Florida Senate - 2009                              CS for SB 556
       
       
       
       By the Committee on Health Regulation; and Senators Gaetz,
       Bennett, Detert, Dean, Wise, Smith, Fasano, Altman, Siplin,
       Garcia, Pruitt, Lawson, Haridopolos, Lynn, and Baker
       
       
       588-02389-09                                           2009556c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to the Medicaid program; amending s.
    3         409.911, F.S.; increasing the number of members of the
    4         Low-Income Pool Council; providing membership
    5         criteria; providing an effective date.
    6  
    7  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
    8  
    9         Section 1. Subsection (9) of section 409.911, Florida
   10  Statutes, is amended to read:
   11         409.911 Disproportionate share program.—Subject to specific
   12  allocations established within the General Appropriations Act
   13  and any limitations established pursuant to chapter 216, the
   14  agency shall distribute, pursuant to this section, moneys to
   15  hospitals providing a disproportionate share of Medicaid or
   16  charity care services by making quarterly Medicaid payments as
   17  required. Notwithstanding the provisions of s. 409.915, counties
   18  are exempt from contributing toward the cost of this special
   19  reimbursement for hospitals serving a disproportionate share of
   20  low-income patients.
   21         (9) The Agency for Health Care Administration shall create
   22  a Medicaid Low-Income Pool Council by July 1, 2006. The Low
   23  Income Pool Council shall consist of 24 17 members, including 3
   24  members appointed by the President of the Senate, 3 members
   25  appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, 3
   26  representatives of statutory teaching hospitals, 3
   27  representatives of public hospitals, 3 representatives of
   28  nonprofit hospitals, 3 representatives of for-profit hospitals,
   29  2 representatives of rural hospitals, 2 representatives of units
   30  of local government which contribute funding, and 1
   31  representative of family practice teaching hospitals, and 1
   32  nonvoting representative of the Agency for Health Care
   33  Administration, who shall serve as chair of the council. No
   34  member of the council shall be subject to s. 11.045 or s.
   35  112.3215, unless the member is also a full-time employee of a
   36  public entity. Of the members appointed by the Senate President,
   37  one and only one must be a physician. Of the members appointed
   38  by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, one and only one
   39  must be a physician. None of the legislative appointees may be
   40  employed by any entity receiving funds from the low-income pool.
   41  The council shall:
   42         (a) Make recommendations on the financing of the low-income
   43  pool and the disproportionate share hospital program and the
   44  distribution of their funds.
   45         (b) Advise the Agency for Health Care Administration on the
   46  development of the low-income pool plan required by the federal
   47  Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services pursuant to the
   48  Medicaid reform waiver.
   49         (c) Advise the Agency for Health Care Administration on the
   50  distribution of hospital funds used to adjust inpatient hospital
   51  rates, rebase rates, or otherwise exempt hospitals from
   52  reimbursement limits as financed by intergovernmental transfers.
   53         (d) Submit its findings and recommendations to the Governor
   54  and the Legislature no later than February 1 of each year.
   55         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2009.