House Community Budget Issue Requests - Tracking Id #1487 Florida Department of Health AHEC Network Enhancement
Requester:	Dr. Cynthia Selleck - FL AHEC President		Organization:		Florida AHEC Network
Project Title:	Florida Department of Health AHEC Network Enhancement		Date Submitted:		01/27/2000 3:07:22 PM
District Member:	Frank Farkas		Service Area:		Statewide
Counties Affected:	{Statewide}
Recipient:	Florida AHEC Network/Dept. of Health		Contact:		Dr. Cynthia Selleck - FL AHEC President
	2020 Capital Circle SE		Contact Phone:		(813) 974-3507
	Tallahassee 32399-1700
Project Description:
The funding needed for the Florida AHEC Network in FY2000/2001 is for $9 million. This is a $700,000 increase over the current FY 1999/2000 appropriation base of $8.3 million (which is comprised of $6.9 million of base general revenue and a base of $1.4 million from the Tobacco Settlement Fund). This is part of a long-range statewide effort to improve access to services for Florida's needy and underserved population and communities through the regionalization of health professions service/learning activities.
Services Provided/Benefit to State:
To address the Department of Health's goal of increasing access to primary care and preventive medical services especially in geographically underserved and medically indigent rural and inner city populations. The additional $700,000 requested will support the provision of enhanced AHEC Network services throughout the state, such as: (1) Enhancing the Department's tobacco cessation campaign by recruiting and training health professions students at institutions throughout the state to deliver highly effective information and education programming and serve as mentors to school children; (2) Enhancing the capacity of school health nurses through educational programming directed specifically towards the issues of school health; (3) Enhancing the efficiency of county health departments to assist in the tobacco cessation campaign through assistance in developing telecommunications capability to include satellite communications, teleconferencing and Internet access; (4) Providing training and developing a resource directory for Department of Health personnel to improve their skills, effectiveness and access to medical and health promotion information, including information available on the World Wide Web. This $9 million appropriation level for FY2000-2001 will enable AHEC to continue to provide Florida with a strong statewide foundation of academic/community partnerships to address the health care needs of Florida's underserved communities and populations at-risk, to help the State effectively meet the demands for increased numbers of graduates entering primary care careers, to improve access to primary care services throughout the state, and to address critical public health initiatives.
Measurable Outcome Anticipated:
Inceased health care service/learning activities in underserved communities.
Amount requested from the State for this project this year:				$700,000
Total cost of the project:		$700,000

Request has been made to fund:			Operations
Is there Local Government or Private match for this request?						No
Was this project previously funded by the State?						Yes
	Fiscal Year:	1999-2000		Amount:		$8,331,769
Is future-year funding likely to be requested?						Yes
	Amount:	$9,031,769
	Purpose for future year funding:				Recurring Operations
	Will this be an annual request?					Yes
Was this project included in an Agency's Budget Request?						Yes
	Agency:	Health, Department Of
Was this project included in the Governor's Recommended Budget?						Yes
Is there a documented need for this project?						Yes
	Documentation:	Tobacco Prevention and Control: Resources for a Comprehensive Plan for Florida - www.DOH.state.fl.us
Was this project request heard before a publicly noticed meeting of a body of elected officials (municipal, county, or state)?						No