Florida seeks Medicaid waiver

Funds would boost addiction and mental facilities

TALLAHASSEE — Florida is asking the federal government to amend a sweeping Medicaid waiver, including seeking permission to add community mental-health and substance-abuse providers to those able to get funding.

“We think this is a great thing to do,” said Melanie Brown-Woofter, interim president and CEO of the Florida Council for Community Mental Health. She noted that, if approved, the change could result in a projected $15.7 million increase in funding for community receiving facilities that treat patients for mental-health and substance-abuse disorders, including opioid addictions.

The state also wants permission to trim from 90 to 30 the number of days that Medicaid will retroactively cover beneficiaries’ health care bills before they become eligible for Medicaid. Florida wants that change, which would only affect nonpregnant women 21 and older, to become effective July 1.

If approved, the state would save about $38 million in general-revenue dollars and $98.4 million in combined state and federal funds.

The supplemental funding

issues deal with the Low Income Pool program, which provides additional funds to hospitals that serve large numbers of poor and uninsured patients. The program is comprised of funds from Florida and the federal government. But Florida doesn’t use state tax dollars for its required match. Instead, the state calls on local governments and local health care taxing districts to provide “intergovernmental transfers” to fund the program.

Florida lawmakers agreed to direct $19.8 million in the coming year toward community central receiving systems, with a requirement of 50 percent local match, or about $10 million, BrownWoofter said.

If the federal government approves the proposed changes, she said, the $10 million in local match could draw down another $15.7 million in LIP funding. Brown-Woofter said the increased funding could either be used to enhance treatment services or to increase the number of community central receiving systems in the state.

Rules surrounding LIP funding make it less lucrative for hospitals to participate, and the state hasn’t been able to collect enough local match money to fully fund the program.