Senate Assistant Majority Leader Joan B. Lovely (D-Salem) announced last Friday that the Massachusetts Legislature 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. Reckless 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.
“I am pleased to have joined my legislative colleagues in passing this crucial funding measure to bolster our local healthcare ecosystem,” said Sen. Lovely. “This funding will ensure that we are able to take care of some of our most vulnerable residents, upholding the high healthcare standards that our Commonwealth has maintained for decades.”
Senate President Karen E. Spilka (D-Ashland) said, “Massachusetts has a healthcare ecosystem that is the envy of other states, and that doesn’t happen by accident. Supporting every resident is part of what it means to be a leader in healthcare access.
“This funding will help our hospitals and community health centers provide high-quality care in every region, and provide critical services to our veterans, seniors and municipalities. I’m grateful to Chair Rodrigues for his leadership, Senator Friedman for her unrivaled expertise, my Senate colleagues for their work, and our partners in the House for their support.”
House Speaker Ronald J. Mariano (D-Quincy) said, “This funding will help to ensure that financially strained hospitals and community health centers can continue to serve patients across Massachusetts.
“As broad fiscal uncertainty and actions taken by the Trump Administration continue to exacerbate the challenges that hospitals are already facing, this supplemental budget is the latest example of the work that we are doing here in Massachusetts to provide targeted support where it is needed most.”
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.
- It 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.
- It 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.
- It supports 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 last Thursday, sending the legislation to the Governor for her signature.
