Section 128: Hospital Rate Increases in Fiscal Years 2007-2009

Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary and in accordance with section 13B of chapter 118E of the General Laws, in fiscal year 2007, $90,000,000 shall be made available from the Commonwealth Care Trust Fund, established pursuant to section 2OOO of chapter 29 of the General Laws, to pay for an increase in the Medicaid rates paid to acute hospitals and physicians; but not less than 15 per cent of the increase shall be allocated to rate increases for physicians. For fiscal year 2008, an additional $90,000,000, for a total of $180,000,000, shall be made available from said Commonwealth Care Trust Fund in accordance with this section, to pay for an increase in the Medicaid rates paid to acute hospitals and physicians; but not less than 15 per cent of the increase shall be allocated to rate increases for physicians. In fiscal year 2009, an additional $90,000,000, for a total of $270,000,000, shall be made available from said Commonwealth Care Trust Fund to pay for an increase in the Medicaid rates paid to acute hospitals, as defined in section 1 of chapter 118G of the General Laws, and physicians; but not less than 15 per cent of the increase shall be allocated to rate increases for physicians. In fiscal year 2008, not more than $20,000,000 of the amounts to be made available to acute hospitals under this section shall be contingent on hospital adherence to quality standards and achievement of performance benchmarks, including the reduction of racial and ethnic disparities in the provision of health care, in accordance with said section 13B of said chapter 118E, and may be paid in fiscal year 2009. In fiscal year 2009, not more than $58,000,000 of the amounts to be made available to acute hospitals under this section shall be contingent on hospital adherence to quality standards and achievement of performance benchmarks, including the reduction of racial and ethnic disparities in the provision of health care, in accordance with said section 13B of said chapter 118E, and may be paid in fiscal year 2010. For fiscal years 2008 and 2009, any such performance benchmarks shall be determined by the secretary of health and human services without any limitation, but in consultation with hospitals, the MassHealth payment policy advisory board and the health care quality and cost council, and may include measures to be reported by hospitals to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for Reporting Hospital Quality Data for Annual Payment Update, to the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations for core measures, or to the MassHealth Program pursuant to Appendix G of the contract between MassHealth and acute hospitals for Rate Year 2007 or other nationally-recognized measures that are drawn on those approved by the National Quality Forum and adopted by the Hospitals Quality Alliance Performance benchmarks and quality measures related to racial and ethnic disparities in the provision of health care. The secretary of health and human services shall, after consultation required by said section 13B of said chapter 118E, issue final quality standards and performance benchmarks for use in the hospital fiscal year beginning October 1, 2008. In fiscal year 2009, not more than $4,200,000 of the amounts to be made available for physician services under this section shall be contingent on primary care clinician plan providers’ adherence to quality standards and achievement of performance benchmarks, and may be paid in fiscal year 2010. For purposes of payments to hospitals pursuant to this section, “fiscal year” shall mean the hospitals’ fiscal year and, for purposes of any payments to physicians pursuant to this section, fiscal year shall mean the state fiscal year.