Florida Governor Rick Scott's Review of Taxpayer-Funded Hospitals Begins May 27 at the Agency for Health Care Administration in Tallahassee
Florida Governor Rick Scott, who was previously forced to resign as CEO of Columbia/HCA Hospitals after the company was found guilty of Medicare fraud, has initiated a review of Florida's taxpayer-funded hospitals.
The meetings, the first of which is scheduled for May 27, 2011, will run for eight months at the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration in Tallahassee. A report will be issued on January 1, 2012.
The article below is reprinted from The Florida Current:
Scott's review of taxpayer funded hospitals ready to gear up
Christine Jordan Sexton, 05/10/2011 - 06:31 PM
Fresh off a bruising legislative session Florida hospital lobbyists will kick into gear again in May when a gubernatorial panel begins meeting to discuss the role of taxpayer funded public hospitals.
Dominic Calabro, chairman of the Commission on Review of Taxpayer Funded Hospital Districts, released in an email a list of a dozen projected meeting times over the next eight months, the first being scheduled May 27 in Tallahassee.
Lobbyist Ron Book predicted that the commission will be closely watched given Gov. Rick Scott’s interest in the issue, as well as the attempt this session by the for profit hospital industry to require judicial oversight of the sale or lease of any public hospital. For profit hospital chains Health Management Associates and HCA Healthcare lobbied aggressively to pass HB 619 and SB 1448.
“Anybody that is in the public hospital business that doesn’t pay attention, doesn’t participate, is extremely foolish,” said Book, whose clients include the North Broward Hospital and South Broward Hospital districts.
The bills -- both opponents and proponents agree -- were in play until the waning hours of the session before they ultimately died. The battle over the legislation drew dozens of high powered lobbyists on both sides of the issue trying to persuade legislators. There are a combined 31 lobbyists representing two of the largest for profit chains in Florida, Health Management Association and HCA Healthcare.
According to registration records, there are 49 registered lobbyists with the two large hospital associations that opposed the bill, the Safety Net Hospital Alliance of Florida and the Florida Hospital Association. Those numbers don’t include individuals like Book who lobby for individual facilities.
The industry infighting over the bill was so intense that an amendment appeared to the Medicaid overhaul that would have prevented public hospitals from using taxpayer dollars on lobbyists.
HCA Healthcare lobbyist Steve Ecenia -- who often is at odds with Book at the Capitol -- agrees that the commission will be worth watching.
“I think this commission is extremely important,” he said. “I think if nothing else, there are questions about what is going on with the sale and lease of these hospitals and I think it underscores the importance [of the issue] by having a commission look at this.”
Calabro has scheduled all the meetings in Tallahassee at the Agency for Health Care Administration headquarters. The commission will meet once a month through August then will hold meetings bimonthly through December. The commission is slated to release a report by Jan. 1, 2012.
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