SECTION 1. Chapter 111 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2020 Official Edition, is hereby amended by adding at the end the following section:

The Department, in consultation with the Health Policy Commission and the Center for Health Information Analysis, shall commission a study. The study shall examine current access to essential health services, as defined by the department of public health under section 51G of chapter 111, provided by the Commonwealth’s acute care hospitals including community hospitals, in-patient psychiatric hospitals, the effect of the discontinuation of essential health services on that access, the projected need for those services in all regions of the Commonwealth over the next decade and provide recommendations as to how to ensure access to those essential health services. This study shall include, but not be limited to (i) the current number of beds and services provided by each hospital in each region, including the most recent year’s admission and discharge data for each service by hospital; (ii) review discontinuations of essential health services by hospitals since 1992 and their effect on access to these essential health services; (ii) review hospital closures since 1992 and their effect on access to these essential health services; (iii) review plans provided to the department of public health following the discontinuation of essential services for compliance and identify where essential health services were provided following the discontinuation; (iv) calculate projected need for essential health services in each region; (v) calculate projected need, if any, for providers of essential health services to meet regional needs over the next decade; (vi) examine financial conditions that might lead to the discontinuation of essential health services, including but not limited to private and public reimbursement rates; (vii) identify essential health services by region that might be vulnerable to discontinuation over the next three years; (viii) examine the need for additional post in-patient discharge services (viii) identify steps to protect essential health services provided by financially vulnerable acute care and inpatient psychiatric hospitals; (ix) review methods implemented in other states to discourage and manage the discontinuation of essential health services by acute care hospitals and in-patient psychiatric hospitals closures; and (x) recommend any policy changes to assure access to essential health services in all regions of the Commonwealth.