Florida regulators should reconsider their award of a two- year, $10 million Medicaid HIV/AIDS contract to a Jacksonville-based disease management firm, an administrative law judge said Thursday. The state's Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) lacks sufficient information to assess whether Specialty Disease Management Services has the financial capability to execute the contract, said the judge, recommending that it be rebid.

The ruling follows an appeal of the award filed by AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which has provided disease management services to 8,000 Medicaid patients in Florida since 1999. Los Angeles-based AHF, which also operates a clinic and pharmacy in Jacksonville, is scheduled to continue its services through year's end.

The judge recommended that AHF's proposal also be rejected since accreditation paperwork was not included and because the company's cost estimate could exceed the contract's limits.

AHCA is not obligated to accept the judge's recommendations and has up to 40 days to decide on how to proceed, said agency spokesperson Fernando Senra. "At this point we are reviewing the recommendation," he said.

AHF officials said they plan to rebid for the contract. The judge's issues with AHF are "technical" in nature, said President Michael Weinstein. "It does not relate either to our financial viability or the quality of care that we provide," he noted.

"We have the lives of 8,000 people to be concerned about," said Weinstein. "This an extremely vulnerable population, not only because they suffer from a life-threatening illness, but also because they suffer from poverty and a variety of other challenges."

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