Section 17: Attorney general review and analysis of information submitted under Secs. 8, 9 and 10 and under Sec. 8 of chapter 6D; authority to compel production of documents, answers to interrogatories and testimony
Section 17. The attorney general may review and analyze any information submitted to the center under sections 8, 9 and 10 and the health policy commission under section 8 of chapter 6D. The attorney general may require that any provider, provider organization, or payer produce documents, answer interrogatories and provide testimony under oath related to health care costs and cost trends, factors that contribute to cost growth within the commonwealth's health care system and the relationship between provider costs and payer premium rates. The attorney general shall keep confidential all nonpublic information and documents obtained under this section and shall not disclose the information or documents to any person without the consent of the provider or payer that produced the information or documents except in a public hearing under section 8 of chapter 6D, a rate hearing before the division of insurance or in a case brought by the attorney general, if the attorney general believes that such disclosure will promote the health care cost containment goals of the commonwealth and that the disclosure should be made in the public interest after taking into account any privacy, trade secret or anti-competitive considerations. The confidential information and documents shall not be public records and shall be exempt from disclosure under clause Twenty-sixth of section 7 of chapter 4 or section 10 of chapter 66.