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The following was submitted by the Office of Sen. Jason Lewis:
State Sens. Jason Lewis and Pat Jehlen and state Reps. Michael Day and Michelle Ciccolo joined their colleagues in the Massachusetts Legislature to pass urgent reforms to the Commonwealth’s healthcare system to boost oversight and transparency in the market and improve patient access to quality, affordable treatment.
This new law closes loopholes in the healthcare market regulatory process exposed by the collapse of Steward Health Care, increases financial transparency of hospitals and other providers, and will help ensure a more stable and sustainable healthcare system in Massachusetts.
“Access to high-quality, affordable healthcare should be a basic human right, but unfortunately some healthcare providers like Steward have put profits ahead of patients and engaged in greed and mismanagement,” said Lewis. “The reforms contained in this important legislation will help prevent this from happening again, thereby protecting patients and access to care.”
“It’s extremely sad that it took avoidable deaths at Steward hospitals, and then their sale and closure to get us to take action to protect these vital hospitals from predatory practices,” said Jehlen. “I'm hopeful that this bill and the actions it requires will help prevent future tragedies.”
“The collapse of the Steward Health Care system and lack of oversight into its operations and ownership structure made clear the need for increased transparency into our hospital system,” said Day. “This legislation is designed to ensure that all Massachusetts residents continue to have access to exceptional care by prioritizing patients over profits.”
“The residents of our Commonwealth deserve health care that serves them, not the interests of wealthy investment groups,” said Ciccolo. “This law is a critical first step in making progress towards a more stable, more affordable, and ever higher quality healthcare system.”
Key provisions of this legislation include:
• Expanding state oversight of hospitals and registered provider organizations (RPOs), including significant private equity investors.
• Increasing penalties for not complying with data reporting requirements.
• Requiring the Department of Public Health (DPH) to hold a public hearing prior to any hospital or essential health service closure, and authorizing DPH to seek an impact analysis of a hospital or essential service closure.
• Expanding the Attorney General’s authority to monitor healthcare trends and enforce the False Claims Act by allowing her office to seek information from significant equity investors, real estate investment trusts (REITs), and management services organizations (MSOs), and to hold entities with an ownership or controlling interest in a provider organization liable if they are aware of false claims submitted to the government.
• Ensuring adequate warning before medical equipment can be repossessed.
• Increasing financial transparency by expanding the authority of state agencies to monitor hospital financial conditions, including investments and information on any relationships with significant private equity investors, healthcare REITs, and MSOs.
• Expanding the scope of the annual healthcare cost trends hearings held by the Health Policy Commission (HPC).
• Establishing a new Office of Health Resource Planning within the HPC to produce a state health plan with a forecast of anticipated demand, supply, and distribution of healthcare resources on a statewide and regional basis.
• Improving access to primary care by establishing a task force to study and make recommendations for improving primary care access, delivery, and financial stability.
After final passage in the House of Representatives and Senate, Gov. Maura Healey signed the bill into law on Jan. 8, 2025.
