SESSION WATCH
Died HOUSE · SESSION 2026

No. HB 1315

Behavioral Health Intervention Services
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SPONSOR
Tendrich
FILED BY
Debra Tendrich — District 89, Democrat [search donations]
EFFECTIVE
7/1/2026
DIED IN
Health Care Facilities & Systems Subcommittee

Filed under Healthcare.

PROVIDED SUMMARY

Behavioral Health Intervention Services; Authorizes, contingent upon appropriation, state Medicaid plan to fund demonstration pilot program for specified purposes in specified counties; provides pilot program requirements; requires state Medicaid plan to provide specified report to Legislature in certain timeframe; provides for expiration of pilot program.

Full bill text →

Plain English Summary

AI-GENERATED
Allows a Medicaid pilot to replace standard care with nutrition therapy.

If the Legislature appropriates funding, the state Medicaid plan may run a pilot in five counties (Indian River, Martin, Okeechobee, Palm Beach, and St. Lucie) replacing standard care with nutrition and behavioral-health services for up to 1,000 enrollees.

Eligible enrollees must have both depression or anxiety and diabetes, obesity, or coronary heart disease. In exchange for standard Medicaid services, they would get counseling, dietitian therapy, biomarker-tracking devices, and meal or grocery support.

Tufts University nutrition researchers and Florida Health and Nutrition Coalition experts will design and evaluate the pilot, collecting health data on participants, their families, and their children. The state must factor results into how much it pays the managing provider.

KEY PROVISIONS
§ 1 Creates an optional, appropriation-contingent Medicaid pilot majors. 409.9206(3)

AIThe state Medicaid plan may fund a demonstration pilot delivering an alternative bundle of nutrition and behavioral-health services in five counties, but only if the Legislature separately appropriates money for it; the pilot expires August 31, 2030, and the authorizing statute expires a year later.

“Contingent upon an appropriation, the state Medicaid plan may fund a demonstration pilot program to provide behavioral health intervention services” bill text, line 63 →
§ 2 Lets providers substitute nutrition-based services for standard Medicaid care majors. 409.9206(3)(a)

AIProviders may offer counseling, dietitian therapy, biomarker tracking, nutrition education, and meal or grocery support in place of an enrollee's normal covered services, but only for enrollees with both a mental health diagnosis (depression or anxiety) and a metabolic or cardiac diagnosis, capped at 1,000 participants.

“In lieu of services specified in the state Medicaid plan to an enrollee who is diagnosed with both” bill text, line 71 →
§ 3 Ties provider payment to the pilot's measured outcomes moderates. 409.9206(4)(b)

AIWhen setting capitation rates for the organization running the pilot, the state must factor in the program's actual cost, whether its measurable goals and health outcomes were met, and how well enrollees adhered to it.

“Consider the actual cost, measurable goals and health outcomes met, and enrollee adherence” bill text, line 104 →
§ 4 Requires only a single post-expiration report to the Legislature technicals. 409.9206(4)(a)

AIAlthough the subsection is titled an annual report, the state Medicaid plan is only required to submit one report, timed for after the pilot expires, summarizing usage, collected data, and recommendations from just the final year.

“As soon as practicable after the expiration of the pilot program, prepare and submit to the Legislature a report” bill text, line 97 →
TIMELINE
3/13/2026
Died in Health Care Facilities & Systems Subcommittee
1/15/2026
Now in Health Care Facilities & Systems Subcommittee
1/15/2026
Referred to Health & Human Services Committee
1/15/2026
Referred to Health Care Facilities & Systems Subcommittee
1/13/2026
1st Reading (Original Filed Version)
1/8/2026
Filed
STATUTES IT CHANGES
s. 409.9206
+701 / −0