Subject:
Title
Approval, Re: Agency for Healthcare Administration (AHCA) Low Income Pool (LIP) Letter of Agreement for Circles of Care, Inc., and Circles of Care, Inc. Agreement.
End
Fiscal Impact:
FY21-22: The required LIP match of $1,275,098 will be obtained from General Funds budgeted in 0001 200662 for Baker Act Match upon adoption of the County FY 21-22 budget.
Dept/Office:
Housing and Human Services
Requested Action:
Recommendation
It is requested that the Board of County Commissioners (1) approve and authorize the County Manager or designee to execute an agreement with the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration’s Low Income Pool, (2) approve the use of budgeted Baker Act General Revenue funds for the required Low Income Pool match, (3) authorize the Director of the Housing and Human Services Department to submit the agreement and all other necessary documents, (4) approve and authorize the Chair to execute the contract with Circles of Care, Inc. upon County Attorney and Risk Management approval; (5) authorize the County Manager or designee to execute future Agreements, amendments, and/or modifications for Low Income Pool Funds (including the use of Baker Act General Revenue funds as match) upon the approval of the County Attorney and Risk Management, and (6) authorize the County Manager to approve all necessary budget change requests.
End
Summary Explanation and Background:
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approved a Research and Demonstration Waiver Application for the State of Florida, relating to Medicaid reform, which became effective on July 1, 2006. As part of the Waiver, the Low Income Pool (LIP) was "established to ensure continued government support for the provision of health care services to Medicaid, underinsured, and uninsured populations.” The Low Income Pool is a capped annual allotment from the federal government for the state of Florida.
Access to Low Income Pool funds is through a non-federal match and the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration requires matching funds to be government revenue source from local governmental entities, such as sales tax or General Revenue. In 2018, an amendment was approved to allow for the use of LIP funds for community mental health providers under a pilot program that provides additional behavioral health services for persons aged 21 and older with serious mental illness (SMI), substance use disorder (SUD) or SMI with co-occurring SUD. Circles of Care, Inc. is Brevard’s designated Community Mental Health Center. The resulting leveraged Low Income Pool funding maybe used for expenditures to cover the cost of charity care for these services. The Housing and Human Services Department and Circles of Care, Inc. (CoC) worked with the State and Legislators to have CoC included on the list of approved Behavioral Healthcare Providers under the pilot program.
The Housing and Human Services Department (HHS) received this LIP Agreement late on September 8, 2021 and has been instructed by AHCA that the signed Agreement is statutorily required to be returned to the State by October 1, 2021 (see attached email chain). HHS will utilize a portion of the General Fund already budgeted for Baker Act Match for the required LIP matching funds for the FY 21-22 Low Income Pool program.
The matching funds ($1,275,098) will result in the leveraging of $3,272,000 in total funding to support Baker Act and the aforementioned expanded services. One hundred percent of the leveraged funds will be used to support these activities.
Clerk to the Board Instructions:
None