Section 10: Reporting requirements for private and public health care payers and third-party administrators
Section 10. (a) The center shall promulgate regulations necessary to ensure the uniform reporting of information from private and public health care payers, including third-party administrators, that enables the center to analyze: (1) changes over time in health insurance premium levels; (2) changes in the benefit and cost-sharing design of plans offered by these payers; (3) changes in measures of plan cost and utilization; provided that this analysis shall facilitate comparison among plans and between public and private payers; and (4) changes in type of payment methods implemented by payers and the number of members covered by alternative payment methodologies; provided, however, that this analysis shall facilitate comparison among plans and plan types, including the self-insured. The center shall adopt regulations to require private and public health care payers to submit claims data, member data and provider data to develop and maintain a database of health care claims data under this chapter.
[Subsection (b) applicable to all dental benefit plans issued, made effective, delivered or renewed on or after January 1, 2024.]
(b) The center shall require the submission of data and other information from each private health care payer offering small or large group health plans including, but not limited to: (1) average annual individual and family plan premiums for each payer's most popular plans for a representative range of group sizes, as further determined in regulations, and average annual individual and family plan premiums for the lowest cost plan in each group size that meets the minimum standards and guidelines established by the division of insurance under section 8H of chapter 26; (2) information concerning the actuarial assumptions that underlie the premiums for each plan; (3) summaries of the plan and network designs for each plan, including whether behavioral, substance use disorder and mental health or other specific services are carved-out from any plans; (4) information concerning the medical and administrative expenses, including medical loss ratios for each plan, using a uniform methodology and collected under section 21 of chapter 176O or section 3 of chapter 176X; (5) information concerning the payer's current level of reserves and surpluses; (6) information on provider payment methods and levels; (7) health status adjusted total medical expenses by registered provider organization, provider group and local practice group and zip code calculated according to the method established under section 51 of chapter 288 of the acts of 2010; (8) relative prices paid to every hospital, registered provider organization, physician group, ambulatory surgical center, freestanding imaging center, mental health facility, rehabilitation facility, skilled nursing facility and home health provider in the payer's network, by type of provider, with hospital inpatient and outpatient prices listed separately and product type, including health maintenance organization and preferred provider organization products and determined using the method established under section 52 of chapter 288 of the acts of 2010; (9) hospital inpatient and outpatient costs, including direct and indirect costs, according to a uniform methodology; (10) the annual rate of growth, stated as a percentage, of the average relative price by provider type and product type for the payer's participating health care providers, whether that rate exceeds the rate of growth of the applicable producer price index as reported by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics and identified by the commissioner of insurance and whether that rate exceeds the rate of growth in projected economic growth benchmark established under section 7H1/2 of chapter 29; and (11) a comparison of relative prices for the payer's participating health care providers by provider type which shows the average relative price, the extent of variation in price, stated as a percentage, and identifies providers who are paid more than 10 per cent, 15 per cent and 20 per cent above and more than 10 per cent, 15 per cent and 20 per cent below the average relative price.
(c) The center shall require the submission of data and other information from public health care payers including, but not limited to: (1) average premium rates for health insurance plans offered by public payers and information concerning the actuarial assumptions that underlie these premiums; (2) average annual per-member per-month payments for enrollees in MassHealth primary care clinician and fee for service programs; (3) summaries of plan and network designs for each plan or program, including whether behavioral, substance use disorder and mental health or other specific services are carved-out from any plans; (4) information concerning the medical and administrative expenses, including medical loss ratios for each plan or program; (5) where appropriate, information concerning the payer's current level of reserves and surpluses; (6) information on provider payment methods and levels, including information concerning payment levels to each hospital for the 25 most common medical procedures provided to enrollees in these programs, in a form that allows payment comparisons between Medicaid programs and managed care organizations under contract to the office of Medicaid; (7) health status adjusted total medical expenses by registered provider organization, provider group and local practice group and zip code calculated according to the method established under section 51 of chapter 288 of the acts of 2010; and (8) relative prices paid to every hospital, registered provider organization, physician group, ambulatory surgical center, freestanding imaging center, mental health facility, rehabilitation facility, skilled nursing facility and home health provider in the payer's network, by type of provider, with hospital inpatient and outpatient prices listed separately, and product type and determined using the method established under section 52 of chapter 288 of the acts of 2010; (9) hospital inpatient and outpatient costs, including direct and indirect costs, according to a uniform methodology; () the annual rate of growth, stated as a percentage, of the average relative price by provider type and product type for the payer's participating health care providers, whether that rate exceeds the rate of growth of the applicable producer price index as reported by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics and identified by the commissioner of insurance and whether that rate exceeds the rate of growth in projected economic growth benchmark established under section 7H1/2 of chapter 29; and (11) a comparison of relative prices for the payer's participating health care providers by provider type which shows the average relative price, the extent of variation in price, stated as a percentage and identifies providers who are paid more than 10 per cent, 15 per cent and 20 per cent above and more than 10 per cent, 15 per cent and 20 per cent below the average relative price.
(d) The center shall require the submission of data and other information from public and private health care payers which utilize alternative payment contracts, including, but not limited to: (1) if applicable, the negotiated monthly or yearly budget for each alternative payment contract in the current contract year; (2) any applicable measures of provider performance in such alternative payment contracts; and (3) if applicable, the average negotiated monthly or yearly budget weighted by member months for each geographic region of the commonwealth as further defined in regulations promulgated by the center.
For purposes of this subsection, payers shall report the negotiated budget assuming a neutral health status score of 1.0 using an industry accepted health status adjustment tool and shall, if applicable, separately report the budget allowances for: all medical and behavioral, substance use disorder and mental health care at both in and out-of-network providers; pharmacy coverage allowance; administrative expenses such as data analytics, health information technology, clinical program development and other program management fees; the purchase of reinsurance or stop-loss; and quality bonus monies, unit cost adjustments or other special allowances as may be required in regulations promulgated by the center. If out-of-network care, behavioral, substance use disorder and mental health, stop-loss insurance or any other clinical services are carved out of any global budget, bundled payments or other alternative payment methodologies such that there is no allowance included in the budget for those services, payers shall report actual claims costs of these items on a per member per month basis for the year immediately prior to the current contract year.
(e) Except as specifically provided otherwise by the center or under this chapter, insurer data collected by the center under this section shall not be a public record under clause Twenty-sixth of section 7 of chapter 4 or under chapter 66.