Furthering health empowerment and affordability by leveraging transformative health care

What it means

A Senate Ways and Means health care cost bill with several main parts. On costs, it creates a Hospital Alignment and Review Council to track hospital spending growth and price gaps between hospitals, limits hospital "facility fees" for certain outpatient services, caps out-of-network payments at the 80th percentile of allowed charges until December 31, 2019, requires insurers to pay for care for at least 50 per cent of enrollees through alternative payment methods by July 1, 2019, and sets a goal of cutting hospital readmissions 20 per cent between 2017 and 2020. On drugs, it adds reporting on drug prices and pharmacy benefit managers, requires early notice of new drugs from manufacturers, and starts a state prescriber education program. On coverage and care, it lets MassHealth offer an optional plan that individuals or employers can buy into, requires coverage of telemedicine, licenses dental therapists, expands what optometrists and nurse practitioners may do, requires providers to disclose prices on request within 2 working days, and funds prevention, mobile integrated health care and behavioral health urgent care, along with several task forces and studies.

Source: official text and history of S.2202 on malegislature.gov. This describes the bill text posted there; amendments may have changed the version that was voted on.