An Act relative to stabilizing the Commonwealth’s nursing facilities

This bill aims to stabilize nursing facilities in Massachusetts by updating how the state calculates Medicaid payment rates. It requires the Department of Health and Human Services to adjust rates annually based on official inflation data and to use cost reports from the previous two years rather than older figures. The legislation also mandates that nursing labor costs be set at the statewide average plus 10% and provides a minimum 5% rate increase for facilities where Medicaid residents make up at least 75% of their population. Additionally, it ensures that capital rates for specific construction projects, such as converting larger rooms into smaller ones, are calculated using a fixed methodology from 2019.