known by the term “wage and | ||
| 20 | benefit pass-through,” must be sufficient to provide for an | ||
| 21 | increase in the amount of $1 per hour in wages, benefits, or a | ||
| 22 | combination thereof for the facility’s eligible staff members. | ||
| 23 | As used in this subsection, the term “eligible staff member” | ||
| 24 | includes each employee of the nursing home except the | ||
| 25 | administrator and the director of nursing; however, the term | ||
| 26 | excludes agency, temporary, pool, or home-office staff members | ||
| 27 | who are not directly employed by and assigned exclusively to the | ||
| 28 | facility. Bonuses may not be paid from the earmarked wage and | ||
| 29 | benefit pass-through. The wage and benefit pass-through funds | ||
| 30 | may be used to provide new or improved benefits or to decrease | ||
| 31 | the percentage of the cost paid by an eligible staff member for | ||
| 32 | benefits as of July 1, 2003. Funds may not be used to decrease | ||
| 33 | the percentage of the cost paid by facilities for existing | ||
| 34 | benefits. | ||
| 35 | (2) The agency shall monitor the application of the wage | ||
| 36 | and benefit pass-through provisions by facilities as provided in | ||
| 37 | this section. | ||
| 38 | (3) The agency may adopt rules to implement the provisions | ||
| 39 | of this section, including the determination of the amount to be | ||
| 40 | earmarked, the method of allocation to be used by facilities, | ||
| 41 | and reports necessary to permit the agency to perform its duties | ||
| 42 | under subsection (2). | ||
| 43 | Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2003. | ||