SENATE DOCKET, NO. 2551        FILED ON: 1/17/2025

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No.         

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

William J. Driscoll

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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 relative to enhancing statewide hospital capacity coordination.

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PETITION OF:

SENATE DOCKET, NO. 2551        FILED ON: 1/17/2025

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No.         

[SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION
SEE HOUSE, NO. 2156 OF 2023-2024.]

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Ninety-Fourth General Court
(2025-2026)

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An Act relative to enhancing statewide hospital capacity coordination.

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. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the department of public health (“the department”) shall create a real-time, statewide, Hospital Capacity Coordination Dashboard. To support these efforts, the department of public health shall collaborate with healthcare providers with clinical, emergency management, and hospital operations expertise and members of the legislature. This dashboard shall be a real-time, electronic tool to, at a minimum, gather, report, and facilitate data related to managing hospital capacity, capability, and available beds in hospitals across the Commonwealth in the event of a public health emergency or other surge in patient need.

Said data should ensure and understanding of relevant individual hospital, regional, and statewide bed availability. The department may also include other data points as deemed relevant to the purpose of monitoring local, regional, and statewide hospital capacity and capability, situational awareness, and facilitation of patient load balancing efforts.

SECTION 2. The department, the executive office of technology services, and the executive office of health and human services shall provide the staffing and funding for this dashboard and the operational costs for the final Hospital Capacity Coordination Dashboard, subject to future appropriation by the legislature explicitly for this purpose.

SECTION 3. Upon completion of the electronic Hospital Capacity Coordination Dashboard tool and any corresponding governance or use guideline documents, a healthcare coalition, representing medical providers broadly, shall assume control of the Dashboard, and manage the operations of this tool, and be given administrative control of the tool, including the data produced for and by the Hospital Capacity Coordination Dashboard.

SECTION 4. Within 1 year following the effective date of this act, the department shall complete the electronic tool.