9 Actions Florida Should Take to Help Taxpayers Impacted by Hurricane Ian

1.     Postpone tax notices and waive penalties or interest for late tax filings in affected areas

2.     Extend the date for residents to take advantage of the tax discounts they would normally receive for paying property taxes and special assessments in November and postpone or defer the deadline for property tax installment payments

3.     Protect individual and business taxpayers from the risks for notices that they will likely not receive because their home or business addresses is not accessible anymore

4.     Issue no new audits in severely impacted areas, extend the statute of limitations and postpone existing audits that haven’t reached the assessment stage because these can’t be responded to while entire communities are still recovering

5.     Create procedures for fairly estimating taxes which can’t be calculated because records have been destroyed by the storm, moving away from the current method which significantly overestimates activity if no records are available

6.     Initiate procedures to offer payment plan assistance for late taxes, rather than resorting to the standard collection methods, like liens, levies, or bank freezes

7.     Retroactively apply the recently passed law that provides property tax refunds for residential property rendered uninhabitable as a result of a catastrophic event

8.     Provide tangible personal property relief and allow n on-residential properties rendered uninhabitable to receive property tax refunds

9.     Get Congress to pass a Disaster Tax Relief Act that includes provisions from past packages, including elements such as an Employee Retention Credit, an enhanced casualty loss deduction, and other relief provisions

Other Resources

Florida TaxWatch Statement on Hurricane Ian Recovery

Community Involvement

/ Categories: Research, Health Care

Telehealth in Florida: Where We Are and What is Next

Telehealth is being practiced in Florida every day pursuant to the standards of practice for telehealth adopted by the Board of Medicine and the Board of Osteopathic Medicine. These standards require a Florida license and provide that the standards of care shall remain the same regardless of whether healthcare services are provided in person or by telehealth. There is no shortage of licensed physicians willing to provide telehealth in Florida. Florida statute 456.47, enacted in 2019, is the governing language for the practice of telehealth in Florida. Currently, health insurance companies are not required to pay or reimburse telehealth services, they do so on a voluntary basis pursuant to Florida statutes.

Foley and Lardner LLP released a 50-State Survey of Telehealth Commercial Payer Statutes report in December 2019, predicting that, “2020 will yield more states enacting new telehealth insurance coverage and payment parity laws or amending current laws to better account for the current state of telehealth.”

The demand for telehealth services has grown rapidly in recent years as a venue of care. The American Telehealth Association (ATA) estimates that more than 50 percent of health care services will be consumed virtually by 2030.

The ATA asked consumers about their expectations of how health care should be available, 50 to 75 percent of consumers said they are willing to have digital/virtual health interactions with health care.

Closing the gap between citizen expectations and adoption of telehealth is a challenge that must be addressed. 

Many states that provide telehealth services, including Florida face the same telehealth delivery and accessibility challenges. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released a report in 2019, produced by the Intergovernmental Advisory Committee (IAC) which focused on identifying and resolving barriers to telehealth.5 According to the IAC report, seamless telehealth delivery cannot be achieved unless broadband internet, digital readiness, and reimbursement and regulations are improved. 

During a global pandemic, such as the Coronavirus, telehealth technology is needed now more than ever to protect people from contracting the virus and reducing exposure from those who are infected by going into a physician’s office. 

Documents to download

Print
4891 Rate this article:
No rating

x