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The 193rd General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

AN ACT PROHIBITING HEALTH CARE FACILITIES FROM CHARGING FOR CERTAIN SERVICES.

Whereas, The deferred operation of this act would tend to defeat its purpose, which is to prohibit forthwith health care facilities from charging for certain services, therefore it is hereby declared to be an emergency law, necessary for the immediate preservation of the public convenience

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same as follows:

SECTION 1. Chapter 27 of the acts of 2009 is hereby amended by inserting after section 76 the following section:-

Section 76A. Said section 51H of said chapter 111 is hereby further amended by striking out subsection (d), as appearing in section 9 of chapter 305 of the acts of 2008, and inserting in place thereof the following subsection:-

(d) The department shall adopt regulations prohibiting a health care facility from charging or seeking reimbursement for services provided as a result of the occurrence of a health-care associated infection or serious reportable event. A health care facility shall not charge or seek reimbursement for a health-care associated infection or serious reportable event that the facility has determined, through a documented review process, and under regulations adopted by the department, was: (i) preventable; (ii) within its control; and (iii) unambiguously the result of a system failure based on the health care provider’s policies and procedures.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect as of July 1, 2009.

Approved August 4, 2009.