An Act relative to the sustainability of high public payer community hospitals

This bill establishes a funding program to support financially struggling community hospitals in Massachusetts that serve a large number of Medicaid patients. It directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make monthly payments equal to 5% of each eligible hospital's average monthly Medicaid revenue from the previous year, with a total annual cap of $35 million. To qualify, a hospital must be non-profit or municipal, have a public payer mix of at least 60%, and not be part of a large, multi-hospital corporate chain. The legislation also allows the state to require conditions to ensure these funds can be reimbursed by the federal government and authorizes the creation of regulations to implement the program.