Christine Jordan Sexton
The state Agency for Health Care Administration dropped its third Medicaid procurement of the year, the latest to test pilot the managed care delivery system for people with developmental and intellectual disabilities who live in Medicaid Regions D and I.
Interested parties have until Dec. 8 to submit their responses to the Comprehensive Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (CIDD) Managed Care Pilot Program invitation to negotiate (ITN).
AHCA intends to negotiate with interested managed care plans Jan. 22-26 and post the names of the vendors it wants to award contracts to Jan 31. AHCA intends to issue one contract for each region.
According to the ITN, only managed care plans awarded Medicaid managed long-term care contracts are eligible to participate in the new managed care pilot program.
In an attempt to keep people with intellectual and developmental disabilities out of institutions, Florida created the Medicaid iBudget program. Enrollees are provided with a budget and can procure the home and community-based services they require to keep them living in the community and outside of an institution.
According to the ITN, there are currently approximately 35,000 Floridians enrolled in the iBudget program and roughly another 22,000 individuals on a waiting list for services.
While funded with Medicaid dollars, the iBudget program is one of the few safety net programs not administered through Medicaid managed care. For years, there has been an effort to roll iBudget into Medicaid managed care, but advocates and former legislative leaders beat it back.
Lawmakers last year passed SB 2510, which authorized the state to test whether managed care would work for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. House Speaker Designate Danny Perez championed the move.
The pilot will be open to people residing in Medicaid Regions D or I who are 18 years or older and on the iBudget waitlist. The initial enrollment phase will include enrollment of up to 600 slots. Specific goals for this Pilot Program include:
—Maximizing managed care flexibility to provide additional services.
—Increase access to providers and services.
—Maintain the highest quality of care coordination and person-centered care plans.
—Increasing opportunities for community integration.
While lawmakers only included one year of funding for the pilot, the ITN anticipates the contracts will remain in effect through Sept. 30, 2030.
In addition to the Medicaid CIDD ITN, AHCA released its Medicaid managed care ITN and a Medicaid dental ITN this year.
