December 11, 2025 – Today, Governor Ron DeSantis announced the Floridians First Budget, which recommends more than $37.5 billion to the Agency for Health Care Administration (Agency) which includes critical investments that foster innovation, transparency, and modernization to drive better quality in Florida’s health care system. This recommended budget advances the Agency’s mission by expanding access to high-quality, cost-effective care.
“Governor DeSantis’ recommended budget includes the resources needed by our Agency to drive innovation and transparency in the health care system while continuing to improve the quality of care,” said Agency Secretary Shevaun Harris. “We understand how critical our work is to achieving better health care for all Floridians, and our Agency is better positioned than ever to support providers, modernize technology, and invest in the future of our health care workforce.”
Highlights from the Floridians First Budget include:
- $71 million for a Behavioral Health Redesign Initiative, a multifaceted proposal that will redesign the state’s Medicaid behavioral health delivery system with the goal of expanding the continuum of care to cover specialized services for those with high end behavioral health needs that are at risk of hospitalization. Innovations include:
o Statewide Inpatient Psychiatric Program (SIPP Redesign)
o Funding to Support Institution for Mental Disease (IMD) Medicaid Waiver
o Behavioral Health Home and Community Based Services to Mitigate Institutional Care
- $124 million for the Florida Health Care Connections Project (FX) to continue development work for the FX system to modernize technology systems that will ultimately reduce administrative burdens on providers, improve data quality, and improve customer service operations.
- $7 million for Private Duty Nursing (PDN) Redesign to implement a new methodology that will include a tiered payment structure based on patient acuity and geographic location.
$2.5 million increase for Background Screening Clearinghouse to ensure that this resource, relied upon by eight state agencies to complete background screening requirements, can continue to be enhanced, maintained, and provide the level of service that our partner agencies and external stakeholders have come to expect.