Section 132: Health Care Reform Implementation Plan and Timeline

Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the executive office of health and human services shall develop, in coordination with other appropriate state agencies, an implementation plan and corresponding timeline detailing monthly action steps toward implementing the health care reform legislation and progress projected and made toward reducing the uninsured in the commonwealth. Said implementation plan shall be developed in concert with stakeholders, including consumers, health care providers, health insurers including the Medicaid managed care organizations, and advocacy and business organizations, and shall be reported to the speaker of the house, the senate president, the joint committee on health care financing and the house and senate committees on ways and means within 60 days of the effective date of this act. Said report shall be updated bi-monthly thereafter. Said plan shall include all regulatory and operational aspects delineated in this act, including but not limited to:

(a) the projected and actual monthly health insurance enrollment targets by coverage type including Medicaid coverage, newly available subsidized private insurance products for individuals up to 300 per cent of the federal poverty level, private insurance products for individuals available for individuals over 300 per cent of the federal poverty level and how such progress reduces the uninsured in the commonwealth;

(b) health insurance market reforms, including the availability of affordable insurance products;

(c) the implementation and timetable for Medicaid expansions, including the uncapping of current Medicaid enrollment caps;

(d) the development and approval of new subsidized private insurance products for the uninsured up to 300 per cent of the federal poverty level;

(e) the establishment of the connector;

(f) the development of a collaborative marketing and outreach plan, that includes an emphasis on consumer and business education and linguistic diversity of target populations, with accompanying budget and implementation timeline;

(g) the development of the program of sliding-scale premium assistance and collection processes;

(h) detailed implementation plan on how current uncompensated care pool eligible individuals, as determined by the Virtual Gateway process, can be considered eligible for automatic enrollment in new subsidized private insurance products;

(i) the timeline and public process regarding any proposed regulations on the uncompensated care pool;

(j) an electronic connection and other collaborative processes between the executive office of health and humans services' Virtual Gateway public health care eligibility system and the connector to facilitate enrollment in new health insurance products available for premium assistance;

(k) a collaborative planning and implementation process with the Medicaid managed care organizations, including those operated by Cambridge public health commission and Boston Medical Center Corporation, to facilitate any enrollment targets into the new subsidized private insurance products;

(l) collaborative planning and procedures including safety net systems developed in concert with health care providers, including Cambridge public health commission, Boston Medical Center Corporation and other disproportionate share hospitals, community and teaching hospitals and community health centers to undertake analyses of their respective current uncompensated care pool-approved members within their health systems and health plan networks and devise implementation plans to foster expeditious enrollment in new subsidized private insurance products for the uninsured up to 300 per cent of the federal poverty level; and

(m) a detailed implementation schedule of the rate payments authorized in this act for acute care hospitals, community health centers and physicians participating in the Medicaid program in fiscal years, 2007, 2008, and 2009, respectively."