Bill Text: FL S1466 | 2010 | Regular Session | Comm Sub

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Bill Title: Child Welfare/Mental Health and Substance Abuse [WPSC]

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Failed) 2010-04-30 - Died in Senate, companion bill(s) passed, see HB 5305 (Ch. 2010-158), HB 5307 (Ch. 2010-159) [S1466 Detail]

Download: Florida-2010-S1466-Comm_Sub.html

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Florida Senate - 2010                      CS for CS for SB 1466 
 
By the Policy and Steering Committee on Ways and Means; the 
Committee on Health and Human Services Appropriations; and 
Senator Peaden 
576-03797-10                                          20101466c2 
1                        A bill to be entitled 
2         An act relating to child welfare services and mental 
3         health and substance abuse; limiting state agency 
4         contract monitoring to once every 3 years if the 
5         contracted provider is subject to accreditation 
6         surveys by specified accreditation organizations; 
7         providing exceptions; allowing the establishment of an 
8         Internet-based data warehouse to maintain the records 
9         of contract providers; requiring state agencies to use 
10         the warehouse for document requests; specifying the 
11         information that such records must include; amending 
12         s. 39.301, F.S.; creating a family needs assistance 
13         referral pilot program; providing that the program be 
14         funded by existing resources; requiring that the 
15         Department of Children and Family Services and each 
16         community-based care lead agency maintain up-to-date 
17         documentation; requiring that such documentation 
18         contain specified information; requiring that the 
19         department submit a report to the Legislature by a 
20         specified date; amending s. 402.7305, F.S.; limiting 
21         the Department of Children and Family Services to one 
22         contract monitoring of a child-caring or child-placing 
23         contract provider per year; amending s. 409.1671, 
24         F.S.; providing funding requirements for contracts for 
25         foster care and related services; authorizing a 
26         community-based care lead agency to carry forward 
27         certain unexpended state funds; authorizing certain 
28         advance payments to a lead agency; authorizing the 
29         department to outsource certain oversight duties; 
30         specifying certain allowable expenses; prohibiting 
31         certain expenditures; repealing s. 394.655, F.S., 
32         relating to the Florida Substance Abuse and Mental 
33         Health Corporation; providing an effective date. 
34 
35  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 
36 
37         Section 1. Contracts for child welfare services.—The 
38  Department of Children and Family Services, the Department of 
39  Health, the Department of Juvenile Justice, the Agency for 
40  Persons with Disabilities, the Agency for Health Care 
41  Administration, and the community-based care lead agencies shall 
42  identify and implement changes that improve efficiency in 
43  contract administration for child welfare services. To assist 
44  with that goal, each agency shall adopt the following policies: 
45         (1) Limit administrative monitoring to once every 3 years 
46  if the contracted provider is accredited by the Joint Commission 
47  on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, the Commission 
48  on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities, or the Council on 
49  Accreditation. Notwithstanding the survey or inspection of an 
50  accrediting organization, the department or agency may continue 
51  to monitor the provider as necessary with respect to: 
52         (a) Ensuring that services for which the agency is paying 
53  are being provided. 
54         (b) Investigating complaints or suspected problems and 
55  monitoring the provider’s compliance with any resulting 
56  negotiated terms and conditions, including provisions relating 
57  to consent decrees that are unique to a specific contract and 
58  are not statements of general applicability. 
59         (c) Ensuring compliance with federal and state laws, 
60  federal regulations, or state rules if such monitoring does not 
61  duplicate the accrediting organization’s review pursuant to 
62  accreditation standards. 
63         (2) Allow private-sector development and implementation of 
64  an Internet-based, secure, and consolidated data warehouse and 
65  archive for maintaining corporate, fiscal, and administrative 
66  records of child welfare provider contracts. Providers must 
67  ensure that the data is up to date and accessible to the 
68  contracting state agency and the contracting provider. State 
69  agencies that contract with child welfare providers must use the 
70  data warehouse for document requests. If information is not 
71  current or is unavailable from the provider’s data warehouse and 
72  archive, the state agency may contact the provider directly. At 
73  a minimum, the records must include the provider’s: 
74         (a) Articles of incorporation. 
75         (b) Bylaws. 
76         (c) Governing board and committee minutes. 
77         (d) Financial audits. 
78         (e) Expenditure reports. 
79         (f) Compliance audits. 
80         (g) Organizational charts. 
81         (h) Governing board membership information. 
82         (i) Human resource policies and procedures. 
83         Section 2. Subsection (25) is added to section 39.301, 
84  Florida Statutes, to read: 
85         39.301 Initiation of protective investigations.— 
86         (25) The department may develop and operate a pilot program 
87  relating to family needs assistance referrals. The pilot program 
88  shall be located in a circuit in which the child protective 
89  investigation unit, whether located in the department or the 
90  county sheriff’s office, and the community-based care lead 
91  agency agree to participate in the pilot program. The pilot 
92  program shall be funded from existing resources in the circuit. 
93         (a) Upon receiving a call that does not meet the criteria 
94  for being a report of abuse or child abuse, abandonment, or 
95  neglect, but does indicate that the family needs assistance, the 
96  central abuse hotline shall accept these calls for a family 
97  needs assistance referral and immediately transfer the referral 
98  to the county wherein the family currently resides. 
99         (b) The department shall review the referral in the county 
100  of residence and a joint response shall be coordinated with the 
101  community-based care lead agency within 48 hours after being 
102  received from the central abuse hotline to determine the 
103  appropriate response, which must include at least one of the 
104  following, as appropriate: 
105         1. If, after the initial home visit and assessment 
106  conducted by the child protective investigator, conditions in 
107  the home meet criteria for a report of abuse, abandonment, or 
108  neglect, the department shall initiate a child protective 
109  response. 
110         2. If the department makes a determination that the family 
111  would benefit from a family needs assistance referral and a 
112  child protective response is not indicated, services must be 
113  offered. 
114         (c) The participation in the family needs assistance 
115  referral pilot program is voluntary. The community-based care 
116  lead agency shall determine the referral needs and shall conduct 
117  the ongoing linkage of services to the families based on the 
118  availability of resources at the time of the initial visit or 
119  within 2 business days after the initial visit with the 
120  department. 
121         (d) The duration and intensity of such intervention shall 
122  be determined by the family and the community-based care lead 
123  agency and must be based on the availability of funds and 
124  community resources. 
125         (e) The department and each community-based care lead 
126  agency must maintain up-to-date documentation of all family 
127  needs assistance referrals. The documentation must include, at a 
128  minimum: 
129         1. The number of referrals received; 
130         2. The type of response to each referral; 
131         3. An indication of whether or not the family accepted 
132  services; 
133         4. If the services were accepted by the family, the type of 
134  services delivered; 
135         5. If the services were available through the Florida Safe 
136  Families Network, the cost of the services; 
137         6. The outcome of services accepted or delivered; 
138         7. Whether or not families who are the subject of the 
139  referral return to the attention of the department as a 
140  subsequent family needs assistance referral, or as the subject 
141  of a report accepted for a child protective investigation; and 
142         8. Any additional information that enables a determination 
143  of the success of the family needs assistance referral pilot 
144  program. 
145         (e) The department shall submit a report to the Legislature 
146  by January 31, 2011, which contains the results of the family 
147  needs assistance pilot program and recommendations for 
148  continuing, expanding, or modifying the program. 
149         Section 3. Subsection (4) of section 402.7305, Florida 
150  Statutes, is amended to read: 
151         402.7305 Department of Children and Family Services; 
152  procurement of contractual services; contract management.— 
153         (4) CONTRACT MONITORING REQUIREMENTS AND PROCESS.—The 
154  department shall establish contract monitoring units staffed by 
155  career service employees who report to a member of the Selected 
156  Exempt Service or Senior Management Service and who have been 
157  properly trained to perform contract monitoring., with At least 
158  one member of the contract monitoring unit must possess 
159  possessing specific knowledge and experience in the contract’s 
160  program area. The department shall establish a contract 
161  monitoring process that includes must include, but need not be 
162  limited to, the following requirements: 
163         (a) Performing a risk assessment at the start of each 
164  fiscal year and preparing an annual contract monitoring schedule 
165  that considers includes consideration for the level of risk 
166  assigned. The department may monitor any contract at any time 
167  regardless of whether such monitoring was originally included in 
168  the annual contract monitoring schedule. 
169         (b) Preparing a contract monitoring plan, including 
170  sampling procedures, before performing onsite monitoring at 
171  external locations of a service provider. The plan must include 
172  a description of the programmatic, fiscal, and administrative 
173  components that will be monitored on site. If appropriate, 
174  clinical and therapeutic components may be included. 
175         (c) Conducting analyses of the performance and compliance 
176  of an external service provider by means of desk reviews if the 
177  external service provider will not be monitored on site during a 
178  fiscal year. 
179         (d) Unless the department sets forth in writing the need 
180  for an extension, providing a written report presenting the 
181  results of the monitoring within 30 days after the completion of 
182  the onsite monitoring or desk review. 
183         (e) Developing and maintaining a set of procedures 
184  describing the contract monitoring process. 
185 
186  Notwithstanding any other provision of the section, the 
187  department shall limit contract monitoring of a child-caring or 
188  child-placing services provider to only once per year. Such 
189  monitoring may not duplicate administrative monitoring that is 
190  included in the survey of a contract provider conducted by a 
191  national accreditation organization. 
192         Section 4. Present subsections (8) through (11) of section 
193  409.1671, Florida Statutes, are renumbered as subsections (12) 
194  through (15), respectively, and new subsections (8) through (11) 
195  are added to that section, to read: 
196         409.1671 Foster care and related services; outsourcing.— 
197         (8) A contract established between the department and a 
198  community-based agency under this section must be funded by a 
199  grant of general revenue, other applicable state funds, or 
200  applicable federal funding sources. A community-based care lead 
201  agency may carry forward documented unexpended state funds from 
202  one fiscal year to the next; however, the cumulative amount 
203  carried forward may not exceed 8 percent of the contract total. 
204  Any unexpended state funds in excess of that percentage must be 
205  returned to the department. The funds carried forward may not be 
206  used in any way that would create increased recurring future 
207  obligations, and such funds may not be used for any type of 
208  program or service that is not currently authorized by the 
209  existing contract with the department. Expenditures of funds 
210  carried forward must be separately reported to the department. 
211  Any unexpended funds that remain at the end of the contract 
212  period shall be returned to the department. 
213         (9) The method of payment for a fixed-price contract with a 
214  community-based care lead agency shall provide for a 2-month 
215  advance payment at the beginning of each fiscal year and equal 
216  monthly payments thereafter. 
217         (10) The department may outsource the programmatic, 
218  administrative, or fiscal monitoring oversight of community 
219  based care lead agencies. 
220         (11) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a 
221  community-based care lead agency may make expenditures for staff 
222  cellular telephone allowances, contracts requiring deferred 
223  payments and maintenance agreements, security deposits for 
224  office leases, related agency professional membership dues other 
225  than personal professional membership dues, promotional 
226  materials, and grant-writing services. Expenditures for food and 
227  refreshment, other than those provided to clients in the care of 
228  the agency or to foster parents, adoptive parents, and 
229  caseworkers during training sessions, are not allowable. 
230         Section 5. Section 394.655, Florida Statutes, is repealed. 
231         Section 6. This act shall take effect July 1, 2010.