SENATE DOCKET, NO. 386        FILED ON: 1/13/2023

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1154

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

Julian Cyr

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To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act to promote the recruitment and retention of hospital workers.

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PETITION OF:

SENATE DOCKET, NO. 386        FILED ON: 1/13/2023

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1154

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Ninety-Third General Court
(2023-2024)

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An Act to promote the recruitment and retention of hospital workers.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1. (a) There shall be a Hospital Workforce Training & Apprenticeship Trust Fund to provide support to eligible accountable care organizations, acute care hospitals, and their affiliated hospital health care providers and to be administered by the secretary of health and human services. Amounts credited to the fund shall be expended, subject to appropriation, by the secretary of health and human services, as trustee, consistent with this section. The fund shall be credited with money from public and private sources, including gifts, grants and donations, interest earned on such money, any other money authorized by the general court and specifically designated to be credited to the fund and any funds provided from other sources.

(b)  The secretary may incur expenses, and the comptroller may certify amounts for payment in anticipation of expected receipts; provided, however, that no expenditure shall be made from the fund which shall cause the fund to be deficient at the close of a fiscal year. Revenues deposited in the fund that are unexpended at the end of a fiscal year shall not revert to the General Fund and shall be available for expenditure in the following fiscal year. 

(c)  The secretary shall direct payments from the fund to eligible providers and also to labor-management training funds, community colleges, and other entities that apply to conduct training and offer education supports for the workforce of the eligible providers. All Massachusetts accountable care organizations, acute care hospitals and their affiliated hospital health care providers as defined by the center for health information and analysis shall be considered eligible providers for purposes of payments from the fund.

(d)  All expenditures from the fund shall be made as grants to support training, registered apprenticeships, and other education supports to eligible providers and to entities conducting training for the eligible provider’s workforce. Grants made shall be carefully targeted to support education and training programs for the workforce of these providers, including for programming that enables the payment of replacement wages and tuition stipends for incumbent workers participating in career development training. Grants made shall support education and training programs designed to recruit and retain culturally, ethnically and linguistically diverse individuals to the hospital workforce. Grants may also be made to further the retention of health care workers through the provision of housing, child care, behavioral health, and other similar worker supports. The secretary shall award grants through an application process.  

(e)  The executive office of health and human services shall promulgate rules or regulations necessary to carry out this section.

(f)  Not later than 90 days after payments are allocated to hospitals and their affiliated healthcare providers under this section, the secretary of health and human services shall file a report with the house and senate committees on ways and means and the joint committee on health care financing detailing the allocation and recipient of each grant awarded under this program. 

SECTION 2.  The executive office labor and workforce development, in collaboration with the executive office of health and human services, shall establish a marketing and public information campaign to promote the recruitment and retention of acute care hospital workers in Massachusetts. Subject to appropriation, this campaign shall include paid advertising to promote the array of open direct care and clinical positions at Massachusetts acute care hospitals with a focus on advancing the work done in these roles and on attracting workers to these careers. This campaign shall include a high-level marketing campaign around the importance of hospital work as well as micro-campaigns aimed at promoting certain hard-to-fill occupations. This campaign shall target working adults of all ages, have the intent to raise awareness of available occupations, highlight the importance and value of the roles, and seek to attract culturally, ethnically and linguistically diverse individuals.

SECTION 3.  There shall be a Hospital Short Staffing Task Force to address workforce recruitment and retention challenges at Massachusetts acute care hospitals.

The task force shall consist of the following members: the secretary labor and workforce development, or their designee, who shall serve as chair; the secretary of health and human services, or their designee; the secretary of housing and economic development, 1 person to be appointed by the speaker the house of representatives; 1 person to be appointed by president of the senate; and 8 persons to be appointed by the governor, 1 of whom shall be a representative of the Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association, 1 of whom shall be a representative of the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers, 1 of whom shall be a representative of 1199SEIU, 1 of whom shall be a representative of the Massachusetts Nurses Association, 1 of whom shall represent the Commonwealth Corporation, 1 of whom shall represent the University of Massachusetts, 1 of whom shall represent a private post-secondary educational institution, 1 of whom shall represent a workforce training vendor, and 1 of whom shall be an incumbent worker in a Massachusetts acute care hospital. In making appointments, the governor shall, to the maximum extent feasible, ensure that the task force represents a broad distribution of diverse perspectives, cultural and linguistic backgrounds, and geographic regions.

(b)  In making its recommendations, the task force shall consider: (i) improvements to the MassHealth reimbursement system for acute care hospitals that promote financial stability; (ii) industry-wide workforce initiatives including, but not limited to, ways to lower the cost of education and training, and to improve recruitment, rates of pay, and other methods of ensuring a sustainable workforce; (iii) the role of external economic factors on the development and retention of the acute care hospital workforce such as the increases in the minimum wage and competition from other industries, and (iv) any additional reforms to strengthen the recruitment and retention of the acute care hospital workforce.

(c)  The task force shall convene its first meeting within 90 days after passage of this act. The task force shall submit its report, including any proposed legislation necessary to carry out its recommendations, by filing the same with the clerks of the house of representatives and senate, the joint committee on health care financing, the joint committee on elder affairs and the house and senate committees on ways and means not later than one year from passage of this act.