As it waits for federal officials to approve an overhaul of Florida’s Medicaid program, the Agency for Health Care Administration is seeking millions of dollars in the 2013-14 state budget to help carry out the changes.
AHCA submitted a budget request this week that includes money for the transition to a statewide managed-care system in Medicaid. As an example, the budget request includes nearly $1.5 million to beef up an automated system that would help in the verification and oversight of managed-care networks. Also, the request includes about $6.9 million for what are known as “enrollment broker services,” which involve providing help to Medicaid beneficiaries as they choose health plans and transition into managed care.
The budget request also reflects an anticipated move of four programs that currently provide home- and community-based services to seniors. Those programs would become part of one long-term care program, known as a “waiver,” in the new system.
Lawmakers in 2011 approved a plan that eventually would lead to almost all Medicaid beneficiaries enrolling in HMOs or other types of managed-care plans. AHCA submitted the proposals to federal officials for approval, though decisions have been pending for more than a year.
