Christine Jordan Sexton
Three Medicaid field offices are closing June 30.
The Agency for Health Care Administration is closing regional offices in Panama City, Alachua and West Palm. Combined, they have been processing fee for service claims, among other things, for 37 counties across the state.
Medicaid providers who normally send fee for service claims to those field offices will use on of two other existing offices. Claims that are sent sent to the Panama City office must be sent to the Pensacola office, instead. Claims that normally are sent to Alachua or West Palm now must be sent to the office in Tampa.
The offices are being closed as part of staff reductions under the new budget that goes into effect July 1. The Legislature reduced 81 positions from the agency, leaving it with 1,563 positions for the upcoming year.
Twenty-six people, earning a combined $1.12 million in salary and benefits, will lose their jobs with the closure of two field offices, budget documents show. The agency closed three offices. The reductions are being made because of restructuring under the statewide Medicaid mandatory managed care program.
