Section 2MMMM: Home and Community-based Services Policy Lab Fund
Section 2MMMM. (a) There shall be established and set up on the books of the commonwealth a separate fund to be known as the Home and Community-based Services Policy Lab Fund into which shall be credited any appropriations authorized by the general court and specifically designated to be credited to that fund and any additional nonstate-sourced funds identified and awarded for the purposes of the fund and designated by the secretary of elder affairs for deposit into the fund including, but not limited to, federal or private grants or donations made available to the executive office of elder affairs for deposit into the fund. Amounts credited to the fund shall be available for the purposes of the fund and the secretary of elder affairs shall direct and authorize the expenditure of funds from the fund.
(b) The fund shall be used to support research and analysis which, in the determination of secretary of elder affairs in consultation with those agencies under the executive office of health and human services serving elders and persons with chronic illnesses or disabilities, would enhance the development, evaluation, design and continued improvement of programs rendering home and community-based services to individuals who need long-term services and supports. Research shall focus on the outcomes and effectiveness of public investments made in home and community-based care and services. All research, analysis and deliverables funded by the fund shall be dedicated to the improvement of the overall administration of publicly-funded programs of home and community-based care and services. In furtherance of this purpose, the secretary of elder affairs, in consultation with the chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Medical School and the chancellor's designees, shall employ the fund to develop, direct and fund a research agenda to be executed and overseen by the commonwealth medicine division of the University of Massachusetts Medical School; provided, however, that the University of Massachusetts Medical School on its own or in concert with other University of Massachusetts campus departments shall seek other nonstate sources of funding for the purposes of this section.
(c) The secretary of elder affairs shall file an annual report with the house and senate committees on ways and means, the joint committee on elder affairs and the joint committee on health care financing not later than September 30 on the following: (i) an inventory of program support and development initiatives, detailing the administrative and programmatic benefit of each initiative; (ii) a list of research initiatives, detailing the public policy benefit and potential program application of each initiative; (iii) a summary and assessment of the ongoing work and progress of the research and analytics done by the home and community-based services policy lab which is not primarily resourced by the fund; and (iv) an annual statement of cash inflows and outflows.