Fw: Gov. lifts order requiring 15-percent cuts to APD payments

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Sent via BlackBerry from T-MobileDate: Thu, 14 Apr 2011 17:56:47 -0400To: Undisclosed ListSubject: Gov. lifts order requiring 15-percent cuts to APD paymentsJust in. Good news for a change!!Gov. lifts order requiring 15-percent cuts to APD paymentsBy Bill Cotterell • Florida Capital Bureau • Published: April 14. 2011 5:09PM http://www.tallahassee.com/article/20110414/CAPITOLNEWS/110414012/Gov.--lifts-order-requiring-15-percent-cuts-to-APD-paymentsGov. Rick agreed today to lift his emergency order mandating massive reductions in state payments to group homes and other caregivers who tend to thousands of physically and developmentally disabled Floridians.“I’m very hopeful. We need to do it,” said. “It’s an important group of people, individuals, so we’re working with the House and the Senate.”The formal executive order rescinding one issued March 31 will go out early next week, his staff said. But the governor met with legislators and received assurances that budget negotiators would fill a $174 million shortage in the budget of the Agency for Persons with Disabilities.“Families and advocates are frightened, frayed and exhausted,” said Sylvia , public affairs director for Disability Rights Florida Inc., an advocacy group. “It’s badly needed good news.”In issuing the earlier order for 15-percent minimum cuts in APD payments to providers, said he had no choice because of the projected $174 million shortfall through the remainder of this fiscal year. But the House moved to plug the gap in its version of the budget and the Senate leadership agreed to do the same, although an APD item is not in the pending Senate version of the budget.House and Senate budget talks will not start until after the Easter break but the signal clears the way for payments to be kept at standard rates. Many group homes and individual providers had begun cutting services, saying they were unable to cope with cuts that went as high as 35 or 40 percent for some commercial operations that lost administrative fees in addition to the standard 15 percent rate cut.