Bill Text: FL S1596 | 2018 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Nursing Home Facilities
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2018-03-10 - Died in Health Policy [S1596 Detail]
Download: Florida-2018-S1596-Introduced.html
Florida Senate - 2018 SB 1596
By Senator Stewart
13-00551B-18 20181596__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to nursing home facilities; amending
3 s. 400.0238, F.S.; revising the division of an award
4 of punitive damages between a claimant and the Quality
5 of Long-Term Care Facility Improvement Trust Fund;
6 revising provisions related to punitive damages to
7 include provisions for cases that are settled;
8 amending s. 400.0239, F.S.; authorizing the trust fund
9 to expend certain funds on a grant program
10 administered by the Agency for Health Care
11 Administration to provide funding to reimburse nursing
12 home facilities for the cost of purchasing,
13 installing, repairing, replenishing, or improving
14 certain onsite operational generators and certain
15 onsite supplies of fuel; creating s. 400.0627, F.S.;
16 providing legislative intent; requiring the agency,
17 within any funds appropriated for that purpose, to
18 reimburse nursing home facilities for the cost of
19 purchasing, installing, repairing, replenishing, or
20 improving certain onsite operational generators and
21 certain onsite supplies of fuel; providing eligibility
22 criteria for such reimbursement; specifying that such
23 reimbursement may not exceed the amount of
24 appropriated funds and must be made on a first-come,
25 first-served basis; providing construction;
26 authorizing the agency to adopt rules; providing for
27 the appropriation of general revenue and trust fund
28 monies to the agency for the purpose of reimbursing
29 eligible nursing home facilities as provided in the
30 act, subject to legislative appropriation; providing
31 an effective date.
32
33 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
34
35 Section 1. Subsection (4) of section 400.0238, Florida
36 Statutes, is amended to read:
37 400.0238 Punitive damages; limitation.—
38 (4) Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, if a
39 claimant has received a final judgment for the amount of
40 punitive damages or there is a settlement of a case in which the
41 claimant was granted leave to amend his or her complaint to add
42 a claim for punitive damages, the punitive award must awarded
43 pursuant to this section shall be equally divided between with
44 the claimant receiving 40 percent of the award and the Quality
45 of Long-Term Care Facility Improvement Trust Fund receiving 60
46 percent of the award, in accordance with the following
47 provisions:
48 (a) In the event of a judgment, the clerk of the court
49 shall transmit a copy of the jury verdict to the Chief Financial
50 Officer by certified mail. In the final judgment, the court
51 shall order the percentages of the award, payable as provided in
52 this subsection. In the event of a settlement, the parties shall
53 transmit by certified mail to the Chief Financial Officer a
54 statement of the proportionate share due to the Quality of Long
55 Term Care Facility Improvement Trust Fund herein.
56 (b) A settlement agreement entered into between the
57 original parties to the action after a verdict has been returned
58 must provide a proportionate share payable to the Quality of
59 Long-Term Care Facility Improvement Trust Fund specified herein.
60 For purposes of this paragraph, a proportionate share is a 75
61 percent 50-percent share of that percentage of the settlement
62 amount which the punitive damages portion of the verdict bore to
63 the total of the compensatory and punitive damages in the
64 verdict.
65 (c) The Department of Financial Services shall collect or
66 cause to be collected all payments due the state under this
67 section. Such payments are made to the Chief Financial Officer
68 and deposited in the appropriate fund specified in this
69 subsection.
70 (d) If the full amount of punitive damages awarded cannot
71 be collected, the claimant and the other recipient designated
72 pursuant to this subsection are each entitled to a proportionate
73 share of the punitive damages collected.
74 Section 2. Paragraph (h) is added to subsection (2) of
75 section 400.0239, Florida Statutes, to read:
76 400.0239 Quality of Long-Term Care Facility Improvement
77 Trust Fund.—
78 (2) Expenditures from the trust fund shall be allowable for
79 direct support of the following:
80 (h) A grant program administered by the agency to provide
81 funding to reimburse nursing home facilities for the cost of
82 purchasing, installing, repairing, replenishing, or improving
83 certain onsite operational generators and certain onsite
84 supplies of fuel.
85 Section 3. Section 400.0627, Florida Statutes, is created
86 to read:
87 400.0627 Emergency power.—
88 (1) It is the intent of the Legislature to encourage each
89 nursing home facility in this state to have the necessary
90 emergency power equipment to provide for the health and safety
91 of its residents and residents of other facilities who may be
92 temporarily placed in the facility due to emergency evacuations.
93 (2) To the extent that funds are available, the agency
94 shall reimburse an eligible nursing home facility for the costs
95 of purchasing, installing, repairing, replenishing, or improving
96 an onsite operational generator and an onsite supply of fuel
97 sufficient to sustain the generator for at least 96 hours during
98 a power outage. A nursing home facility is eligible for
99 reimbursement if the facility meets all of the following
100 requirements:
101 (a) Has not been cited for a class I deficiency within the
102 30 months before the submission of an application for
103 reimbursement.
104 (b) Is not located within a hurricane evacuation zone or
105 the 100-year flood plain of the county in which it is located.
106 (c) Has the capacity, as determined by the agency, to house
107 evacuated residents from other facilities during an emergency.
108 (d) Agrees to receive residents who are transferred from
109 other facilities during an emergency.
110 (3) Reimbursement to a facility under subsection (2) is
111 available to the extent that funds are specifically appropriated
112 for such reimbursements and must be made available on a first
113 come, first-served basis.
114 (4) This section may not be construed to impose any
115 requirement on a nursing home facility.
116 (5) The agency may adopt rules necessary to administer this
117 section.
118 Section 4. Subject to legislative appropriation for the
119 2018-2019 fiscal year, nonrecurring funds from the General
120 Revenue Fund, from the Quality of Long-Term Care Facility
121 Improvement Trust Fund, and from the Medical Care Trust Fund
122 shall be appropriated to the Agency for Health Care
123 Administration for the purpose of reimbursing eligible nursing
124 home facilities as provided in this act for costs incurred
125 during the 2017-2018 fiscal year for purchasing, installing,
126 repairing, replenishing, or improving emergency power equipment.
127 Each provider’s Medicaid rate as of October 1, 2018, will be
128 increased by the cost of the emergency power equipment incurred
129 divided by 10 months of Medicaid days. Any rate caps or freezes
130 do not apply to this increase in Medicaid rate.
131 Section 5. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.
