Florida Senate - 2012                                     SB 282
       
       
       
       By Senator Wise
       
       
       
       
       5-00287-12                                             2012282__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to health care transition programs and
    3         services for adolescents and young adults who have
    4         special health care needs; providing legislative
    5         intent; establishing a program within the Division of
    6         Children’s Medical Services Network in the Department
    7         of Health to implement health care transition programs
    8         for adolescents and young adults who have special
    9         health care needs; specifying duties of the office
   10         with respect to the oversight, implementation, and
   11         coordination of the program; requiring that the
   12         program provide technical assistance to communities,
   13         providers, and organizations; requiring the Department
   14         of Health, in partnership with the Agency for Health
   15         Care Administration, to identify options for
   16         addressing the compensation of health care providers
   17         and improving access to adult and specialty health
   18         care for adolescents and young adults who have special
   19         health care needs; requiring the Department of Health
   20         to work with the Office of Insurance Regulation to
   21         explore and recommend effective policies that address
   22         medical management and health care transition services
   23         for adolescents and young adults who have special
   24         health care needs; requiring the Department of Health
   25         to work with community-based pediatric and adult
   26         health care providers to explore and recommend the
   27         development of local health and transition services
   28         programs in each of the regions of the Children’s
   29         Medical Services Network; providing requirements for
   30         program structure and design; specifying the services
   31         that may be offered by local health and transition
   32         services programs; requiring that at least one
   33         proposed health and transition services program be
   34         associated with each region of the Children’s Medical
   35         Services Network; requiring an evaluation of the
   36         program; providing an effective date.
   37  
   38  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   39  
   40         Section 1. Legislative intent; health care transition
   41  programs and services for adolescents and young adults who have
   42  special health care needs.—
   43         (1) It is the intent of the Legislature to provide a
   44  strategic and comprehensive approach to the development and
   45  implementation of effective health care transition programs and
   46  services for adolescents and young adults who have special
   47  health care needs. The Health Care Transition Services Task
   48  Force for Youth and Young Adults with Disabilities developed a
   49  statewide plan to promote the development of such health care
   50  transition services in accordance with chapter 2008-211, Laws of
   51  Florida, and outlined the plan in the task force’s subsequent
   52  report.
   53         (2) A program called the Florida Health And Transition
   54  Services (FloridaHATS) is established within the Division of
   55  Children’s Medical Services Network, which shall be responsible
   56  for:
   57         (a)Overseeing and implementing the national maternal and
   58  child health goals, using existing state plans, in order to
   59  implement effective transition programs for adolescents and
   60  young adults who have special health care needs. As used in this
   61  section, the term “adolescents and young adults who have special
   62  health care needs” means individuals who are 12 through 26 years
   63  of age; who have chronic physical, developmental, behavioral, or
   64  emotional conditions; and who require health care or related
   65  services of a type or amount beyond that which is generally
   66  required by adolescents or young adults.
   67         (b)Developing a planning and implementation process and
   68  the necessary guides for use by community providers and
   69  organizations in developing coordinated systems of services for
   70  adolescents and young adults who have special health care needs.
   71  The coordinated system of services shall include different
   72  models that accommodate the geographic and cultural diversity in
   73  the state and that are adapted to the local needs of communities
   74  and to local health services delivery systems. Furthermore, the
   75  models shall promote the integration of health care transition
   76  services with transition programs in education, vocational
   77  rehabilitation, and independent living, and shall address the
   78  varying needs of subpopulations, such as students who are
   79  enrolled in postsecondary educational institutions and
   80  individuals in the child welfare or juvenile justice systems.
   81         (c)Developing and disseminating resource guides that
   82  outline the various public and private health care financing
   83  options, including commercial insurance, and the respective
   84  health care benefits.
   85         (d) Coordinating the program with educational institutions,
   86  including medical centers, to identify and make available for
   87  health care providers existing training programs regarding the
   88  principles, objectives, and methods for the successful
   89  transition of adolescents and young adults who have special
   90  health care needs to adult health care providers.
   91         (e) Maintaining and updating the FloridaHATS’s website with
   92  web-based materials related to health care transition services
   93  which can be used by adolescents and young adults who have
   94  special health care needs and their families, providers, and
   95  others involved in health care transition.
   96         (f) Collecting and disseminating information in specific
   97  clinical areas concerning evidenced-based practices and best
   98  practices for providing health care transition services for
   99  youth and young adults who have chronic special health care
  100  needs or disabilities.
  101         (g) Providing technical assistance to communities,
  102  providers, and organizations that are involved in the
  103  development and implementation of systems of services for
  104  adolescents and young adults who have special health care needs.
  105         (h) Developing and disseminating quality improvement and
  106  evaluation components for health care transition programs. The
  107  quality improvement and evaluation components must include a
  108  common or comparable set of performance measures for all
  109  entities that provide health care transition services for
  110  adolescents and young adults who have special health care needs.
  111         (i) Establishing a network of experts in the fields of
  112  pediatric and adolescent medicine, adult medicine, and allied
  113  health to provide technical assistance and recommendations
  114  regarding best practices and policy guidance in health care
  115  transition.
  116         (3) The Department of Health shall work in partnership with
  117  the Agency for Health Care Administration to identify potential
  118  waiver or state plan options that address health care provider
  119  compensation strategies, including, but not limited to, co
  120  management, care plan development and oversight, provision of a
  121  medical home, and use of telehealth technology to improve access
  122  to adult and specialty health care for adolescents and young
  123  adults who have special health care needs.
  124         (4)The Department of Health shall work with the Office of
  125  Insurance Regulation to explore and recommend effective policies
  126  that address medical management and health care transition
  127  services that are based on a patient-centered medical home model
  128  for adolescents and young adults who have special health care
  129  needs.
  130         (5) The Department of Health shall also work with
  131  community-based pediatric and adult health care providers to
  132  explore and recommend the development of local health and
  133  transition services programs in each of the eight regions of the
  134  Children’s Medical Services Network which meet the following
  135  requirements:
  136         (a) The proposed program structure and design must be
  137  adapted to the needs of the local community and health services
  138  delivery system; however, the following elements shall be in
  139  place in order to ensure the success of a local health and
  140  transition services program:
  141         1. A consultative partnership between adult and pediatric
  142  health care providers in a major medical health care
  143  organization or an academic medical setting for purposes of the
  144  transition of adolescents and young adults to adult health care
  145  services.
  146         2. Community-based health care services that are provided
  147  under agreements with major health care organizations or
  148  academic medical centers for the purpose of providing
  149  consultation concerning the management of special health care
  150  needs.
  151         3. Community-based support organizations that can provide
  152  assistance with services such as supported living and
  153  employment, health insurance, and support services to maintain
  154  the young adult in the community.
  155         4. A medical home that provides for coordinated and
  156  multidisciplinary care and focuses on engaging adult health care
  157  providers in the care and treatment of adolescents or young
  158  adults.
  159         (b) The following services must be offered by the local
  160  health and transition services program to individuals who are
  161  served in the local health and transition services program:
  162         1.An assessment of health needs, education and vocational
  163  status and needs, and health insurance status.
  164         2.In coordination with the educational system, community
  165  based organizations, and the vocational system, a plan for
  166  transition services, which includes adult health care services,
  167  educational services, habilitative services, independent living
  168  services, adult employment, and health insurance.
  169         3. Disease self-management programs.
  170         (c) There shall be at least one proposed transition program
  171  associated with each one of the eight regions of the Children’s
  172  Medical Services Network.
  173         (d) The local health and transition services program shall
  174  be evaluated by an organization or university that has expertise
  175  and experience in evaluating health care programs. The
  176  evaluation must be formative and cumulative and must include
  177  program process and outcome measures, as well as client
  178  outcomes. The results of the evaluation may be used by the
  179  department to improve and develop other local health and
  180  transition services programs.
  181         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2012.