Prevention and Wellness Trust Fund evaluation
SECTION 250.
The Prevention and Wellness Advisory Board established in section 2H of chapter 111 of the General Laws shall evaluate the program authorized in section 2G of said chapter 111 and shall issue a report. The report shall include an analysis of all relevant data to determine the effectiveness and return on investment of the program including, but not limited to, an analysis of: (i) the extent to which the program impacted the prevalence of preventable health conditions; (ii) the extent to which the program reduced health care costs or the growth in health care cost trends; (iii) whether health care costs were reduced and who benefited from the reduction; (iv) the extent to which workplace-based wellness or health management programs were expanded and whether those programs improved employee health, productivity and recidivism; (v) if employee health and productivity were improved or employee recidivism was reduced, the estimated statewide financial benefit to employers; (vi) recommendations for whether the program should be discontinued, amended or expanded and a timetable for implementation of the recommendations; and (vii) recommendations for whether the funding mechanism for the fund should be extended beyond 2016 or whether an alternative funding mechanism should be established.
The department of public health shall contract with an outside organization that has expertise in the analysis of health care financing to assist the board in conducting its evaluation. The outside organization shall, to the extent possible, obtain and use actual health plan data from the all-payer claims database as administered by the center for health information and analysis; provided, however, that the data shall be confidential and shall not be a public record under clause Twenty-sixth of section 7 of chapter 4 of the General Laws.
The board shall report the results of its evaluation and its recommendations, if any, and drafts of legislation necessary to carry out the recommendations to the house and senate committees on ways and means and the joint committee on public health and shall post the board's report on the website of the department of public health not later than January 31, 2017.