Florida is in the process of moving the majority of its Medicaid population into managed care settings – either into Health Maintenance Organizations or Provider Service Networks. First, Florida focused on moving long-term care Medicaid members – including Medicaid recipients in nursing homes and the Florida nursing home diversion program – into managed care. In January 2013, the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) posted the list of companies that were selected to be awarded to provide this coverage. Subsequently, additional health maintenance organizations were added to that list.
Florida has now begun the process of selecting the managed care organizations that will be providing medical coverage to Medicaid recipients. On December 28, 2012, AHCA issued the invitations to negotiate (ITNs) that will be used to select these managed care organizations. AHCA accepted written questions regarding these ITNs. On February 26, 2013, AHCA released the second Addendum to the ITNs, and it released the questions and its written responses to these questions. Interested parties should review these documents very closely, as there are some significant changes to the ITNs. One glaring example is that the date for submitting responses has changed from March 15, 2013, to March 29, 2013. Again, interested parties should make sure they review the ITN addenda, and the questions and answers, to make sure they have the correct understanding of the requirements.