Section 55 Hospital Assessment 12

Said section 66 of said chapter 118E, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by striking out subsection (b) and inserting in place thereof the following subsection:-

(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 chapter 29; (v) any transfers from the Hospital and Investment Performance Trust Fund established in section 2SSSSS of 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 monies transferred from the Hospital Investment and Performance Trust Fund established in section 2SSSSS of chapter 29, and 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 provision. Annually, the office shall transfer an amount equal to all amounts paid by privately-owned, nonfederal hospitals under subsection (b) of said 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 monies 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 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.

This section, along with twenty others, implements an increased and restructured hospital assessment that divides hospitals into five groups, assigning two different rates for each group (inpatient and outpatient), for a five-year term.