Budget Amendment ID: FY2015-S4-717

EHS 717

Emergency Department Boarding Report

Mr. Keenan, Ms. Spilka and Mr. Eldridge moved that the proposed new text be amended moved that the bill be amended

by inserting at the end the following new section

SECTION __. Chapter 111 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section 51J the following section:-

Section 51K. The department, in conjunction with the center for health information analysis, shall require each hospital in the commonwealth that operates an emergency room to collect and report to the department on the use of the emergency room by patients seeking mental health or substance abuse services; provided, that hospitals shall collect and report data in full compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy Public Law 104-191. For patients that present to the emergency department for such services, the hospital shall collect and aggregate the following information and report on a quarterly basis: (1) number of visits to the emergency room per month; broken down by visit type: medical, mental health, substance abuse, and combined medical, mental health or substance abuse; (2) Length of time between admission and evaluation by the attending emergency room physician; (3) The type of insurance and carriers, and the number of patients who were clients of the department of mental health, the department of children and families or the department of developmental services; (4) The number of required evaluations by an emergency service provider, and as applicable, the average length of time between the initial calls to the emergency service provider and the time the emergency service provider responded; (5) Whether the patient’s insurance type required a prior authorization request, and as applicable, the length of time between a submission of a prior authorization request to the patient’s insurance plan and response time by the insurance plan; and (6) The length of time between the admission decision and the departure time to post-emergency treatment.

The department and the center for health information analysis shall compile an annual report based on the information submitted pursuant to this section that shall be published on the website of the center and shall be submitted to the joint committee on health care financing and the joint committee on mental health and substance abuse on or before December 31 of each year.