Christine Jordan Sexton - page 45

The Legislature set an anti-Medicaid expansion tone in the Capitol Tuesday but regulators at the state’s biggest health agency have proposed a rule that, like Obamacare, mandates the purchase of insurance. The Agency for Health Care Administration is proposing a rule that, if cost effective, would require any Medicaid beneficiary with access to employer-sponsored insurance to enroll in the commercial plan. It would not apply to pregnant adults. The insurance mandate also would not apply to Medicaid patients who don’t…

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Barring a major shift among Republicans it remains unlikely that Florida will move ahead with an expansion of Medicaid, a key component of Obamacare. Florida Gov. Rick Scott two years ago did a turnabout and came out in support of a limited Medicaid expansion for the working poor so long as the federal government paid 100 percent of the tab. But Scott’s tepid support of expansion was beat back by staunch opposition from House Republicans, including then-Speaker Will Weatherford, which…

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Attorneys representing doctors and “release of information” companies are poised to challenge in administrative court the state’s rule capping what can be charged for copying medical records. Jacksonville attorney Michael Fox Orr notified Board of Medicine Acting Executive Director Chandra Prine in writing on October 31 that the rule –64B8-10.003 — is vague and/or too broad on its face and that it is unconstitutional. Orr wrote in his letter to the board that his clients would not challenge the rule…

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For more than a year, a proposed rule that would lift the cap on what doctors could charge patients and their attorneys for copying medical records has been lingering before the Florida Board of Medicine. The proposed rule — 64B8-10.003 — will be discussed at least three more times before the end of the year, with the full board slated to “discuss” the rule at a teleconference meeting November 20 and the Rules and Legislative Committee taking public testimony on…

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A proposed rule outlining how the poor, elderly and disabled will qualify for community-based services in a new Medicaid managed-care environment is getting a chilly review from some advocates, as well as the managed-care plans that will serve them. The proposal — 59G-4.193 — lays out how the state will assign people to the statewide Medicaid-managed long-term-care program. The rule requires the Department of Elder Affairs to screen all applicants for the program using its tracking and referral system, which…

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Florida’s sweeping experiment to overhaul its Medicaid program is fast approaching its next big step. And that’s trying to explain to those seeking health care coverage how well managed care plans  are performing on a number of health care indicators. Agency for Health Care Administration officials on Friday unveiled the first glimpse of a report card that will aim to measure the services provided by the HMOs operating in the new managed care environment. The Legislature in 2011 passed a…

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Medicaid HMOs participating in the long term care “managed care” program  should get paid more, actuaries working for the state health care agency determined. Agency for Health Care Administration Medicaid officials on Wednesday shared information with HMO lobbyists prepared by Mercer Health Benefits actuaries that showed a proposed  statewide average 11.3 percent increase in capitation rates for the Medicaid patients who need  nursing facility services. Actuaries proposed a statewide average 4.1 percent increase for home and community based services. There…

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