Bill Text: FL S1544 | 2020 | Regular Session | Comm Sub
Bill Title: Long-term Care
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-03-09 - Laid on Table, refer to CS/HB 1373 [S1544 Detail]
Download: Florida-2020-S1544-Comm_Sub.html
Florida Senate - 2020 CS for SB 1544
By the Committee on Health Policy; and Senator Albritton
588-03089-20 20201544c1
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to long-term care; amending s.
3 409.979, F.S.; requiring aging resource center
4 personnel to annually rescreen certain individuals
5 with high priority scores for purposes of the
6 statewide wait list for enrollment for home and
7 community-based services; authorizing such personnel
8 to administer rescreening for certain individuals with
9 low priority scores; requiring the Department of
10 Elderly Affairs to maintain contact information for
11 individuals with low priority scores for rescreening
12 purposes; requiring aging resource center personnel to
13 inform such individuals of community resources;
14 amending s. 430.205, F.S.; authorizing community-care
15 for-the-elderly services providers to dispute certain
16 referrals; providing that a referral decision by adult
17 protective service prevails; providing an effective
18 date.
19
20 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
21
22 Section 1. Paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection (3) of
23 section 409.979, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
24 409.979 Eligibility.—
25 (3) WAIT LIST, RELEASE, AND OFFER PROCESS.—The Department
26 of Elderly Affairs shall maintain a statewide wait list for
27 enrollment for home and community-based services through the
28 long-term care managed care program.
29 (a) The Department of Elderly Affairs shall prioritize
30 individuals for potential enrollment for home and community
31 based services through the long-term care managed care program
32 using a frailty-based screening tool that results in a priority
33 score. The priority score is used to set an order for releasing
34 individuals from the wait list for potential enrollment in the
35 long-term care managed care program. If capacity is limited for
36 individuals with identical priority scores, the individual with
37 the oldest date of placement on the wait list shall receive
38 priority for release.
39 1. Pursuant to s. 430.2053, aging resource center personnel
40 certified by the Department of Elderly Affairs shall perform the
41 screening for each individual requesting enrollment for home and
42 community-based services through the long-term care managed care
43 program. The Department of Elderly Affairs shall request that
44 the individual or the individual’s authorized representative
45 provide alternate contact names and contact information.
46 2. The individual requesting the long-term care services,
47 or the individual’s authorized representative, must participate
48 in an initial screening or rescreening for placement on the wait
49 list. The screening or rescreening must be completed in its
50 entirety before placement on the wait list.
51 3. Pursuant to s. 430.2053, aging resource center personnel
52 shall administer rescreening annually or upon notification of a
53 significant change in an individual’s circumstances for an
54 individual with a high priority score. Aging resource center
55 personnel may administer rescreening annually or upon
56 notification of a significant change in an individual’s
57 circumstances for an individual with a low priority score.
58 4. The Department of Elderly Affairs shall adopt by rule a
59 screening tool that generates the priority score, and shall make
60 publicly available on its website the specific methodology used
61 to calculate an individual’s priority score.
62 (b) Upon completion of the screening or rescreening
63 process, the Department of Elderly Affairs shall notify the
64 individual or the individual’s authorized representative that
65 the individual has been placed on the wait list, unless the
66 individual has a low priority score. The Department of Elderly
67 Affairs must maintain contact information for each individual
68 with a low priority score for purposes of any future
69 rescreening. Aging resource center personnel shall inform
70 individuals with low priority scores of community resources
71 available to assist them and inform them that they may contact
72 the aging resource center for a new assessment at any time if
73 they experience a change in circumstances.
74 Section 2. Paragraph (a) of subsection (5) of section
75 430.205, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
76 430.205 Community care service system.—
77 (5) Any person who has been classified as a functionally
78 impaired elderly person is eligible to receive community-care
79 for-the-elderly core services.
80 (a) Those elderly persons who are determined by protective
81 investigations to be vulnerable adults in need of services,
82 pursuant to s. 415.104(3)(b), or to be victims of abuse,
83 neglect, or exploitation who are in need of immediate services
84 to prevent further harm and are referred by the adult protective
85 services program, shall be given primary consideration for
86 receiving community-care-for-the-elderly services. As used in
87 this paragraph, “primary consideration” means that an assessment
88 and services must commence within 72 hours after referral to the
89 department or as established in accordance with department
90 contracts by local protocols developed between department
91 service providers and the adult protective services program.
92 Regardless, a community-care-for-the-elderly services provider
93 may dispute a referral under this paragraph by requesting that
94 adult protective services negotiate the referral placement of,
95 and the services to be provided to, a vulnerable adult or victim
96 of abuse, neglect, or exploitation. If an agreement cannot be
97 reached with adult protective services for modification of the
98 referral decision, the determination by adult protective
99 services shall prevail.
100 Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2020.
