Bill Text: FL S1466 | 2010 | Regular Session | Comm Sub
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
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., withAt least 158 one member of the contract monitoring unit must possess 159possessingspecific knowledge and experience in the contract’s 160 program area. The department shall establish a contract 161 monitoring process that includesmust 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 considersincludes consideration forthe 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.
