Judge Orders Florida To Stop Using New Screening Tool For Eligibility For Specialty Children’s Medical Services Network

On September 22, 2015, an administrative law judge ordered the Florida Department of Health (DOH) to stop using a new assessment tool to determine clinical eligibility for the Children’s Medical Services Managed Care Plan (CMS Plan). The judge’s ruling was based on the fact that the screening tool had not gone through the state’s administrative rulemaking process. The tool relied only on parent responses about their children’s health and did not include the opinion of medical professionals caring for the child. On October 23, 2015, DOH agreed to a compromise and said it would consider medical . . .