The new law will:
Achieve Billions in Savings: Sets
a first-in-the-nation target for controlling the growth of health care
costs. The law holds the annual increase in total health care spending
to the rate of growth of the state’s Gross State Product (GSP) for the
first five years, through 2017, and then even lower for the next five
years, to half a percentage point below the economy’s growth rate, and
then back to GSP.Results in nearly $200
billion in health care cost savings over the next 15 years, which will
lead to up to $10,000 in additional take-home pay, per worker, over 15
years.The average family will see an estimated savings of $40,000 on their health care premiums over 15 years.
Move to Alternative Payments: To
control costs and improve quality of care, the law requires government
agencies like MassHealth, the GIC and the Connector to use global and
other alternative payments to achieve savings for taxpayers. Encourages
alternative delivery systems across health care fields to deliver
additional savings for patients, business owners and working families.
Increase Transparency: The
law also gives consumers better information about the price of
procedures and health care services by requiring health insurers to
provide a toll-free number and website that enables consumers to request
and obtain price information.
Address Market Power: To
monitor and address the market power and price disparities that can
lead to higher costs, the law allows a Health Policy Commission to
conduct a cost and market impact review of any provider organization to
ensure that they can justify price variations. The law identifies
triggers for when a provider or provider organization will be referred
to the attorney general for investigation. An independent Center for
Health Information and Analysis will conduct data collection and
reporting functions.
Promote Wellness: The
law creates a Wellness Fund of $60 million administered by the
Massachusetts Department of Public Health for competitive grants to
community-based organizations, health care providers and regional
planning organizations.
Enact Malpractice Reform: The
law includes malpractice provisions proposed by Governor Patrick,
requiring a “cooling-off” period before a party may initiate a suit,
while making providers’ apologies inadmissible as evidence. Many studies
show that an apology can prevent a lawsuit but due to the threat of
litigation, providers have oftentimes remained silent.
Support Health Information Technology Massachusetts
is already a national leader in adopting electronic health records and
health IT efforts. The law complements these efforts, by advancing
several health information technology programs, including the Executive
Office of Health and Human Services' work with the Obama Administration
to build and operate the statewide health information exchange.
It appears however that what was enacted was a price cap mechanism on the provision of services. What also seems confusing is that if we have ACA then what is the State doing with regard to this? This has thus become a confusing nightmare for Massachusetts hospitals as well as physicians. They now see conflicting legislation and almost instantaneous reimbursement reductions, with a similar reduction on Medicare as well.
The Teaching Hospitals it appears will suffer the most. It will be interesting to see what happens in the long term. Medical education may become what we now see in Teacher education. A disaster!
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