WHAT YOU CAN DO
Call the local legislative offices of all the Members of the House of Representatives and the
Florida Senate and speak today to staff as to what the outsourcing in toto of Childrens
Medical Services will do to your medical community
Be prepared to discuss effects on families searching for complex care, the emotional and
physical impact on the children and the impact on the nurses and staff of your CMS office.
Talk about the failure to coordinate the care ongoing under Medicaid Managed Care in your
area, remind them about getting pharmaceuticals and therapies outside of CMS.
Remind them about CMS being built over many years to provide comprehensive care, access
to specialties, child protection, infant screening, HIV care in your community newborns at risk
and teenagers, chronic diseases like diabetes, and by all means the Early Steps Program to
provide access to therapy which is community based.
Add some points of your own and share. Review the critical background at the end to
provide more information and emphasize those points you know best.
KEY LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEES AND CHAIRS
These individuals are key contacts.
Senate President Mike Haridopolos (R) {Melbourne} 850-487-5229 Chief of Staff Steve
MacNamara
Senate Health Regulation – Senator Rene Garcia (R) {Hialeah} – 850-487-5106
Senate Budget Subcommittee on Health and Human Services Appropriations – Senator Joe
Negron (R) {Palm City- Dade} 850-487-5088; Vice Chair Nan Rich (D) {Sunrise} 850-4875103
House of Representatives – Speaker Dean Cannon {Winter Park} (R) 850-488-2742
Chief of Staff Matthew Bahl
House Health Care Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Matt Hudson- {Naples} (R) 850- 4881028 Vice Chair Roberson (R) {Port Charlotte} 850-488-0060
House Health and Human Services Committee Chair Robert Schenck- {Spring Hill} (R) 850488-6641 Vice Chair Gonzalez – {Hialeah Gardens} (R) 850-488-1683
Email addresses will follow or are obtainable for the Senate at: http://www.flsenate.gov/ and
for the House at: http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/ If you bookmark you will find these very
useful sites.
PERSISTENCE
Keep carrying the message.
Write an op-ed for your local news paper…
Get parents involved in calling legislative offices… Tell the good things about CMS and let
them express their fears and concerns. Have them tell about their local satisfaction and that
they get personalized care, not care dictated from a distance.
Engage your County Medical Society Leaders to likewise advocate for kids
Engage your Early Steps program to cite potential examples of missed therapies for kids.
“Think not what we can do for ourselves but rather what we united can do for kids!.”