Hospital Rate Pay for Performance
SECTION 40.
Said chapter 58 is hereby further amended by striking out section 128, as amended by section 62 of chapter 324 of the acts of 2006, and inserting in place thereof the following section:-
Section 128. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary and in accordance with section 13B of chapter 118E of the General Laws, in fiscal year 2007, $90,000,000 shall be made available from the Commonwealth Care Trust Fund, established pursuant to section 2OOO of chapter 29 of the General Laws, to pay for an increase in the Medicaid rates paid to acute hospitals and physicians; and provided further, that not less than 15 per cent of the increase shall be allocated to rate increases for physicians; provided, further, that for fiscal year 2008, an additional $90,000,000 for a total of $180,000,000, shall be made available from the Commonwealth Care Trust Fund in accordance with this section, to pay for an increase in the Medicaid rates paid to acute hospitals and physicians; provided, however, that not less than 15 per cent of the increase shall be allocated to rate increases for physicians. In fiscal year 2009, an additional $90,000,000, for a total of $270,000,000, shall be made available to pay for an increase in the Medicaid rates paid to acute hospitals, as defined in section 1 of chapter 118G of the General Laws, and physicians; provided, that not less than 15 per cent of the increase shall be allocated to rate increases for physicians. In fiscal year 2008, not more than $20,000,000 of the amounts to be made available to acute hospitals under this section shall be contingent on hospital adherence to quality standards and achievement of performance benchmarks, including the reduction of racial and ethnic disparities in the provision of health care, in accordance with said section 13B of said chapter 118E. For fiscal year 2008, any such performance benchmarks shall be determined by the secretary of health and human services without any limitation but in consultation with hospitals, the MassHealth payment policy advisory board and the health care quality and cost council, and may include measures to be reported by hospitals to the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for Reporting Hospital Quality Data for Annual Payment Update, to the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations for core measures, or to the MassHealth Program pursuant to Appendix G of the contract between MassHealth and acute hospitals for Rate Year 2007 or other nationally-recognized measures that are drawn on those approved by the National Quality Forum and adopted by the Hospitals Quality Alliance Performance benchmarks and quality measures related to racial and ethnic disparities in the provision of health care. The secretary shall, after consultation required by said section 13B of said chapter 118E, issue final quality standards and performance benchmarks for use in the hospital fiscal year beginning October 1, 2007. For purposes of payments to hospital pursuant to this section, fiscal year shall mean the hospitals fiscal year and, for purposes of any payments to physicians pursuant to this section, fiscal year shall mean the state fiscal year.