Peter Schorsch
In a resounding victory for health care delivery at the conclusion of the 2024 Session, the Florida Hospital Association praised lawmakers for $716 million in key health care investments in the state’s budget.
Mary Mayhew, president and CEO of the Florida Hospital Association, hailed the Legislature’s investments as pivotal for sustaining high-quality health care in Florida’s hospitals now and in the coming years.
“Florida hospitals are the lifeline of our communities,” Mayhew said.
She also thanked Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, Senate Appropriations Chair Doug Broxson, House Speaker Paul Renner and House Appropriations Chair Tom Leek for “investing in the evolving health care needs of the Sunshine State’s growing population.”
Florida’s more than 320 hospitals serve nearly 23 million residents. Florida families rely on our hospitals to provide health and wellness services from birth to end-of-life care. Moreover, visitors from all over the world depend on Florida hospitals to offer exceptional care while they are away from home.
Key strategic investments Florida lawmakers allocated in the budget for Fiscal Year 2024-2025 aim to meet the growing demand for quality health care across all Florida communities. Notable appropriations include rural hospital capital improvements, labor and delivery care, behavioral health services and workforce development. The final budget passed by legislators, which includes funds designated by the Live Healthy Act, contains the following initiatives:
— $134 million to increase hospital Medicaid reimbursement rates for labor and delivery services.
— $50 million ($500 million over 10 years) for the Innovation Fund, incentivizing groundbreaking technologies, workforce mobility and health care delivery models to maintain a modern, sophisticated health care delivery system in Florida.
— $5 million (increasing funding to $30 million) for the Linking Industry to Nursing Education (LINE) program to fortify health care workforce development partnerships and create a robust pipeline of skilled health care professionals.
— $321 million to create a new integrated care and education model to bolster the behavioral health workforce and system.
— $150 million to increase Graduate Medical Education Statewide Medical Residency Program and expand the Slots for Doctors Program.
— $30 million to increase student loan reimbursement through Florida’s Reimbursement Assistance for Medical Education (FRAME) Program for health care and behavioral health care professionals.
— $11.5 million to expand behavioral health Mobile Response Teams usage and reimbursement.
— $10 million (recurring) for the Rural Hospital Capital Improvement Grant Program to upgrade and harden technology, equipment and facilities across rural Florida hospitals.
— $8.2 million for reimbursing behavioral health collaborative care models, which integrate physical and behavioral health care.
Additional investments in Florida’s Medicaid program include:
— Approval for Medicaid reimbursement for ‘Hospital at Home’ services, enabling more patients to receive quality care in the comfort of their own homes.
— Authority for the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration to assess the performance of Florida’s Medicaid program to ensure it is meeting quality outcomes for its enrollees.
The state budget is awaiting Gov. Ron DeSantis’ signature.
4 comments
Stay Healthy
March 13, 2024 at 5:49 pm
Imma drop propers all over Shands Jax and Orange Park Medical Center on Fleming Island.
Saved my life, those two combined.
Brooks Rehab main in Jax also legendary.
Nurses are amazing 💙
Marvin M.
March 14, 2024 at 5:28 pm
There’s probably a few good things in here, but what I’m trying to figure out, is if we are going to do things to help Medicaid, such as;
“— Approval for Medicaid reimbursement for ‘Hospital at Home’ services, enabling more patients to receive quality care in the comfort of their own homes;
and
— Authority for the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration to assess the performance of Florida’s Medicaid program to ensure it is meeting quality outcomes for its enrollees.”
then why don’t we start by expanding Medicaid under ACA?
It seems to me that the only way more people are going to get a benefit from those two things I quoted above, which on the surface sound like good things, is if they are already enrolled in Medicaid, or they can qualify to get Medicaid.
So yeah, this sounds great, but it absolutely does not eliminate the real need for Florida to expand Medicaid. The income and asset levels to qualify are insanely low, so low that a whole industry has been created that benefits mostly lawyers to create trusts to help people get some small level of asset protection.
Fact is, more and more people, especially with the older population in Florida, need more care and yes it would be great to support more people to keep loved ones in their homes. But the easiest, quickest start to get there, would be for the Florida governor to expand Medicaid access via the ACA.
Tiny Tiny Wiil
March 15, 2024 at 9:44 am
Medicaid’s a finance issue, not a healthcare issue.
Tiny Tiny Wiil
March 15, 2024 at 9:45 am
Maybe stop asking others to pay your way?
GoFundMe is the floroda fraudster way.
Comments are closed.