• On Tuesday, CMS sent a letter to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA ) stating that, "Last year, CMS made clear that LIP would not continue in its current form " and that LIP funding "should not pay for costs that would be covered in a Medicaid expansion." The letter also noted that CMS is "...encouraged by the State Senate's interest in expanding Medicaid..."
• That same day, six Republican members of Florida's Congressional delegation sent a letter to CMS claiming that "The LIP program...is in many ways separate and apart from any decision to expand Medicaid" and urging CMS to "...agree in principle to continue LIP funding..."
• The next day, AHCA sent a letter to CMS stating that the CMS letter to AHCA had for the first time and inappropriately linked LIP funding to Medicaid expansion. It concluded that Medicaid expansion will force many low income Floridians, who have purchased health coverage in the open market under the Affordable Care Act, into the Medicaid "welfare and entitlement program". It also said that AHCA had "proposed multiple LIP models" and that "We hope the federal government receives our LIP amendment cordially..."
• Finally, yesterday, a press release from the Governor's office proclaimed that "Governor Rick Scott announced that he will take legal action against President Obama's federal healthcare agency for stopping Low Income Pool (LIP) healthcare funds to Florida in order to force the state to take Legislative action to expand Medicaid under Obamacare."

No one knows where this state vs. feds issue will end. However, if it is not resolved in time for the Legislature to craft a 2015-2016 budget in time for the July 1 start of the next fiscal year, the House and Senate will be compelled to resolve their in-state differences. 

• 20 times more common than diabetes; 
• 7 times more common than hay fever; and
• 5 times more common than asthma.

Exacerbating the situation, only about 10 percent of practicing Florida dentists accept Medicaid-eligible patients and only about 10 percent of Medicaid eligible children under age six receive any dental care.

If not treated early, ECC can have life-long effects on health, well-being, and productivity. All efforts must be made to ensure all children receive the dental care they need in order to preserve their quality of life and Florida's workforce productivity. 

• authorize a law enforcement officer to issue a warning or inform the juvenile's parent when a juvenile admits to having committed a misdemeanor;
• give the officer discretion to issue a civil citation or require participation in a similar diversion program if he or she decides not to issue a warning or notify the juvenile's parents;
• give the officer discretion to arrest the juvenile (If an arrest is made the LEO must provide written documentation as to why an arrest was warranted); and 
• allow a juvenile to participate in the civil citation program for a total of three separate misdemeanor offenses.

• creates a program to advance the permanency, stability, and well-being of children in the child welfare system by awarding incentive payments to community-based care lead agencies (CBC's) for achieving specified adoption performance standards. The new adoption incentive program would require DCF to conduct a baseline assessment of CBC adoption performance regarding such factors as the length of time children have been waiting for adoption; the length of time to complete an adoption; and feedback from prospective adoptive families, adoptive families, adoptees, children within the child welfare system, and stakeholders. The bill requires DCF to then establish measurable outcome targets for performance by each CBC and negotiate incentive payments to be paid to CBC's upon meeting these targets.
• re-creates a program to provide an additional adoption benefit of either $5,000 or $10,000, depending on whether the adopted child has special needs described in statute, for qualifying employees of state agencies who adopt a child from the child welfare system. The program was originally created in 2000 and provided employee adoption benefits until it was repealed in 2010.
• requires the Governor to select and recognize one or more individuals, families, or entities that have made significant contributions to the adoption of children from foster care each year.

• provides that maintaining a foster child in his or her current educational setting is a priority, unless it is not in the best interests of the child;
• specifies that homeschooling is an educational option for foster children;
• requires the CBC to contact the adoptive family by telephone one year after the adoption's finalization to offer post-adoption assistance; and
• specifies that state employee adoptions that are completed on or after July 1, 2015, are eligible for cash benefits.

• requires the Attorney General to develop specifications for the form and content of human trafficking public awareness signs;
• directs the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) to display the signs in every rest area and welcome center in the state; and
• requires businesses such as strip clubs, airports, bus stations, truck stops and emergency rooms to display the signs near the public entrance of the establishment or in another conspicuous location clearly visible to both the public and employees of the establishment.

• allowing managed behavioral health organizations to bid for managing entity contracts when fewer than two bids are received;
• requiring care coordination, specifying services that shall be provided within available resources, and prioritizing the populations served;
• requiring DCF to develop performance standards that measure improvement in a community's behavioral health and in specified individuals' functioning or progress toward recovery;
• specifying members for managing entities' governing boards, and requiring managed behavioral health organizations serving as managing entities to have advisory boards with that membership;
• allowing managing entities flexibility in shaping their provider network, while requiring a system for publicizing opportunities to join, and evaluating providers for participation;
• deleting obsolete statutes regarding the transition to the managing entity system;
• specifying that managing entities may apply for Criminal Justice, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse Reinvestment grants in the same way as non-profit organizations;
• amending the definition of "managed behavioral health organizations" to limit them to managed care organizations under contract with the Medicaid managed medical assistance program and to managed behavioral health organizations;
• adding children involved in the child welfare system who are not in out-of-home care to the list of groups prioritized to receive care coordination;
• requiring improved coordination of behavioral health and primary care services through the development and effective implementation of coordinated care organizations; and
• adding family members and other interested parties as parties authorized to petition the court for the appointment of a guardian advocate to consent to treatment when the individual is not competent to do so.

• requires the court to conduct an annual review of the continued necessity of a guardianship for young adults in extended foster care who already have a guardian;
• requires the Department of Children and Families (DCF) to develop an updated case plan for any child who may require the assistance of a guardian;
• requires that upon a judge's finding, no less restrictive decision-making assistance will meet the child's needs;
• requires DCF to complete a report and identify individuals who are willing to serve as a guardian advocate or as a plenary or limited guardian;
• provides that proceedings for appointment of a guardian may be initiated in a separate proceeding in guardianship court within 180 days of the child's 17th birthday;
• requires that a minor who is 17 and one-half years of age and is subject to guardianship proceedings must receive all the due process rights of an adult; and
• allows the child's parents to remain the child's natural guardians unless the parents' rights have been terminated or the dependency or guardianship court determines it is not in the child's best interest.

• information that reveals the identity of a person under the age of 18 who is the victim of human trafficking;
• information that may reveal the identity of a person who is the victim of human trafficking for commercial sexual activity; and
• a photograph, videotape, or image of any part of the body of a victim of human trafficking involving commercial sexual activity.

• an individual may be held under the Baker Act for an additional 48 hours beyond the current 72 hour time limit if a physician determines the individual would benefit from detoxification services;
• individuals who have been involuntarily admitted to a receiving facility or treatment facility within the immediate preceding 36 months may be ordered to involuntary outpatient placement; 
• a Nonviolent Offender Reentry Program be created to divert nonviolent offenders with substance abuse impairment from serving lengthy sentences through a partial service of sentence and referral to a reentry program;
• substance abuse evaluations be added to evaluations that may be performed by a receiving facility within 24 hours after arrival of an individual in need of intervention and adds substance abuse professionals to the list of professionals who may evaluate the individual;
• law enforcement officers notify the nearest relative of a minor taken into protective custody that the minor has been taken into protective custody;
• a public school principal or the principal's designee, including those at charter schools, to immediately notify a student's parent, guardian, guardian advocate, or caregiver if a student is transferred from the school to a receiving facility for an involuntary examination, unless a report has been provided to the child abuse hotline, in which case notification may be delayed for up to 24 hours; and
• receiving facilities immediately notify, and repeatedly attempt to notify until contact is successful, a minor's parent, guardian, caregiver, or guardian advocate, in person, by phone, or by electronic communication, unless a report has been provided to the child abuse hotline, in which case notification may be delayed for up to 24 hours.