IDD Medicaid rates in Florida land close to the national middle on most services. Florida's APD iBudget waiver pays $8.99 per 15 minutes for in-home supports on code 97535, or $35.96 an hour. That ranks 14th of 29 states and is 3.0% above the national median of $34.92.
What sets Florida apart is not the level of its rates but the controls around them. Every Florida IDD code we track carries prior authorization rules and a unit limit, and the iBudget rule that governs the waiver, Rule 59G-13.081, has gone through repeated notices since 2025. All the rates below took effect 2026-07-01. Rates are compiled from official state Medicaid publications and link to their source documents.
| Service | Code | Florida per hour or day | Rank | vs national median |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| In-home supports | 97535 | $35.96 / hour | 14 of 29 | +3.0% |
| Supported employment | T2021 | $42.88 / hour | 18 of 39 | +5.0% |
| Prevocational services | T2015 | $22.71 / hour | 11 of 28 | +21.6% |
| Day habilitation | S5102 | $22.71 / hour | 17 of 32 | -1.8% |
| Community integration | S5135 | $17.76 / hour | 18 of 22 | -33.5% |
| Residential habilitation | H0043 | $332.76 / day | 13 of 31 | +18.7% |
Florida also publishes behavior support on H2020 at $431.84 per unit and an ICF/IID rate of $790.37 a day. Neither is ranked; the national ICF/IID median is $464.88.
Five of the six ranked services fall within a few places of the middle of the national table. Florida is neither a high-rate nor a low-rate IDD state. That makes cost control and authorization management, rather than rate level, the main determinants of whether a Florida program succeeds.
Florida's IDD services run through the Florida iBudget waiver for people with developmental disabilities, administered by the Agency for Persons with Disabilities (APD). Under iBudget, each person receives an individual budget amount, and services are chosen and authorized within it. Providers are paid the published rate for each authorized unit.
Why the budget model matters to providers
In a budget-based waiver, the rate a service pays and the number of units a person can afford are linked. A higher-priced service uses up more of the budget, so families and support coordinators weigh cost when choosing among services. That tends to keep demand steady for mid-priced services and can limit how many units of high-priced services any one person receives.
Unusual code choices
Florida's code choices differ from most states. In-home supports bill on 97535, day services on S5102, and supported employment on T2021 with the HI modifier, a code several other states use for day habilitation. Almost every Florida IDD code carries a UC modifier, and residential habilitation adds HO. Billing teams moving between states should map services carefully.
At $35.96 an hour, Florida's in-home supports rate sits right at the national median. Florida's direct support professional median wage was $21.35 an hour in May 2025 federal data. Loaded with payroll taxes and benefits, that wage takes 82.1% of the rate, leaving $6.44 an hour for supervision, travel, training and administration.
That is a thin margin. At the top of the national range, South Carolina pays $85.96 an hour for the same type of service on T2017; at the bottom, Louisiana pays $12.40.
With $6.44 an hour after wages, a Florida in-home agency has little room for unpaid travel time between clients. Agencies that cluster clients geographically, or schedule longer visits, keep more of that margin than those whose workers drive between short visits.
Supported employment does better. At $10.72 per 15 minutes, or $42.88 an hour, the loaded wage takes 68.8% of the rate and leaves $13.36 an hour. That ranks 18th of 39 states, 5.0% above the $40.84 median.
The same T2021 code carries 63 prior authorization rules and a yearly limit, the most of any Florida IDD code. Job coaching is typically front-loaded, with intensive support when a person starts a job and less as they settle in, so a yearly unit limit should be planned so that early intensive weeks do not exhaust the authorization.
Community integration on S5135 pays $4.44 per 15 minutes, or $17.76 an hour, 33.5% below the $26.70 median and 18th of 22 states. That is below the $21.35 direct support wage. The loaded wage is 166.2% of the rate, a shortfall of $11.76 for every hour of one-on-one support.
In practice, community integration in Florida is viable only as a group service, with one staff member supporting several people. Day habilitation on S5102 and prevocational services on T2015 both pay $22.71 an hour, so Florida pays prevocational time 21.6% above its national median while day habilitation sits 1.8% below.
Residential habilitation on H0043 pays $332.76 a day, 13th of 31 states and 18.7% above the $280.27 median. That is well short of Minnesota at $999.00 and the District of Columbia at $567.62, but far above Illinois ($108.00) and Oklahoma ($88.66). Residential advisors earn a median of $19.55 an hour in Florida, against $20.31 nationally.
Florida's ICF/IID rate of $790.37 a day sits above the national median, though below the District of Columbia ($1,021.84), Maine ($995.49) and South Dakota ($926.97).
For group home operators, residential habilitation carries 35 prior authorization rules and a yearly limit. Day-level authorization means a resident's days in the home must match the authorization; hospital stays, family visits and other absences need to be handled so that billed days reflect days of service.
Florida attaches prior authorization rules and a unit limit to every IDD code we track. Counts range from 4 rules on H2020 behavior support and 5 on 97535 in-home supports to 35 on H0043, 44 on T2023 and 63 on T2021. Most codes carry a yearly limit; T2020 and T2031 carry monthly limits.
For a provider, units delivered beyond an authorization will not be paid, so scheduling must track remaining authorized units. The practical controls are simple but essential: a running balance of authorized units per person, alerts before a balance runs out, and a renewal calendar so new authorizations are in place before old ones expire.
Our managed-care classification lists intellectual and developmental disability services, home and community-based services and personal care as paid directly by the state, outside managed care, even though Florida counts 46 plan listings in its IDD data for its other Medicaid programs. See the Florida managed care page. For iBudget providers, that means the published APD rate is the rate paid, without a plan negotiation.
Recent changes to the iBudget rate structure:
- APD iBudget Waiver Rate Changes, effective 7/1/2026, set the rates on this page.
- Rule 59G-13.081 adopted, effective 2025-10-12 (FAR notice 30025397), with an 11.0% change.
- Notice of Rule Development (FAR notice 30111145), 2025-10-16, and Notice of Proposed Rule (FAR notice 30426201), 2026-01-20.
- Rule adopted, effective 2026-03-12 (FAR notice 30556666), with no rate change.
- Notice of Rule Development (FAR notice 31315303), published 2026-08-31, proposing a 1.0% change.
The newest notice signals another rule cycle ahead. In Florida the cycle runs from a notice of rule development to a notice of proposed rule to adoption, and each stage is published in the Florida Administrative Register. Providers should watch for the proposed rule text that follows the August 2026 notice, since that is where specific rate changes first appear.
Florida wages for licensed practical nurses ($29.70) and home health aides ($16.25) are both below the national medians of $30.96 and $17.21, and the direct support median of $21.35 is close to the national figure. Florida providers compete for the same workers as home care and assisted living employers, and the thin in-home margin leaves limited room to outbid them.
Florida's middle-of-the-table position looks different depending on the comparison. Against Texas, which appears among the lowest states for community living supports ($18.47), day habilitation ($10.98) and community integration ($16.80), Florida pays more on every one of those services. Against the top of the range, the gap runs the other way: Minnesota pays $100.00 an hour for day habilitation, and Virginia pays $140.64 for community integration, against Florida's $22.71 and $17.76.
For a multi-state provider, that places Florida as a moderate-rate market with unusually strict utilization controls. Programs that work in Florida tend to be those built around efficient scheduling and careful authorization tracking rather than rate premiums, and the same disciplines carry over well to other budget-based waivers.
- Manage authorizations as revenue. Track unit balances per person and code; unpaid overage is the most common avoidable loss.
- Structure community integration as a group service. At $17.76 an hour, one-to-one delivery cannot cover a median wage.
- Plan routes for in-home work. With $6.44 an hour after wages, travel time decides margin.
- Follow Rule 59G-13.081. The 2026-08-31 notice is the earliest signal of the next rate change.
Rates on this page are compiled from official state Medicaid publications, including the APD iBudget waiver rate tables, and each rate links to its source document. Hourly figures are derived from published 15-minute units; residential and ICF/IID rates are shown per day. Wage figures are May 2025 federal occupational medians. All 41,202 current Florida Medicaid rates, including 1,050 iBudget waiver rates, are available with an account; see pricing, our methodology, the IDD rates by state hub and the Florida Medicaid rates page.