Support coordination; legislative intent; qualified organizations; agency duties; due process; rulemaking.

(1) LEGISLATIVE INTENT.—To enable the state to provide a systematic approach to service oversight for persons providing care to individuals with developmental disabilities, it is the intent of the Legislature that the agency work in collaboration with relevant stakeholders to ensure that waiver support coordinators have the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to competently provide services to individuals with developmental disabilities by requiring all support coordinators to be employees of a qualified organization.

(2) QUALIFIED ORGANIZATIONS.—

(a) As used in this section, the term “qualified organization” means an organization determined by the agency to meet the requirements of this section and of the Developmental Disabilities Individual Budgeting Waiver Services Coverage and Limitations Handbook.

(b) The agency shall use qualified organizations for the purpose of providing all support coordination services to iBudget clients in this state. In order to be qualified, an organization must:

1. Employ four or more support coordinators;

2. Maintain a professional code of ethics and a disciplinary process that apply to all support coordinators within the organization;

3. Comply with the agency’s cost containment initiatives;

4. Require support coordinators to ensure that client budgets are linked to levels of need;

5. Require support coordinators to perform all duties and meet all standards related to support coordination as provided in the Developmental Disabilities Individual Budgeting Waiver Services Coverage and Limitations Handbook;

6. Prohibit dual employment of a support coordinator if the dual employment adversely impacts the support coordinator’s availability to clients;

7. Educate clients and families regarding identifying and preventing abuse, neglect, and exploitation;

8. Instruct clients and families on mandatory reporting requirements for abuse, neglect, and exploitation;

9. Submit within established timeframes all required documentation for requests for significant additional needs;

10. Require support coordinators to successfully complete training and professional development approved by the agency;

11. Require support coordinators to pass a competency-based assessment established by the agency; and

12. Implement a mentoring program approved by the agency for support coordinators who have worked as a support coordinator for less than 12 months.

(3) DUTIES OF THE AGENCY.—The agency shall:

(a) Require all qualified organizations to report to the agency any violation of ethical or professional conduct by support coordinators employed by the organization;

(b) Maintain a publicly accessible registry of all support coordinators, including any history of ethical or disciplinary violations; and

(c) Impose an immediate moratorium on new client assignments, impose an administrative fine, require plans of remediation, and terminate the Medicaid Waiver Services Agreement of any qualified organization that is noncompliant with applicable laws or rules.

(4) DUE PROCESS.—Any decision by the agency to take action against a qualified organization as described in paragraph (3)(c) is reviewable by the agency. Upon receiving an adverse determination, the qualified organization may request an administrative hearing pursuant to ss. 120.569 and 120.57(1) within 30 days after completing any appeals process established by the agency.

(5) RULEMAKING.—The agency may adopt rules to implement this section.