(a) Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the secretary of health and human services shall direct monthly payments to eligible hospitals in the form of enhanced Medicaid payments, supplemental payments or other appropriate mechanism. Each payment made to an eligible hospital shall equal 5 per cent of the eligible hospital’s average monthly Medicaid payments, as determined by the secretary, for inpatient and outpatient acute hospital services for the preceding year or the most recent year for which data is available; provided, however, that such enhanced Medicaid payments shall not be used in subsequent years by the secretary to calculate an eligible hospital’s average monthly payment; and provided further, that such payments shall not offset existing Medicaid payments for which an eligible hospital may be qualified to receive. In any fiscal year, the total sum of all payments made to eligible hospitals under this section shall not exceed $35,000,000.

(b)  The secretary may require as a condition of receiving payment any such reasonable condition of payment that the secretary determines necessary to ensure the availability, to the extent possible, of federal financial participation for the payments, and the secretary may incur expenses and the comptroller may certify amounts for payment in anticipation of expected receipt of federal financial participation for the payments.

(c)  The executive office of health and human services may promulgate regulations as necessary to carry out this section.

(d)  For the purposes of this section “eligible hospital” shall mean a non-profit or municipal acute care hospital licensed under section 51 of chapter 111 that received enhanced medicaid payments under section 63 of chapter 260 of the acts of 2020 in calendar years 2021 and 2022.