Eric Wicklund
Dec 12, 2023
A series of bills called the Live Health package includes the creation of a Health Care Innovation Council that would fund new technologies and programs, as well as state support for the CMS Hospital at Home waiver program.
Florida lawmakers want to make healthcare innovation a state strategy.
The Sunshine State’s Senate President has unveiled a series of bills, called the Live Health package, that includes a proposal to create a “Health Care Innovation Council.” The 15-member council, located within the Florida Department of Health, would oversee a revolving $75 million loan program to spur healthcare innovation within the state.
The proposal highlights the challenges faced by healthcare organizations across the country in balancing innovation with the bottom line. Many health systems are struggling to stay in the black, and have little money set aside for new technologies or strategies, yet they’re facing soaring costs, a growing workforce shortage, and competition from disruptors like Amazon, Google, Best Buy, and Walgreens that aims to siphon away patients.
“Free-market principles show us that the private sector can innovate in ways government could never imagine,” State Senator Gayle Harrell, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Health and Human Services, said in a press release issued by Senate President Kathleen Passidomo last week. “What government can do is facilitate the exploration and implementation of innovative technologies and delivery models that increase efficiency, reduce strain on the healthcare workforce, improve patient outcomes, expand public access to care, and reduce costs for patients and taxpayers without impacting the quality of patient care.”