Special to the Journal
The Massachusetts Legislature recently enacted a supplemental budget bill that prioritizes care for the state’s most vulnerable populations by strategically targeting support to fiscally-strained hospitals and community health centers.
The legislation, H.4530, addresses a widening funding gap in the Health Safety Net program, which pays acute care hospitals and community health centers for necessary medical care for low-income, uninsured, and underinsured Massachusetts residents. Federal policies and funding shortfalls have exacerbated the fiscal strain on these vital institutions that serve people most in need.
This legislative response provides critical relief in the face of an unfriendly federal government and economic headwinds, distributing aid based on criteria that directs funding to vulnerable populations most in need of assistance.
“As a member of the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing, I have toured hospitals and community health centers across the Commonwealth and heard directly from health care experts about the urgent challenges they face,” said Representative Judith Garcia. “In communities like Chelsea and Everett, hospitals and community health centers are a lifeline for families who too often fall through the cracks of our health care system. This funding ensures these vital institutions can keep delivering affordable, high-quality care even as financial pressures grow. I am proud to join my colleagues in making this critical investment in the future of health care.”
Strengthening Massachusetts Hospital Systems
The funding agreement makes $199 million available for eligible high public payer acute care hospitals across the Commonwealth through an approach that maximizes federal financial reimbursements, stabilizes the Health Safety Net Trust Fund, and makes targeted payments to hospitals to maximize the impact of taxpayer dollars.
Provides $122 million in targeted relief payments to certain acute care hospitals utilizing eligibility criteria designed to maximize the impact of taxpayers’ dollars for those hospitals and communities which need it most. The eligibility criteria include:
Each hospital’s patient mix, prioritizing those which serve the greatest share of the state’s low-income population.
Each hospital’s affordability, prioritizing those which provide services at the most affordable prices.
Each hospital’s financial standing, prioritizing those which have the most severe fiscal strain.
Transfers $77 million into the Health Safety Net Trust Fund to stabilize the program for hospitals providing services to the greatest share of the Commonwealth’s vulnerable populations.
Supporting
Massachusetts
Community Health
Centers
Community health centers continue to support the Commonwealth’s greatest share of vulnerable populations while facing federal funding delays, Medicaid cuts, and rising pharmaceutical and other medical costs.
The agreement provides $35 million in financial relief to community health centers, including $2.5 million for the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers to facilitate regional savings initiatives, including shared service options.
Both chambers of the Legislature voted to enact the supplemental budget on Thursday, sending the legislation to the Governor for her signature.
