An Act to extend enhanced Medicaid benefits to eligible hospitals

This bill directs the Massachusetts Secretary of Health and Human Services to provide monthly financial support to specific hospitals that meet certain criteria. To qualify for these payments, a hospital must be non-profit or municipal, serve a patient population that is at least 60% public payers, have a lower-than-average statewide relative price, and not be part of a large hospital system with over $600 million in assets. The enhanced payments are calculated as 5% of the hospital's average monthly Medicaid revenue from the previous year and are capped at a total of $35 million per fiscal year. Additionally, the law ensures that these new funds do not reduce any existing Medicaid payments the hospital is already entitled to receive.