Florida senators on Thursday passed comprehensive reforms aimed at alleviating Florida's health care worker shortage and giving people more access to health care.
The entire plan cost hundreds of millions of state and federal dollars and was approved unanimously by the Senate. The Florida House still needs to pass the bill, but House Speaker Paul Renner has expressed support for Senate President Kathleen Passidomo's priority legislation.
Medicaid expansion is not considered in this comprehensive package. In his opening speech to Congress earlier this month, Passidomo made it clear that expanding Medicaid was not on the table.
The bill's sponsor, Sen. Colleen Barton (R-Lakeland), said Thursday that the bill would “tremendously” help increase access to health care.
Here are some of the provisions of bill SB 7016 and their contents.
Increase access to mental health care in underserved communities
In hopes of alleviating the crisis in access to mental health care, lawmakers are encouraging Florida's psychologists, counselors, and social workers in the mental health field to work in underserved areas such as public health programs, correctional facilities, and rural areas. If you work in an area where you are underserved, you want to pay off your student loans. hospital.
Mental health professionals who qualify for reimbursement can receive up to $75,000 over four years.
Florida law already allows loan repayments to certain medical professionals other than mental health workers, such as doctors and nurses. This bill increases the maximum amount that health care workers can receive.
The Ministry of Health will receive approximately 2,700 loan repayment applications in 2022-2023, amounting to approximately $41 million in payments. However, the funding for this program was $16 million. The bill passed by the Senate on Thursday would provide an additional $30 million each year.
A repayment program for dental students also allows dental hygienists to qualify and receive up to $7,500. It would also allow private practice dentists in underserved areas to have their loans repaid. The bill allocates an additional $8 million for dental programs.
All practitioners who receive loan repayments must volunteer 25 hours a year at a free clinic.
Recruitment of medical trainees and acceptance of foreign doctors
Another measure would put money toward filling doctor training slots and provide funding to certain clinics if they accept trainees.
The bill would put $50 million toward landfills. 500 residency slots, including 200 positions that have not been filled for more than three years.
It also establishes the TEACH program, which provides $25 million annually to federally qualified health centers, community mental health centers, rural clinics, and community behavioral health clinics to support clinical training programs.
Participating clinics will be reimbursed based on the student's role and hours worked.
The bill could make it easier for Florida health care providers to hire foreign doctors. Graduates of foreign medical schools may be admitted to Florida as long as they have a valid and clear license in the other country, have practiced as a physician for four years prior to applying for Florida license, and have completed similar training. You do not need to live in I am in a recognized country and have received an offer of full-time employment from a Florida health care provider.
Maternal health management
The 2023 March of Dimes report identifies 13 counties in Florida as obstetric deserts. Approximately 11% of women in Florida do not have a hospital to give birth within 30 minutes of their home.
Access to regular maternal health care is important for healthy pregnancies and healthy infants, but according to the March of Dimes, historically minority women lack access to regular prenatal care. It's hard to get caught. As a result, minority women also have higher mortality rates during or shortly after pregnancy.
The bill would expand a pilot program focused on maternal health care for ethnic minorities. The program will begin in Duval and Orange counties in 2021 and will use telemedicine to provide education and services to pregnant and postpartum women, as well as medical equipment to monitor things like blood sugar and blood pressure. The bill would set aside about $23 million to expand the program across the state.
The bill would also give more powers to some midwifery clinics, which currently handle only low-risk pregnancies and are unable to perform C-sections. Under the bill, birth centers would receive an “advanced” designation, allowing them to perform C-sections and administer anesthesia.
Advanced birthing centers must be staffed 24 hours a day and must employ obstetricians and anesthesiologists as medical directors.
A written contract with the blood bank and a written transport contract with the local hospital are also required. The law does not specify how close local hospitals must be. When asked about the center's safety by some Democratic lawmakers, Barton said the center is held to the same standards as outpatient surgery centers.
There are no direct incentives to build advanced birth centers in rural areas or maternal care deserts.
Sen. Tracy Davis, D-Jacksonville, said advanced birthing centers look like a “boutique” option for pregnant women.
“If rural care and rural access is where we are going, my sense is that these places should be the first to go,” Davis said.
Medical assistance outside the emergency department
The bill would require hospitals to connect patients who come to the emergency room for non-emergency needs or who claim they don't have a primary care physician with appropriate treatment options.
This diversion plan could help reduce hospital and taxpayer spending on health care, especially for the poor, and ease the burden on emergency departments.
For Medicaid patients, the hospital must contact the patient's health plan and attempt to establish the patient's primary care provider.
Hospitals will continue to be required to test and stabilize patients who come into the emergency department.
According to a study in the Journal of Urgent Care Medicine, 13% to 27% of emergency department visits in the United States could be treated in other settings, and diverting these patients could save $4.4 billion in health care costs. It is said that there is.
Free clinic access and screening
The bill would make Florida's free clinics available to more people and raise the maximum income to qualify from 200% to 300% of the federal poverty level.
That equates to $74,580 for a family of three, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Free clinics provide only diagnostic services or non-surgical treatments and are available only to low-income patients.
The bill also sets aside $10 million for the Department of Health to establish a grant program for nonprofit organizations to fund free health screenings.
The senators surprised Passidomo by naming the grant program after her parents, Alphonse Cinotti and Kathleen Cinotti.Passidomo's father, an ophthalmologist He passed away last year and was an advocate for community eye care. Volunteered to provide free eye exams.
“I will miss my father very much, but his legacy will live on in this bill,” Passidomo said.
