By Margaret J. Hooper

 Public Policy Coordinator

Bill Palmer, representing the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation within the Department of Education, explained that the guidelines that came with the dollars were to spend them quickly and wisely. Mr. Palmer said Vocational Rehabilitation has three main initiatives for investing the dollars:

Get more individuals off the waiting list;
Hire 68 temporary employees, one at each VR office, to assist with reducing the waiting list;
Invest in On-the- Job Training.

Specifically, Vocational Rehabilitation will spend a portion of their $26,691,000 stimulus dollars as follows:

• $19,885,107 for the 2009-2010 VR budget as directed by the Legislature;
• $15,000,000 of the stimulus dollars to bring more individuals off the VR waiting list for employment services;
• $2,175,660 to hire 68 temporary employees to help speed up the Individualized Plan for Employment (IPE) process for those individuals coming off the waiting list.

Shirley Kervin, representing the Department of Elder Affairs, said her agency will use their stimulus dollars to support senior programs in Florida, including:

• $4.8 million for congregate nutrition services provided at senior centers and other community sites;
• $2.4 million for home-delivered meals to help homebound elders;
• $2.3 million for Florida’s Serving Health Insurance Needs for Elders (SHINE) program, which helps seniors get the most out of their Medicare benefits and make informed choices about sometimes confusing health care options.
• $1.4 million for supplemental funding for the Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP). The program serves unemployed, low-income persons age 55 and older who have poor employment prospects. The program fosters individual economic self-sufficiency and promotes useful opportunities in community service activities, including employment.

Bambi Lockman with the Department of Education (DOE) said they will spend their stimulus dollars on implementing the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which includes Part B, Preschool (special education students ages 3-5) and Part B (students ages 5-22). DOE will spend $627,262,665 of the stimulus money on Part B projects, and $19,700,808 on Part B, Preschool.

Beth Kidder with the Agency for Healthcare Administration (AHCA) reported the largest portion of the stimulus dollars comes to Florida through the Medicaid Program in the form of an increased Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP). The federal share of each Medicaid dollar the state pays increases from 55.4% to 67.64% retroactive to October 1, 2008. AHCA anticipates that Florida Medicaid will receive approximately $5 billion dollars from the Federal Stimulus package over the next 27 months.

Lynn Marie Price with the Department of Health (DOH) reported that Early Steps, Florida’s Part C program under Children’s Medical Services, will use their stimulus dollars mainly to stay in the business of helping children overcome developmental delays. Early Steps has been struggling financially over the last few years and the $23,000,000 in stimulus monies will be used for:

• Funding a portion of the Local Early Steps (LES) programs to sustain the program. The per year, per child, average allocation is $1400.00;
• Developing and implementing refinements to the “Date System”, to collect and analyze required federal program implementation and performance measures data;
• Developing a technology infrastructure for training and communicating with the field offices, and the development of more “One Stop Shop” experiences for families on the Early Steps web pages;
• Developing activities and outcomes to ensure provider recruitment and retention;
• Competitively procuring an entity to hire provider Liaisons in each LES area to assist with provider recruitment and enrollment through the contract year 2010-11;
• Developing a set of provider retention benchmark measures for LES to be compensated upon achievement;
• Providing funds for Local Early Steps programs to apply for enhancement grants in the areas of Assistive Technology, Local Program Enhancement/Pilot Projects, and technology Devices - laptops, scanners, PDAs, etc;
• Providing training in the areas of Early Steps Orientation, Primary Service Provider, Service Coordination, Autism Spectrum Disorder, and various other training topics and modalities, and providing support of expenses and continuing education credits for providers to attend Early Steps training events, development of a periodic Early Steps Provider memo, and hire a cadre of early Intervention professionals to be available for provider mentoring;
• Developing public awareness materials, public service announcements, and professional assistance to provide rural outreach for underserved populations;
• Procuring a study for analyzing 3rd party billing and collection practices in Local Early Steps programs for recommendations and feasibility of hiring 3rd party billing and collection staff either in each LES or for statewide coverage to maximize use of the 3rd party players.