Section 66: Health Safety Net Trust Fund
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 appropriation unless otherwise required by law. The purposes of the fund shall be to: (i) 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; (ii) support the estimated expenses of the executive office in administering the health safety net and related assessments under sections 65 to 69, inclusive; and (iii) support a portion of the costs of the Medicaid program under this chapter. The office shall administer the fund using methods, policies, procedures, standards and criteria for the proper and efficient operation of the fund and programs supported 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.
[Subsection (b) effective until October 1, 2027. See 2022, 126, Sec. 185. For text effective October 1, 2027, see below.]
(b) The fund shall consist of: (i) all amounts paid by hospitals and surcharge payors under sections 67 and 68; (ii) all appropriations for the purpose of payments to acute hospitals or community health centers for health services provided to uninsured and underinsured residents; (iii) any transfers from the Commonwealth Care Trust Fund established in section 2OOO of chapter 29; (iv) any transfers from the Safety Net Provider Trust Fund established in section 2AAAAA of said chapter 29; (v) any transfers from the Hospital Investment and Performance Trust Fund established in section 2TTTTT of said chapter 29; and (vi) all property and securities acquired by and through the use of money belonging to the fund and all interest thereon. There shall also be credited to the fund an amount equal to any federal financial participation claimed and received by the commonwealth for eligible expenditures made from the fund and financed by money transferred from the Hospital Investment and Performance Trust Fund established in said section 2TTTTT of said chapter 29 or from the Safety Net Provider Trust Fund established in said section 2AAAAA of said chapter 29. To accommodate timing discrepancies between the receipt of such revenue and related expenditures, the comptroller may certify for payment amounts not to exceed the most recent revenue estimates as certified by the secretary of health and human services to be transferred, credited or deposited under this subsection. Annually, the office shall transfer from the non-federal money in the fund: (A) $62,500,000 to the Safety Net Provider Trust Fund established in said section 2AAAAA of said chapter 29; (B) $532,000,000 to the Hospital Investment and Performance Trust Fund established in said section 2TTTTT of said chapter 29; (C) $115,500,000 to the Population Health Investment Trust Fund established in section 2UUUUU of said chapter 29; and (D) $10,000,000 to the Non-Acute Care Hospital Reimbursement Trust Fund established in section 2WWWW of said chapter 29. The office shall expend amounts in the fund, except for amounts transferred to the Safety Net Provider Trust Fund, the Hospital Investment and Performance Trust Fund, the Population Health Investment Trust Fund and the Non-Acute Care Hospital Reimbursement Trust Fund, for payments to hospitals and community health centers for reimbursable health services provided to uninsured and underinsured residents, consistent with the requirements of this section, section 69 and the regulations adopted by the office. The office shall also annually expend money from the fund for the expenses of the executive office, including the health safety net office under subsection (a), for the administration of the health safety net and related assessments. 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 the total surcharge amount, adjusted to reflect applicable surcharge credits, shall be transferred to the General Fund to support a portion of the costs of the Medicaid program. Any annual balance remaining in the fund after these payments have been made shall be retained in the fund and shall not revert to the General 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.
[Subsection (b) as amended by 2022, 126, Sec. 61 effective October 1, 2027 applicable as provided by 2022, 126, Sec. 186. For text effective until October 1, 2027, see above.]
(b) The fund shall consist of: (i) all amounts paid by hospitals and surcharge payors under sections 67 and 68; (ii) all appropriations for the purpose of payments to acute hospitals or community health centers for health services provided to uninsured and underinsured residents; (iii) any transfers from the Commonwealth Care Trust Fund established in section 2OOO of chapter 29; (iv) any transfers from the Safety Net Provider Trust Fund established in section 2AAAAA of said chapter 29; (v) any transfers from the Hospital Investment and Performance Trust Fund established in section 2TTTTT of said chapter 29; and (vi) all property and securities acquired by and through the use of money belonging to the fund and all interest thereon. There shall also be credited to the fund an amount equal to any federal financial participation claimed and received by the commonwealth for eligible expenditures made from the fund and financed by money transferred from the Hospital Investment and Performance Trust Fund established in said section 2TTTTT of said chapter 29 or from the Safety Net Provider Trust Fund established in said section 2AAAAA of said chapter 29. To accommodate timing discrepancies between the receipt of such revenue and related expenditures, the comptroller may certify for payment amounts not to exceed the most recent revenue estimates as certified by the secretary of health and human services to be transferred, credited or deposited under this subsection. Annually, the office shall transfer an amount equal to all amounts paid by privately-owned, nonfederal hospitals under subsection (b) of section 67 to the Non-Acute Care Hospital Reimbursement Trust Fund established in section 2WWWW of said chapter 29. The office shall expend amounts in the fund, except for amounts transferred to the Non-Acute Care Hospital Reimbursement Trust Fund, for payments to hospitals and community health centers for reimbursable health services provided to uninsured and underinsured residents, consistent with the requirements of this section, section 69 and the regulations adopted by the office. The office shall also annually expend money from the fund for the expenses of the executive office, including the health safety net office under subsection (a), for the administration of the health safety net and related assessments. 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 the total surcharge amount, adjusted to reflect applicable surcharge credits, shall be transferred to the General Fund to support a portion of the costs of the Medicaid program. Any annual balance remaining in the fund after these payments have been made shall be retained in the fund and shall not revert to the General 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.