Florida Medicaid Reform: Application for 1115 Research and Demonstration Waiver

The Florida Medicaid program was created in 1970. Like many states, Florida operates its Medicaid program in a centralized fashion, with the government taking the lead in structuring coverage and making direct payments to providers. Medicaid-eligible individuals are often left out of the decision-making process and must seek services on their own with little understanding of service options and alternatives. Florida seeks to create a new Medicaid program that recognizes the individual's role in planning and purchasing health care services, provides transparency in the performance of health care plans and providers, assures access to quality service, provides stability to Florida budgeting, reduces confusion about coverage, and leverages the dollars spent to measurably improve service and invest in prevention. The new Medicaid system will rely heavily on measurement of, and transparency in, outcomes.

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