| Senator Moore's Health Care Legislation |
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AN
ACT TO
PROMOTE SAFE PATIENT CARE AND SUPPORT THE
NURSING PROFESSION
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 1244 | Status
Features: Strengthening
the Nursing Profession
This bill will provide a process to bolster the supply of nurses and nurse faculty through incentives for students and matching grants for hospitals. It also creates a public accountability process for developing staffing patterns for patient care. The bill further provides a process to evaluate and report on measures to improve the quality of patient care through staffing patterns.
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An
Act Reforming the Medical Malpractice System
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 953 | Status
This bill will make several fundamental changes to the medical malpractice system such as, stricter standards on expert witnesses, the elimination of joint and several liability, and extension of the collateral source rule to future sources of compensation. In addition, the bill sets up a system of medical malpractice “reinsurance” for physicians to help lower premiums, requires that the DOI approve increases in medical malpractice premiums, mandates that surgeons use patient education to lower rates of postoperative surgery complications, that hospitals file nurse staffing plans to ensure appropriate coverage by nurses and that mediation by made available to avoid costly litigation.
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AN
ACT RELATING
TO THE MASSACHUSETTS CENTER FOR NURSING, INC.
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 1245 | Status
Creates a formalized relationship between the Massachusetts Center for Nursing (MCN) and state government. Fosters the development of the Center as repository for all nursing data in the Commonwealth.
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AN
ACT RELATIVE
TO CONTINUITY OF COVERAGE FOR MEDICAID
BENEFICIARIES OVER THE AGE OF 65
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 415 | Status
Generally, eligibility for Medicaid is based on 133 percent of the federal-poverty level for parents and nonworking adults under 65 years of age. Eligibility for Medicaid is based on 100 percent of the federal-poverty level for parents and non-working adults over the age of 65. This would change the federal poverty guideline from 100% to 133% to provide a smooth transition for those citizens who become senior citizens.
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AN
ACT REQUIRING
HOSPITALS TO NOTIFY PATIENTS OF PHYSICIAN
DISCIPLINE
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 1246 | Status
This bill will require that hospitals have a procedure in place to notify patients when a physician treating patients at that hospital is disciplined or suspended. A recent case involving a physician who left a patient during surgery to go and cash a check, revealed that hospitals do not have formal policies in place to notify patients when physicians are under suspension or subject to disciplinary action. Such a policy is necessary to ensure that patients are properly treated and that they have access to full information about their treatment.
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AN
ACT RELATIVE
TO SAFE WORK HOURS FOR PHYSICIANS IN TRAINING
AND PROTECTION OF PATIENTS
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 1247 | Status
This bill would authorize and direct the Department of Public Health to promulgate rules and regulations relative to limiting the number of hours medical interns and resident-physicians work in any given week. Currently, most interns and resident-physicians work anywhere from 100-120 hours a week. This bill would also create an advisory board within DPH that would assist the department in drafting the regulations and would serve in an advisory capacity for future revisions of said regulations.
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| AN ACT RELATIVE
TO VOLUNTEER PHYSICIANS
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 1248 | Status
The Board of Registration of Medicine will grant or renew a qualified physician's registration for free so the physician can participate in the free care program operated by a non-profit organization. The Board may restrict, by regulation, physicians’ scope of practice whose registration is granted or renewed under this section. Physicians licensed to provide voluntary care are not required to carry malpractice insurance but are required to meet all other Board requirements regarding care, education and competence in medicine.
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AN
ACT PROVIDING FOR THE PROPER PREVENTION OF
PNEUMONIA IN HEALTH CARE WORKERS
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 1249 | Status
This bill would allow Physicians, nurses and employees in acute inpatient hospitals, outpatient care settings, nursing homes and chronic care facilities, health care workers with high risk medical conditions or age 65+, and those who provide home care to persons with high risk for the flu, to receive an annual pneumococcal vaccine. The Commissioner of DPH can establish exceptions to this requirement based on medical concerns. Elder care facilities shall offer this vaccine to all residents and users of such facilities by November 30 of each year.
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| AN ACT RELATIVE
TO DRUG SAMPLES
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 1250 | Status
This legislation sets forth standards for the distribution of drug samples. Such as the prescriber providing the patient with information about the drug sample, allowing a pharmacist to dispense a drug sample under physician approval, and requiring pharmaceutical manufacturers to keep records of their distribution of drug samples to
prescribers.
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| AN ACT RELATIVE
TO A BOARD OF REGISTRATION IN MIDWIFERY
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 1251 | Status
This legislation creates a Board of Registration of Midwifery to regulate the practice of certified nurse midwives, certified midwives and certified professional midwives. The bill also authorizes the Board and the Department of Public Health (DPH) to promulgate regulations relative to the prescription-writing and medication administration privileges of midwives.
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AN
ACT REQUIRING
CERTAIN HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS TO FILE
PRESCRIPTION ETHICS AND RESPONSIBILITY
CONFIRMATION STATEMENTS
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 1252 | Status
This bill requires physicians, physician assistants, certain nurses, dentists, pharmacists, assistant pharmacists, optometrists, and podiatrists to file PERC statements with their respective boards upon license renewal. The PERC statement is to contain the name and address of the donor and the market value or a reasonable estimate of any gifts or honoraria worth more than $50 that is received from a pharmaceutical company. The purpose of this act is to ensure balance, independence, integrity, professional objectivity and scientific rigor in all prescriber-patient relationships. All prescribers receiving gifts or honoraria from persons who manufacture, sell, market or distribute prescription drugs or medical devices are expected to publicly disclose such benefits. The intent of this disclosure is not to prevent a prescriber from receiving such gift or honoraria, but rather to provide patients and the general public with information on which they can make their own judgments. It remains for the patient to determine whether the prescriber's interests or relationships may influence the practice of health care with regard to objectivity or integrity.
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AN
ACT RELATIVE
TO MASSHEALTH ENROLLMENT FOR PERSONS LEAVING
CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 1253 | Status
This bill would allow inmates the ability to sign up for MassHealth benefits as a process of their discharge from incarceration. This would allow for a continuum of care for a population of people who traditionally receive little or no health care services.
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AN
ACT REQUIRING
AN ANALYSIS OF MEDICAID HOME HEALTH RATES
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 668 | Status
This legislation directs the Division of Health Care Finance & Policy to conduct an analysis of Class Rates, and Pediatric Private Duty reimbursement rates under Medicaid. The Division of Health Care Finance & Policy is to hire an outside consultant with experience with the home health field for reviewing regulations, current practices and policies regarding commercial third party liability
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AN
ACT RELATIVE
TO RESERVING BEDS IN NURSING HOMES DURING CERTAIN LEAVES OF
ABSENCE
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 416 | Status
This bill would codify current MassHealth regulation to allow a MassHealth nursing home resident to leave a nursing home for twenty days for medical reasons and fifteen days for non-medical reasons. The Division of Medical Assistance would be required to reimburse nursing homes, at the same daily rate the facility received prior to the resident’s leave, for residents who have to leave the nursing home for medical or non-medical reasons.
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| AN ACT RELATIVE
TO THE ADULT FOSTER CARE PROGRAM
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 417 | Status
Currently, assisted living residents who have an income of less than 133% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) can apply for the Medicaid program known as the Group Adult Foster Care Program (GAFC). The resident receives benefits toward rent at the assisted living facility, and the facility will receive a daily fee for personal care services. However, if a resident exceeds 133% of the FPL, they are eligible for Transitional Assistance benefits, but at drastically reduced benefits. As a consequence, very few assisted living facilities will accept Medicaid patients. This bill will assist residents of assisted living facilities to stay in their homes, with economically appropriate assistance that accurately reflects the nature of the benefit provided.
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AN
ACT FURTHER
REGULATING INVESTIGATION OF ABUSE AGAINST
RESIDENTS OF LONG TERM CARE FACILITIES
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 418 | Status
This bill would make changes to M.G.L. c. 111 § 72H regarding the Department of Public Health's investigations of allegations of abuse, neglect or mistreatment of a resident or misappropriation of a resident's belongings in a facility and would require DPH to establish a screening and prioritization system for such investigations. Additionally, the bill would amend chapter 29 to establish a separate fund to be known as the Department of Public Health Inspections Fund. The bill would credit to this fund: a) federal reimbursement received as a result of DPH’s certification of nursing facilities for participation in the Medicaid program; b) revenues from the establishment of a per diem surcharge to private insurance programs covering services provided in nursing facilities; and c) any funds appropriated by the General Court. The bill authorizes the Commissioner of Public Health to expend funds from this fund, without further appropriation, for the costs relating to the investigation of abuse of residents in long-term care facilities.
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AN
ACT REQUIRING
THE DIVISION OF MEDICAL ASSISTANCE TO PROVIDE REIMBURSEMENT
FOR HOME HEALTH AGENCIES FOR THE COSTS
ASSOCIATED WITH CRIMINAL BACKGROUND SCREENING
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 350 | Status
This bill would require the division of medical assistance, subject to appropriation, to reimburse long term care facilities and home health agencies for the portion of their costs associated with obtaining criminal offender record information on employees
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AN
ACT ENSURING
THE SAFETY AND PROTECTION OF HOSPITAL PATIENTS
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 1254 | Status
This bill adds to the current law by allowing other health care facilities to get criminal offender record information for current employees and applicants.
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AN
ACT RELATIVE
TO THE SAFE ADMINISTRATION OF MEDICATIONS AND
LEGIBLE PRESCRIPTIONS
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 419 | Status
This bill requires the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, in conjunction with the Department of Public Health and the Board of Registration of Pharmacy, to convene a task force to develop recommendations for the reduction of medication and prescription errors. The task force, the members of which are enumerated in the legislation, shall consider various methods to reduce medication errors, develop education programs for practitioners writing prescriptions, and study labeling and packaging issues.
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AN
ACT RELATIVE
TO THE MODERNIZATION OPTOMETRIC PATIENT CARE
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 1255 | Status
This bill would add to §66C to M.G.L. c. 112, which would enable registered optometrists, duly certified and registered to issue written prescriptions, to treat eye conditions with oral therapeutic agents. Optometrists can currently treat eye conditions excluding glaucoma with topical therapeutic agents only. This bill requires the optometrists to exercise professional judgment to refer any patient to a licensed physician or other qualified health practitioner if the presenting problems of the patient are not within the scope of practice of the optometrist.
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| AN ACT RELATIVE
TO MEDICATION OCCURRENCE REPORTING
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 1256 | Status
This bill would authorize DPH to impose an administrative fine for failure of any registrant to report to said agency the theft or loss of a controlled substance or the administration of a drug in a manner which violates any provision of
M.G.L. Ch 94C (the Controlled Substances Act) or regulations promulgated there under. Said fine could be up to five hundred dollars for the first failure to report such incident and up to one thousand dollars for each subsequent failure.
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| AN
ACT Establishing the Public Health Hospital Trust Fund
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 669 | Status
This bill would establish a separate trust fund within the Department of Public Health dedicated for the capital needs of the Commonwealth’s four public health hospitals.
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ACT Requiring Hospitals to Report Head Injuries and Spinal Cord Injuries
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 1257 | Status
This bill would require hospitals to report to the Department of Public Health certain data relative to head and spinal cord injuries for the purpose of identifying the incidence, occurrence, and cause of head and spinal cord injuries. The
DPH, in conjunction the Division of Healthcare Finance and Policy will publish and annual report analyzing the costs associated with treating these injuries. The purpose of the report is to promote a coordinated statewide approach to the surveillance, prevention and treatment of head and spinal cord injuries and serve as a recommendation for prevention of such injuries.
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| AN
ACT Requiring the Dma to Reimburse Hospitals for the Costs of Psychiatric Patients on Medical Units
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 1125 | Status
Requires the Division of Medical Assistance to ensure that hospitals where mentally ill patients are on medical units, that the units be reimbursed for services at the standard payment amount per discharge rate.
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| AN
ACT To Ensure Payment for Criminal Offender Record Information Checks For Long Term Care Employees
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 1260 | Status
This bill would clarify the payment mechanism for long term care facilities who request criminal offender record information
(CORI) checks from the Criminal History Systems Board, as mandated under Chapter 336 of the Acts of 1998. The law requires nursing homes and other long term are facilities to obtain a CORI check on any prospective employee who will be providing direct personal care or treatment to residents. The law directs the Division of Medical Assistance (DMA) to reimburse long term care facilities for its portion of the costs associated with obtaining CORI checks, subject to appropriation. CORI checks cost $10 per each request. This bill would require that the DMA reimburse facilities for its share of CORI costs, by allowing long term care facilities to bill DMA for its share of the costs, and receive payment within 30 days of receipt.
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| AN
ACT To Require the Division of Medical Assistance to Provide Adequate Rate Adjustments
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 670 | Status
This bill would require that hospitals receive reasonable annual rate adjustments, commensurate to the Medical Consumer Price Increase for the previous year. This bill is necessary to ensure that the state recognizes that hospitals’ costs increase, and therefore should be adjusted appropriately. Over the past four years, the Medical CPI would have averaged approximately
3.35% per year.
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| AN
ACT Relative to the Board of Registration in Nursing
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 1261 | Status
This bill would shield from liability, any person who in good faith files a complaint, or makes a report to the BORN regarding a nurse’s alleged violation of nursing laws or regulations. This immunity would also apply to any person assisting the BORN or providing information to the BORN at said board’s request.
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| AN
ACT Providing for Capital Outlays for the Acquisition, Upgrading, Development and Implementation of Health Care Technology in the Commonwealth
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 261 | Status
This bill would authorize the Commonwealth to issue a bond that shall provide for grants and zero or low interest loans to state and local agencies of government, institutions of higher education, health care providers, and other health care organizations. The grants and loans would be used to monitor or implement patient safety, medical error reduction systems including but not limited to medication error reduction systems.
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| AN
ACT Providing For Healthy Alternatives in Vending Machines Located In State-Owned Buildings
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 1887 | Status
This bill would require an alternative choice of healthy snacks in vending machines which are located in all state buildings.
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| AN
ACT Require Equitable Payment from the Commonwealth
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 671 | Status
This bill would require EOHHS agencies to compensate behavioral health hospitals their full negotiated rate for behavioral health services provided to MassHealth Patients who are also clients of such agencies, for whom no appropriate alternative placement is available. EOHHS agencies would no longer be allowed to use the “AND” rate category to reimburse hospitals for services provided to an individual who the agency could not appropriately place elsewhere. Hospitals would have to demonstrate a good faith effort to make such appropriate alternative placement before receiving such full rate.
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| AN
ACT Providing For The Investment In Advanced Technologies In Healthcare To Stimulate Job Creation, Economic Opportunity, And Quality Health Care In The Commonwealth
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 262 | Status
This bill creates the Massachusetts Advanced Technologies in Health Care Trust Fund to expand Massachusetts’s technology sector. It aims to simulate the Commonwealth’s economy by providing economic investment grants to promising technology developments that could contribute to the economic, public health, and safety benefits to Massachusetts citizens.
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| AN
ACT To Establish Collaborative Drug Therapy Management to Improve Pharmaceutical Care for Patients in the Commonwealth
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 420 | Status
This legislation would authorize pharmacists to engage in collaborative drug therapy management practice under the supervision and direction of a physician. Prescription drugs and pharmaceutical care are essential tools in today's health care delivery system. Collaborative drug therapy management combines the skill and expertise of physicians and pharmacists to improve pharmaceutical care for patients and health care consumers. Participation in collaborative drug therapy management practice would be completely voluntary. Only pharmacists and physicians who agree to collaborate would enter into an agreement and develop mutually agreed upon collaborative practice protocols. Over 39 states have authorized collaborative drug therapy management practice. As a recognized leader in the provision of quality health care, it is time for Massachusetts to adopt this well-established and successful pharmaceutical care initiative.
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| AN
ACT Providing For Performance Standards for Physicians
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 1264 | Status
Based on a concept proposed by Dr. Lucian Leape of Harvard Medical School, a nationally known expert in patient safety, the bill would provide for the development of a system to review the performance - clinical, personal, and community service - every two years as a part of renewal of the license to practice medicine. The bill calls for certain performance standards, the means of evaluation and the agent to perform the evaluation would be developed and set by regulation. Physicians who are judged to be deficient in the performance standards would be reviewed by the Board of Registration in Medicine and could be granted a renewal if they enter into a consent agreement to take steps to alleviate the causes of the deficiencies. Dr. Leape believes that such a system could significantly reduce the number of serious medical errors that occur annually.
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| AN
ACT Relative to Continuing Education for Prescribers
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 1265 | Status
This bill would require physicians, physician assistants, certain nurses, dentists, optometrists, podiatrists and pharmacists to take two pharmacological courses or seminars every two years to satisfy a continuing education requirement to have a license renewed.
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| AN
ACT To Require Standard Credentialing of Physicians by Health Insurers
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 609 | Status
Requires all state-licensed carriers to use statewide uniform credentialing and re-credentialing applications and to complete the credentialing process for 95% of clean physician applications within 30 calendar days. Facilities delegated to complete the credentialing function on behalf of the carrier are exempt from these requirements.
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| AN
ACT To Define the Use of Observation Services
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 672 | Status
This bill establishes a standard definition of observation services and guidelines for health plans and providers to use to ensure that medically necessary care is provided to patients in the appropriate setting. It would also ensure that physicians and providers can communicate the correct information to hospitalized patients who under current practices are often confused when they are told that their hospital care is considered outpatient care when they are hospitalized overnight.
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| An
Act Regarding Medical Record Retention Requirements
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 1266 | Status
This bill reduces excessive costs to hospitals and clinics related to unnecessary regulatory and administrative requirements. The bill would reduce the current medical record retention period for hospitals from 30 years to 15 years which is greater than: (1) the national average among other state laws - which is 10; (2) the Abandoned Property Act requirements requiring all financial records to be kept for 9 years, (3) the Federal Medicare and Medicaid record retention laws of 5 years; (4) HIPAA provisions of retention for 6 years; and (5) all other providers and health insurers in the state which are 7 years. The bill includes appropriate safeguards for alerting the Department of Public Health prior to destroying any records. During the past two legislative sessions, this bill has been engrossed by the Senate and advanced in the House to the Committee on Bills in Third reading.
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| An
act Relative to Determination of Need for Hospital Beds
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 1267 | Status
Eliminates the current antiquated automatic bed de-licensure law for low occupancy acute hospital beds, an outdated provision given today’s shortage of hospital capacity. The bill also provides for a process to amend the bed licensure process for Long Term Acute Care and Inpatient Rehabilitation Hospitals to mirror federal requirements.
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| An
Act To Preserve Access to Behavioral Health Services
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 1126 | Status
Ensures that access to needed behavioral health services is based only on clinical acuity and medical necessity determinations by the treating physician, and mandates a study of the current gaps in the behavioral health services and ways to fix these gaps prior to any changes in the current carve-out contracts.
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| An
Act Relative to Patient Navigators
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 1268 | Status
The purpose of the bill is to authorize funding for providers to institute patient navigator programs. These programs are intended to assist patients from “health disparity populations,” who have symptoms or abnormal findings indicative of cancer, or who have been diagnosed with cancer, to make their way through the complexities of the health care system, including accessing relevant clinical trials. A “health disparity population” is one in which there exists a significant disparity in the overall rate of disease incidence, morbidity, mortality, or survival rates as compared to the health status of the general population.
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| AN ACT TO ENSURE CONTINUITY OF BEHAVIORAL HEALTH SERVICES
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 605 | Status
It is common practice for insurance companies to "Carve-Out" the administration of its behavioral health services to separate companies. The Carve-Out firms typically will be responsible for authorization of services, concurrent reviews, and claims payment. However, should a carve-out firm encounter financial difficulties or become insolvent, the insurance company should still be responsible for providing that its consumers and providers are not penalized by discontinuance of services. This bill contains two major provisions to protect consumers and providers in the event a utilization review company or other third party is unable to carry out its functions on behalf of an insurance company. Additionally, this bill would ensure that all mandated benefits continue to be in effect for those covered by the insurance company, regardless of whether the carve-out becomes insolvent or otherwise financially unable to continue to operate. Lastly, the bill would provide that providers are not penalized should the insurance company be unable to pay for legitimate claims.
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| An
Act Relative to Establishing a Massachusetts Vision Coalition Fund
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 2071 | Status
This bill would allow motorist to voluntarily donate $1 or more, when renewing their registration- to the Massachusetts Vision Coalition. These contributions will be used to fund vital vision screening programs, eye safety activities and public education campaigns. These services will benefit all members of the Commonwealth, especially those at high risk of eye disease and injury—children, seniors, persons with diabetes, industrial workers and athletes. Almost half of all blindness is preventable and nine out of ten eye injuries are preventable.
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| AN ACT ESTABLISHING THE NURSING AND ALLIED HEALTH TRUST FUND
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 674 | Status
The bill would establish the Massachusetts Nursing and Allied Health Workforce Development Trust Fund. While no revenue stream for the fund is defined in the bill, it could receive appropriations or other funds authorized by the legislature, as well as federal grants, loans, and private donations. The fund would be administered by the Chancellor of Higher Education and would be used (in the form of grants and other payments) on activities designed to a) increase the number of nursing and allied health faculty and students in Massachusetts and b) improve nursing and allied health education in the state's public higher education institutions. The fund could also pay for administration of the Massachusetts Nursing and Allied Health Workforce Development Initiative.
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| An
Act Relative to a Statewide System for Reporting Hospital Acquired Infections
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 1269 | Status
This bill, which is model in part on a landmark bill passed in New York, would require all acute care hospitals to track and then report certain types of hospital-acquired infections. Initially, all hospitals will be required to track and report hospital acquired infections that occur in critical care units to include surgical wound infections and central line related bloodstream infections. The Department could then add additional types of hospital acquired infections.
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| An
Act Relative to Boards of Registration
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 1270 | Status
This bill would consolidate all boards of registration in the Department of Public Health and ensure that each board received fair compensation for its members.
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| An
Act Relative to Incentive Payments for Medical Offices Use of Technology
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 675 | Status
This bill would require the Office of Medicaid to pay any health care provider, including hospitals, clinics and doctors’ offices “annual incentive payments” for using computerized provider order entry (CPOE) record systems for Medicaid-eligible services.
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| An
Act Relative to Medical Errors
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 1271 | Status
This bill would expand adverse event reporting to the Betsy Lehman Center based on a list of extremely rare medical errors identified by the National Quality Forum as events that should never happen to a patient, including surgery on the wrong body part or on the wrong patient. The bill would also absolve public and private payers of paying for services that resulted in any of these adverse events and there would be a prohibition on balance billing.
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| An
Act Relative to Patient Safety
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 1272 | Status
This bill would limit variability in patient flow through a hospital’s Emergency Room. Each hospital with an Emergency Department would be required to file a plan with the Department of Public Health that demonstrates it has implemented measures to smooth out variability, thereby easing patient backlog and the need for emergency diversions. The plan would be subject to approval by the Department. No one method would be mandated; rather hospitals would be permitted to determine on their own how best to achieve the result.
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| An Act Relative to Performing Emergency CPR
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 954 | Status
This bill exempts EMS and other trained personnel from liability for using devices designed to increase myocardial perfusion during cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
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| An Act Relative to Reimbursements for Electronic Medical Consultations
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 676 | Status
This bill would require the executive office of health and human services to conduct a study of the feasibility of providing Medicaid reimbursement to health care providers for consultations with patients conducted via e-mail. It would further require the results of the study to be filed with the joint committee on health care financing.
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| An Act to Provide Coverage for the Use of New Technologies
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 606 | Status
This Act requires that health insurers reimburse providers for the use of approved medical technology if the services are a covered benefit under the subscriber’s health insurance policy, and are approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration.
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| An
Act Establishing a Vision Care Registry
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 1273 | Status
This bill would instruct the Department of Public Health to maintain a vision care registry. Such a registry is important in ensuring that both children and senior citizens are not only getting their eyes screened but are also getting the treatment they need to maintain their vision.
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| an
Act Ensuring Ethical Relationships in Health Care
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 1273 | Status
The legislation adopts essentially the provisions of the Pharmaceutical Research Manufacturers Association code on interactions with healthcare professionals and provides enforcement mechanisms to ensure an ethical relationship between pharmaceutical companies and health care professionals to promote the safety of patients and avoid unethical marketing practices.
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| An
Act Improve the Quality and Cost of Health Care
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 677 | Status
This legislation would track improvement in quality and safety in the Massachusetts health care system and publication will allow policy makers, health care professionals and the public to target efforts needed for further improvement toward achievable goals. Improvement in health care quality has been demonstrated to reduce costs of health care and to improve productivity among the people of the Commonwealth.
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| An
Act Protecting the Confidentiality of Patient Prescription Records
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 1275 | Status
Patient specific and provider specific data relative to issuance of prescription medications is currently sold to pharmaceutical companies to market drugs to patients directly or to reward or punish physicians who prescribe a company’s products. The marketing generated from the identification of such data increases the cost of health care by promoting high cost brand name drugs when generic drugs or lower cost brand drugs that are therapeutically equivalent would be just as effective. New Hampshire in 2006 enacted legislation to protect prescription data.
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| An
Act to Improve the Effectiveness of Public Health Services and Promotion of Prevention
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 678 | Status
The purpose of the bill is to strengthen the state and local public health infrastructure by providing state funding to enhance local public health both directly and by requiring a level of local funding in keeping with the Massachusetts Public Health Association’s Agenda for Public Health Leadership.
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| An
Act To Provide Equitable Coverage for Mental and Substance Abuse
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 607 | Status
This bill would include providing parity of coverage in insurance laws for substance abuse and chemical dependency. In the spring of 2000, the Legislature enacted Chapter 80, which provided full parity for biologically based brain disorders. Several of those illnesses were named; however, there was no mention of coverage for substance abuse and chemical dependency unless the individual was being treated for those illnesses in conjunction with treatment for mental disorders. There should be full parity for substance abuse and chemical dependency, not dependent tied to concomitant mental illness.
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| An
Act To Require Reimbursement for the Costs of Providing Competent Interpreter Services
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 679 | Status
This bill is necessary to ensure that hospitals that provide acute psychiatric services are compensated for the costs of complying with Chapter 66 of the Acts of 2000 “An Act Requiring Competent Interpreter Services in the Delivery of Certain Acute Health Care Services”. Chapter 66 mandated that hospitals that provide acute mental health services must also provide competent interpreter services. There is direction in Chapter 66 to the Division of Medical Assistance to provide reimbursement for said interpreter services, yet is silent on any DMA “carve-out” firm’s obligation, or the obligation of other third party payers, including private insurers. It seems that if there is agreement that one payer should be obligated to meet the hospital’s costs of providing a service that it would be fair that all third-party payers be held to the same standard.
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| An
Act Relative to the Statewide Head Injury Program (SHIP)
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 1276 | Status
At this time SHIP exists only by Trust Fund and a line item in the budget. There would be no funding attached to this bill since all it does is amend the MRC statute in Chapter 6 section 78. to codify the program.
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| An
Act Promoting Telemedicine and Efficiency in the Delivery of Health Care
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 680 | Status
This bill would direct MassHealth to create a state based home telehealth rate to allow home health agencies to provide this vital service to MassHealth patients with chronic diseases. Home telehealth systems have proven especially ideal for chronic disease management. Telehealth use has been found to: 1) Increase contact between the patient and healthcare professionals, while eliminating some travel time; 2) enhance comprehensive health education and patient self management; 3) allow for early interventions leading to reduced hospitalizations and emergency care visits; 3) reduce overall home nursing visits; 4) increase patient satisfaction, and comfort levels. However, despite spending more than $1.4 billion on long term care for elders, Massachusetts Medicaid program will not cover this cost savings technology for clients getting home care.
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| An Act Promoting Health Care Transparency and Consumer Provider Partnerships
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 1277 | Status
Medical errors injure approximately 1 million Americans each year during the course of their hospital stay; up to 100,000 of those patients die as a result. This bill would reduce such adverse outcomes and reform how doctors notify both patients and the commonwealth about these errors when they do occur. Specifically, the bill asks hospitals to follow the recommendations of the Department of Public Health’s Statewide Infection Prevention and Control Initiative to reduce medical errors. It would require hospitals to notify patients about medical errors, publicly report infection rates and report so called “never events” to DPH. The bill would also exempt a doctor’s apology from lawsuits and require hospitals to establish Rapid Response Teams which patients and families could activate when immediate medical attention is needed.
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| An
Act to Establish a Patient Navigator Demonstration Program
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 1278 | Status
Authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make grants to eligible entities for the development and operation of demonstration programs to provide patient navigator services to improve health care outcomes. Requires that each grantee agree to recruit, assign, train, and employ patient navigators who have direct knowledge of the communities they serve to facilitate the care of individuals, including by: (1) acting as contacts for individuals seeking prevention or early detection services for cancer or other chronic diseases; (2) facilitating the involvement of community organizations to provide better access to high-quality health care services to individuals at risk for, or who have, cancer or other chronic diseases; (3) coordinating with the relevant health insurance ombudsman programs to provide information to such individuals about health coverage; (4) notifying individuals of clinical trials; (5) helping patients overcome barriers within the health care system to ensure prompt diagnostic and treatment resolution of an abnormal finding of cancer or other chronic disease; and (6) conducting ongoing outreach to health disparity populations.
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Act Relative to the Treatment of Blood Disorders
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 681 | Status
This bill will prevent antihemophilic drugs from being placed on prior authorization drug lists.
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Act Providing for a Commonwealth Care Medical Home Demonstration Program
Sponsor: Moore
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 677 | Status
This bill establishes a commonwealth care medical home demonstration program for the purpose of redesigning the health care delivery system to provide targeted, accessible, continuous, and coordinated, family-centered care to high need populations including, but not limited to those with multiple chronic illnesses that require regular monitoring, advising, or treatment.
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Act to Promote Enhanced Access to Physicians
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 731 | Status
This bill, modeled on the “Educational Assistance for Teachers Program,” would encourage outstanding medical school graduates and medical residents to work in underserved practice fields in the Commonwealth by providing financial assistance for the repayment of qualified education loans.
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act Establishing Health Care Criteria for Performance Excellence
Documents & Status: Text
of Senate 683 | Status
This bill strengthens the Commonwealth’s new Quality
and Cost Council by linking it with the Baldridge National Quality Program to measure performance excellence in health
care.
Administered through the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Baldridge Program has developed the Baldridge Health |
