News

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The Hill/ Ballot Box (The Hill’s Campaign Blog)-
Tenn. race could get expensive and Florida GOP candidate moves up fundraising ladder:
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Herald Naked Politics & Sayfie Review Twitter & Blog Ticker- David Rivera: On the Republican radar:
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The Hotline- Radar on Rivera-
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Sunshine State News- David Rivera Starts Off Congressional Race with $700,000 in First Quarter : »Click here to read this article...

St. Pete Times Buzz/Herald Naked Politics- David Rivera reels in $700k:
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National Journal.com- Hotline On Call- Monday Fund-Day:
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Politico)- Early reports show huge hauls:
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Herald Naked Politics/St. Pete Times Buzz- What David Rivera has in common with Sarah Palin:
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Herald Naked Politics- Herald Naked Politics: The Health Care Debate Begins & Florida Has its Say:
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Palm Beach Post- House budget chief trying to stake out “most conservative” in Congressional race:
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Palm Beach Post- Rivera in race for Congress, DLP wait-and-see:
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Naples Daily News- State Rep. Rivera announces run for Mario Diaz-Balart's Congress seat:
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Congressional Quarterly- Rivera Makes Candidacy Official:
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Politico- Rivera announces for Diaz-Balart seat:
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The Miami Herald- David Rivera is 1st to enter Congress race:
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House passes bill targeting healthcare fraud

The Florida House approved tighter licensing and residency rules for certain healthcare providers in an attempt to reduce Medicare and Medicaid fraud.

BY JAY WEAVER AND BREANNE GILPATRICK HERALD/TIMES TALLAHASSEE BUREAU TALLAHASSEE --
In an effort to crack down on healthcare fraud, the Florida House on Monday unanimously passed tighter licensing rules for certain health service providers to reduce the number who fleece Medicare and Medicaid, then flee the United States.
The proposal by Rep. David Rivera, R-Miami, designates Miami-Dade as a ''healthcare fraud area of special concern'' and would require an applicant to be a resident of the United States for at least five years to be licensed to operate a home health agency, medical equipment provider or a health clinic, unless the applicant files a bond of at least $500,000.
A similar bill by Sen. Carey Baker, R-Eustis, is ready for debate in the Senate.
Rivera's legislation comes in response to a Miami Herald series detailing billions of dollars in Medicare fraud in South Florida.
Federal prosecutors have targeted upward of 600 Medicare fraud offenders in the past three years -- including about 60 who have fled to Cuba and other countries to evade prosecution after billing the U.S. health insurance program for hundreds of millions of dollars in false claims.
Many of the fugitives are Cuban immigrants who arrived in South Florida during the past decade and migrated to healthcare rackets -- only to return to their native island after discovering they were under investigation or facing prosecution, the Herald series found.
Cuban immigrants who reach U.S. shores automatically become lawful residents after one year. ''Everyone should be concerned about Medicare and Medicaid fraud because every taxpayer in this state pays for this fraud,'' Rivera said.
"But we should be particularly concerned when the fraud benefits a criminal government like Cuba."
The state last year passed stiffer licensing rules for home health agencies that included criminal history checks. Similar background screenings are done for applicants who want to run healthcare clinics or become medical equipment providers. Supporters of this year's bill say that for those who have arrived in the United States recently, criminal history information is limited, making a background check difficult.
Under the bill, applicants also must submit proof that they have the financial ability to operate or provide proof that they can cover start-up costs.
The bill, which cleared the House 114-0, imposes a one-year ban on new licenses in counties that already have a high number of home health agencies -- a provision that would affect Dade and Broward.
Both state regulators and trade association representatives said the tighter restrictions should help fight the rampant healthcare scams in Miami-Dade and prevent them from spreading.
''Additional scrutiny is always a good thing,'' said Jim K. Hampton, a fraud and abuse administrator for Florida Medicaid.
In March, state investigators began sweeps targeting fraud and abuse in the home healthcare industry in Miami-Dade, aiming to save millions of dollars in questionable payments by Medicaid.
Medicaid, a program for the indigent and low-income financed by state and federal tax dollars, is zeroing in on Miami-Dade because ''something is wrong'' with the county's disproportionately large billing records, Florida officials have said.
Miami-Dade has 20 percent of the Medicaid population in Florida, yet the state program spent more than $55 million on home health care in the county, according to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration. That's 90 percent of all home health care covered by Medicaid statewide.
The agency's inspector general, Pete Williams, said the ''whole system is in jeopardy'' if an increasing number of home healthcare operators in Miami-Dade are submitting bills for services that aren't necessary or provided. He said patients are receiving kickbacks from agencies that use their Medicaid numbers to bilk the program.
Medicaid's federal partner, Medicare, also has serious problems with overbilling by Miami-Dade home healthcare providers. Last fall, Medicare began suspending millions of dollars in payments to dozens of home healthcare providers in Miami-Dade suspected of overcharging for diabetic services.

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Rivera holds power with a foot in Collier, though few know who he is
By LARRY HANNAN

The second most powerful person in the Florida House of Representatives represents a portion of Collier County. But almost no one around here knows who he is.
David Rivera, R-Miami, is the right-hand man of Marco Rubio, the new Speaker of the Florida House.
“I wouldn’t necessarily agree with the idea that I’m Marco’s only right-handman,” Rivera said in a recent interview with the Daily News.
“I think Marco has a lot of right-hand men in all the chairmen. No member of leadership is more important than any other.”
Rivera, 41, who also works as a public affairs consultant in Miami, chairs the powerful rules committee that determines which bills get voted on during the legislative session, which started Tuesday. To most people, that makes him the second most powerful person in the House.
“I’ve heard from a previous chairman that this will be one of the most interesting chairmanships you can ever have,” Rivera said. “So far, that’s definitely been the case.”
He also has a close personal and professional relationship with the Speaker. Both are Cuban-Americans with years of experience in the Republican Party.
“I’ve known Marco 14 years,” Rivera said. “We’ve worked on campaigns together, served in the House and gotten to know each other’s families.”
Rivera and Rubio have started out with a bang. They’ve already had a special session dealing with the homeowners insurance crisis in Florida. While a bill designed to ease the problem got through the House and Senate and was signed into law by Gov. Charlie Crist, the duo ended up bashing some heads to get the legislation passed.
According to the Miami Herald, on the fifth day of the special session Rivera got into an argument with fellow Miami Rep. Julio Robaina when Rivera refused to allow a requirement to put financial disclosures for national parent companies of Florida subsidiaries into the homeowners insurance bill.
Robaina, who had pushed for the disclosure for the past two years, complained that Rivera wasn’t supporting the governor or the people of Florida. Rivera responded by telling Robaina to kiss his backside, using the three-letter word.
When the comment is mentioned to Rivera, he groans and then laughs.
“And he’s one of my best friends in the Legislature,” Rivera said of Robaina, a fellow Republican. “Sometimes it gets heated and that was one of those times.”
Under Rubio’s leadership, the House is providing Floridians with a road map of where Florida will go in the future, Rivera said. After the special session was over, Rubio also removed two chairmen he felt didn’t fully support the homeowners insurance bill. That action is an example of how challenging leadership can be, Rivera said.
“I think one of the burdens of leadership is you give up some of your independence when the leadership calls for a certain play,” Rivera said. “It’s important that everyone be on board.”
That doesn’t mean issues can’t be debated, but when consensus is reached you have an obligation to get in line, Rivera said.
One issue the House leadership is pushing involves doing away with the state’s property tax and replacing it with a sales tax.
“I think people will come to realize that this is the single most dramatic measure ever devised to promote home ownership in Florida,” Rivera said.
The proposal has met with criticism from local government, including the Collier County Commission. Commissioners say it will take away local governments’ ability to raise money as they see fit.
“It’s not just Collier, a lot of local governments are against it,” Rivera concedes. “But I don’t think they all appreciate the dire situation we’re in.”
Personal income hasn’t gone up nearly as fast as home prices, and it is important that something be done to give relief to homeowners, Rivera said.
Rivera said he’s been in public service all his life. He worked for the U.S. State Department before becoming director of national political relations for the Republican Party of Florida.
“Public service has always been a part of my background,” Rivera said. “My first job was with (former Sen.) Connie Mack.”
Running for the House in 2002 was a natural progression for him, Rivera said.
“When Mario Diaz-Balart vacated this seat (to run for the U.S. House of Representatives), I saw this as a natural opportunity for me,” Rivera said.
While Rivera’s district includes a portion of eastern Collier County, his base of power is Miami.
Rivera and Diaz-Balart have faced occasional criticism because they benefit from Republican-rich Collier County but don’t live in the area.
But Rivera said it is a mistake to think he doesn’t pay attention to Collier. He has an office at the Collier County government complex and comes here as much as possible.
“Remember, this seat was originally just in Dade and Broward, and the Justice Department ordered it redrawn,” Rivera said. “But personally I was thrilled when Collier County was added to the district because of my history with Collier.”
Rivera ran Bob Dole’s 1996 presidential campaign in Southwest Florida.
“I’ve maintained friends like Mike Carr, Gina Hahn and Fred Hardt in Collier,” Rivera said, mentioning past and present Republican leaders in Collier. “I have a better understanding of Collier than most candidates who run in this district.”

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UM-NSU CARD honors Florida House Representative David Rivera Posted on 29 May 2009

(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
State representative is a champion for Florida’s seven autism centers.
The news coming out of Tallahassee, Florida, earlier this year was bleak. A proposed 30 percent cut in funding for the state’s seven university-affiliated autism centers would put thousands of families in peril, depriving them of much-needed programs and services expected to be eliminated in the wake of curtailed spending.

Honoring Rivera: Florida House Representative David Rivera, center, with UM-NSU CARD executive director Michael Alessandri and former State Representative Susan Goldstein.
A longtime champion for the centers came to the rescue, however, wielding his political influence to help reduce the cuts to only 9 percent and arguing for the revival and passage of an autism license plate bill that would help offset the more than $600,000 in budget cuts to the centers.
Florida House Representative David Rivera has long been a champion of the seven regional autism centers located throughout the state, and last Wednesday on the University of Miami Coral Gables campus, the statesman was honored for his efforts.
Rivera, one of several distinguished guests honored at the evening’s University of Miami-Nova Southeastern University Center for Autism and Related Disabilities (UM-NSU CARD) annual awards banquet, received the center’s Outstanding Community Service Award.
“When it comes to understanding autism spectrum disorders, many families are in the dark about how to cope with the challenges presented by these disorders,” said Michael Alessandri, executive director of UM-NSU CARD and a clinical professor of psychology who has worked with children with autism and their families for decades. “Representative Rivera is helping to shine a bright light on autism in our state.”
Alessandri noted that Rivera, in his role as chair of the Full Appropriations Council on Education and Economic Development, recognized the need to maintain funding for the state’s CARD centers and acted swiftly to help reduce budget reductions of up to 30 percent, which “would have devastated us,” Alessandri said. “We’re already underfunded.”
Still, the 9 percent cut comes at a time when the state is seeing a dramatic increase in the number of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders.
The center currently serves about 5,000 families from Miami-Dade, Broward, and Monroe counties, providing them free support and educational services. Last year, the center unveiled a 23-foot-long Mobile Autism Family Clinic, which it sends to underserved communities in South Florida, offering screenings, resources, and information to families who are unable to make it to a CARD center.
About 40 new families register with the center every week, and the needs of those it serves continue to grow, according to Alessandri.
“It’s hard for anyone to really understand how challenging it is every single day of your life to raise a child with autism. It pervades every avenue of a family’s life, whether it’s going to the mall, having friends over, or even going to the dentist,” Alessandri said, adding that Rivera is one of the few who does comprehend autism’s far-reaching impact. “He’s been an advocate and great supporter.”
While sales of the new autism license plate will help curtail some of the funding cuts, Alessandri says more must be done to help the centers survive and educate the public about autism. “We need to paint a clearer picture for people as to how much more work still needs to be done,” he explains.
Other CARD Community Service Award winners at last Wednesday’s ceremony included Robert DeMaria (Outstanding Community Service); Ketty Patino Gonzalez (Outstanding Clinician); Alicia McKee Palelis and Amy DeMoss-Solis (Outstanding Educators); and Holly Ceaser (Outstanding Student Volunteer). Lisa Ibanez and Nicole McDonald, two UM graduate students in psychology, received the Dr. Keith Scott and Dr. Peter Mundy Graduate Research Awards, respectively.
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January 09, 2009

Rivera revs up 1.35% property tax plan

Rep. David Rivera is revisiting the 1.35 percent property tax cap.
The Miami Republican said today that he will introduce a bill for the 2009 session. The Senate sponsor will be Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton. "The people of Florida deserve property tax relief," Rivera told the Times/Herald. "Particularly during the difficult economic times, this is the best tool at our disposal to help reinvigorate Florida's economy."
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Florida House takes up property-tax rate cap

The Florida House on Friday gave a hearing to a proposed state constitutional amendment that would limit any individual property taxpayer from being assessed a tax rate of more than $13.50 per $1,000 of taxable value.
"Taxpayers need relief," said the proposal's sponsor, Rep. David Rivera, R-Miami. "Our economy needs a boost."

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100,000 signatures down, more than 500,000 to go

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