FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tues., Feb. 25, 2025
CONTACT: Christina Johnson, christina@on3pr.com, 850.391.5040
Tallahassee, Fla. – Today, Florida TaxWatch released Enhancing Lives, Ensuring Accountability: The Value of Florida’s Behavioral Health Managing Entities report, pivoting off a March 2015 briefing entitled Analysis of Florida’s Behavioral Health Managing Entity Model which included recommendations to improve the system, remove barriers to full access, and enhance taxpayer value.
Florida manages the delivery of behavioral health services to the indigent and uninsured through a group of nonprofit organizations called Behavioral Health Managing Entities (BHMEs). This model was designed to promote access to care and service continuity, be more efficient and effective, and streamline the administrative process to create cost efficiencies and provide flexibility to better match services to needs.
Florida TaxWatch President and CEO Dominic M. Calabro said, “Organizations that make up Florida’s behavioral health managing entities system administer over a billion dollars’ worth of services to Floridians in need in every community throughout the state and has positioned the Sunshine State as a national leader in behavioral health management.”
Florida TaxWatch Executive Vice President and General Counsel Jeff Kottkamp said, “Florida TaxWatch is pleased to present this updated look at Florida’s behavioral health managing entities model, emphasizing their critical role in coordinating care, managing networks and funding, and improving outcome – all while maintaining an exceptionally low collective operational cost. This operational cost, however, is unsustainable and threatens the efficiency and effectiveness that have made these managing entities so successful in improving behavioral health outcomes.”
Despite their growing responsibilities, BHMEs continue to operate with a collective overhead rate—far below the 7-15 percent range of comparable funders. Without targeted operational funding, BHMEs will face increasing challenges in maintaining oversight, retaining qualified staff, and ensuring the continued delivery of essential services to Florida’s most vulnerable residents.
Florida TaxWatch recommends increasing operational funding for BHMEs to a sustainable five percent operation rate. This realignment of BHME operational funding will ensure the sustainability needed to oversee Florida’s behavioral health safety-net system. Legislative action is necessary to realign BHMEs operation funding to a level sustainable enough to effectively oversee Florida’s behavioral health safety-net system. Investing in BHMEs is an investment in Florida’s most vulnerable residents, the well-being of communities, and the future of the state’s behavioral health safety-net system.
Moreover, a review by Florida TaxWatch of the BHME model highlights its significant support for individuals in need of care, community organizations, and taxpayers throughout the state. This analysis has identified several key contributions that underscore the role of Florida’s BHMEs, each showcasing the unique values they offer compared to other care management models, and may be further explained within the report:
- Behavioral Health Safety Net
- Array of Behavioral Health Services
- Community-Driven
- Network of Community Provider Organizations
- Payor Level Care Coordination
- Recovery and Resiliency
- Accountability and Transparency
- Strategic Financial Management
- Data-Driven, Decision-Making and Accountability
- Innovation and Statewide Impact
- Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Response
- Operational Integrity
With adequate funding, BHMEs can continue to fulfill their vital role in Florida’s behavioral health system – preserving access to essential services for individuals, children, and families while maintaining the accountability and effectiveness that taxpayers expect.
To learn more and access the full report, please click here.
About Florida TaxWatch
As an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit government watchdog and taxpayer research institute, and the trusted “eyes and ears” of Florida taxpayers for more than 45 years, Florida TaxWatch (FTW) works to improve the productivity and accountability of Florida government. Its research recommends productivity enhancements and explains the statewide impact of fiscal and economic policies and practices on taxpayers and businesses. FTW is supported by its membership via voluntary, tax-deductible donations and private grants. Donations provide a solid, lasting foundation that has enabled FTW to bring about a more effective, responsive government that is more accountable to, and productive for, the taxpayers it has served since 1979. For more information, please visit www.floridataxwatch.org.
