Section 23 Hospital Assessment 1

Section 2TTTTT of chapter 29 of the General Laws, as inserted by section 22 of chapter 126 of the acts of 2022, is hereby amended by striking out subsections (c) and (d) and inserting in place thereof the following subsections:-
(c)(1) The secretary shall expend money in the fund, including all amounts credited to the fund, for payments to qualifying acute hospital providers under contract with the executive office of health and human services or under subcontracts with care organizations that contract with the executive office in connection with the MassHealth program as provided further, in paragraphs (2) to (4), inclusive.
(2) The secretary shall annually expend amounts from the fund averaging, for the 3 year period from October 1, 2024, through September 30, 2027, not less than $1,787,589,184 per year; provided, however, that all such payments shall fall into 1 of the following categories: (i) health equity incentive payments; (ii) clinical quality incentive payments; (iii) other incentive payments; (iv) rate payments for services provided to MassHealth members; (v) targeted payments to: (A) freestanding pediatric acute hospitals; or (B) nonprofit teaching acute hospitals that provide medical, surgical, emergency and obstetrical services and are affiliated with a state-owned medical school. The secretary may determine funding allocations among and within each such category within a given year; provided, however, that such allocations shall be consistent with all approved federal waivers and state plan provisions; and provided further, that the secretary shall allocate an average of not less than $560,000,000 per year, for the 3 year period from October 1, 2024, through September 30, 2027, for the rate payments described in clause (iv).
(3) Of the targeted payments described in clause (iv) of paragraph (2), the secretary shall expend annually from the fund: (i) $25,000,000 to freestanding pediatric acute hospitals, of which at least 90 per cent shall be paid to the freestanding pediatric hospital with the largest volume of inpatient discharges in fiscal year 2019; and (ii) $25,000,000 to nonprofit teaching acute hospitals that provide medical, surgical, emergency and obstetrical services and are affiliated with a state-owned medical school.
(4) Of the incentive payments described in clauses (i) and (ii) of paragraph (2), the secretary shall make interim payments to qualifying hospitals based on the secretary's estimate of each such hospital's final payment for the measurement period, with each such estimate as determined by the secretary. As soon as practicable after the close of the measurement period, the secretary shall determine the final amount of each qualifying hospital's incentive payments, and shall reconcile each hospital's interim payment with its final payment.
(d) If any portion of the final annual amount allocated by the secretary to health equity incentive payments or clinical quality incentive payments is unearned during the relevant measurement period for such payment, as determined by the secretary, the secretary shall transfer the state's share of that unearned amount to the Health Safety Net Trust Fund established in section 66 of chapter 118E.

This section, along with other related sections, allows MassHealth to modify the current hospital assessment to increase collections.