Fw: Florida's Class Action suit against APD ... their Motion to Dismiss is DENIED

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Subject: FW: Florida's Class Action suit against APD ... their Motion to Dismiss is DENIED

Medicaid Patients Can Sue Florida Over

Delays By IULIA FILIP (CN) - Medicaid-eligible patients with

developmental disabilities may sue Florida for

limiting their enrollment in the state's home and community-based care waiver

program and putting them on a wait list, sometimes for years, a federal judge

ruled in Tallahassee .

Home and community-based care has become a

preferred alternative to long-term institutional care.

Florida 's Medicaid-funded waiver program

allows developmentally disabled people to receive state services for less than

the cost of institutional care, reintegrating patients with their communities

and families.

The plaintiffs, on behalf of thousands of

developmentally disabled Floridians eligible for Medicaid, accused

Florida of mismanaging

its Home and Community Based Services Waiver Program.

They claimed that due to

Florida 's lengthy waitlist and limited

funding of the waiver program, some institutionalized patients are never

enrolled or must wait more than 5 years to get into the program.

They sued the state, alleging violations of the

Social Security Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation

Act and the 14th Amendment.

Lead plaintiff Joanna Dykes said that since

Florida participates in

Medicaid, it is required to provide Medicaid services "with reasonable

promptness to all individuals." The class claimed that the "reasonable

promptness" requirement applied to the waiver program as much as it

applied to other Medicaid services, and that

Florida 's waitlist for the waiver was

unlawful.

The class said

Florida failed to meet the "freedom of

choice requirement," which mandates that states inform eligible patients

of alternative care available under the waiver.

Florida claims that Medicaid allows the federal government to limit the number of

people eligible to receive waiver services, and the reasonable promptness and

choice counseling requirements apply only when there are slots available in the

program.

Taking into account the plaintiffs' claim that the

waiver program has unfilled slots, U.S. District Judge Smoak declined

to rule on the reasonable promptness and the "freedom of choice"

claims, finding that more data about enrollment in the program was needed to

decide whether the state had met the two requirements.

The plaintiffs also claimed they had been denied

due process when they were placed on the waiver waitlist without notice or an

opportunity to be heard.

Smoak found the question of slot availability

equally important in deciding whether Florida had violated the due process provision of the Medicaid Act.

The judge declined to rule on the

ADA and Rehabilitation Act

claims, but found that the plaintiffs had a private right of action under

federal law. He denied Florida 's

motion to dismiss.

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