Florida panel rejects federal funds for elderly

A Florida legislative panel Friday rejected millions in federal money designed to help remove patients from nursing homes and provide them with similar care in their own homes.

The Legislative Budget Commission also approved incentives of $4.5 million and $3 million for two undisclosed businesses considering moving to or expanding in Florida and agreed to consolidate and outsource state e-mail service as a cost-cutting measure.

The panel turned down a $2.1 million federal grant that would have fully paid for administrative costs to pave the way for Florida to receive an additional $35.7 million in federal Medicaid funding. Those dollars would pay for nursing home diversions of disabled and elderly patients over the next five years.

Rep. Robert Schenck, a Spring Hill Republican who chairs the House Health and Human Services Committee, said the federal program, which tracks individual patients, is unnecessary and duplicates Florida's existing nursing home diversion efforts.