Budget Amendment ID: FY2014-S3-690

EHS 690

Reducing the Administrative Costs of Health Care

Ms. Candaras and Mr. Petruccelli moved that the proposed new text be amended in section 2, in item 4000-0300, by adding at the end thereof the following: "provided further that not more than $9,000,000 shall be allocated for the expenses of the administration of the Health Safety Net Office.”

And further moves to strike Sections 77, 79, 80 and 81 in their entirety.

And further moves to strike Section 78 in its entirety and insert in its place the following:

SECTION 78. Said chapter 118E is hereby further amended by striking out section 66, as so appearing, and inserting in place thereof the following section:-

Section 66. (a) There shall be established and set up on the books of the commonwealth a fund to be known as the Health Safety Net Trust Fund, in this section and in sections 67 to 69, inclusive, called the fund, which shall be administered by the Health Safety Net Office, hereinafter the office. Expenditures from the fund shall not be subject to appropriate on unless otherwise required by law. The purposes of the fund shall be: (i) to maintain a health care safety net by reimbursing hospitals and community health centers for a portion of the cost of reimbursable health services provided to low-income, uninsured or underinsured residents; and (ii) to support a portion of the costs of the Medicaid program under this chapter and the commonwealth care health insurance program under chapter 118H. The office shall administer the fund using methods, policies, procedures, standards and criteria for the proper and efficient operation of the fund and programs funded by it in a manner designed to distribute the fund resources as equitably as possible. The secretary of administration and finance, in consultation with the secretary of health and human services, shall determine annually the estimated expenses to administer the fund.

(b) The fund shall consist of all amounts paid by acute hospitals and surcharge payors under sections 67 and 68, all appropriations for the purpose of payments to acute hospitals or community health centers for health services provided to uninsured and underinsured residents, any transfers from the Commonwealth Care Trust Fund, established under section 2OOO of chapter 29, and all property and securities acquired by and through the use of monies belonging to the fund and all interest thereon. The office shall expend amounts in the fund, except for amounts transferred to the Commonwealth Care Trust Fund, for payments to hospitals and community health centers for reimbursable health services provided to uninsured and underinsured residents of the commonwealth, consistent with the requirements of this section and section 69 and the regulations adopted by the office. The office shall also expend not more than $6,000,000 annually from the fund for demonstration projects that use case management and other methods to reduce the liability of the fund to acute hospitals. Any amounts collected from surcharge payors in any year in excess of  $160,000,000, adjusted to reflect applicable surcharge credits, shall be transferred to the General Fund to support a portion of the costs of the Medicaid and commonwealth care health insurance programs. Any annual balance remaining in the fund after these payments have been made shall be transferred to the Commonwealth Care Trust Fund. All interest earned on the amounts in the fund shall be deposited or retained in the fund. The director shall from time to time requisition from the fund amounts that the director considers necessary to meet the current obligations of the office for the purposes of the fund and estimated obligations for a reasonable future period.