Statement In Response to Agency for Health Care Administration Analysis of SB 682

Statement in Response to Agency for Health Care Administration's (AHCA) Bill Analysis of SB 682 by Emmett Reed, FHCA Executive Director

"While we respect the Agency, it has completely missed the point by failing to recognize that our proposal would apply only to those Floridians whose frail condition prevents them from using the less costly home- and community-based care options. AHCA’s figures are based on an assumption of what it would cost the state IF individuals who received home- and community-based services during certain times had instead been cared for in a nursing center. But that’s not how the system works, and it’s not what Senator Stargel’s bill does. 

Senate Bill 682 focuses solely on exempting long-stay nursing center residents. There are no savings to be realized in a home- and community-based setting for these individuals. Their health and medical needs can be addressed only in a nursing center, and they cannot be safely cared for in a home or a community-setting. The state will save almost $68 million when these long-stay residents are exempted from the managed care system, because it will eliminate the redundancy of the managed care administrative and case management fees – which duplicate services and support that is already provided by the nursing center’s interdisciplinary team of social workers, nurses, and other clinical staff."