Massachusetts 2025-2026 Regular Session

Massachusetts Senate Bill S866 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	1 of 1
2	2	SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1621 FILED ON: 1/16/2025
3	3	SENATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 866
4	4	The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
5	5	_________________
6	6	PRESENTED BY:
7	7	Cindy F. Friedman
8	8	_________________
9	9	To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
10	10	Court assembled:
11	11	The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:
12	12	An Act to protect medically fragile children.
13	13	_______________
14	14	PETITION OF:
15	15	NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :Cindy F. FriedmanFourth MiddlesexSean Garballey23rd Middlesex1/28/2025 1 of 4
16	16	SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1621 FILED ON: 1/16/2025
17	17	SENATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 866
18	18	By Ms. Friedman, a petition (accompanied by bill, Senate, No. 866) of Cindy F. Friedman and
19	19	Sean Garballey for legislation to protect medically fragile children. Health Care Financing.
20	20	[SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION
21	21	SEE SENATE, NO. 748 OF 2023-2024.]
22	22	The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
23	23	_______________
24	24	In the One Hundred and Ninety-Fourth General Court
25	25	(2025-2026)
26	26	_______________
27	27	An Act to protect medically fragile children.
28	28	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority
29	29	of the same, as follows:
30	30	1 SECTION 1. Section 24 of Chapter 12C of the General Laws is hereby amended by
31	31	2adding at the end of the first paragraph the following sentence:
32	32	3 In developing the biennial report, the center shall seek input from nurses who provide
33	33	4continuous skilled nursing care and patients and family members of patients that receive
34	34	5continuous skilled nursing care and include in the report information about direct care
35	35	6experiences.
36	36	7 SECTION 2. Chapter 118E of the General Laws is hereby amended by adding the
37	37	8following section:-
38	38	9 Section 83. (a) Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, and subject to
39	39	10appropriation, the executive office of health and human services shall increase the budget for 2 of 4
40	40	11continuous skilled nursing care, as defined in 101 CMR 361 and 130 CMR 403.402, by an
41	41	12amount that ensures:
42	42	13 (1) At least 75 percent of continuous skilled nursing hours authorized by MassHealth are
43	43	14filled on or before July 1, 2025;
44	44	15 (2) At least 80 percent of continuous skilled nursing hours authorized by MassHealth are
45	45	16filled on or before July 1, 2026; and
46	46	17 (3) At least 85 percent of continuous skilled nursing hours authorized by MassHealth are
47	47	18filled on or before July 1, 2027, and shall remain at 85 percent or above thereafter.
48	48	19 (b) The executive office of health and human services may require any portion of the
49	49	20budget increases provided for in this section to be used exclusively to increase the wage payment
50	50	21rate of nurses providing continuous skilled nursing care.
51	51	22 (c) To satisfy the requirements in subsection (a), the executive office of health and human
52	52	23services shall require MassHealth to submit an annual report no later than January 1 that:
53	53	24 (1) demonstrates that MassHealth has not changed its authorization criteria for
54	54	25continuous skilled nursing services in a way that is more restrictive and results in a reduction in
55	55	26the amount of authorized hours that would have been authorized previously; and
56	56	27 (2) includes the following information from the immediately preceding calendar year: (i)
57	57	28the number of filled and unfilled continuous skilled nursing hours authorized by MassHealth; (ii)
58	58	29the number of appeals received by MassHealth for the denial or modification of continuous
59	59	30skilled nursing hours and the number of patients that filed an appeal; (iii) the number of patients
60	60	31that received a reduction in the amount of authorized continuous skilled nursing hours; and (iv) 3 of 4
61	61	32the number of authorized continuous skilled nursing hours reduced from the immediately
62	62	33preceding calendar year, if any.
63	63	34 (d) The executive office of health and human services, in collaboration with MassHealth
64	64	35and after consultation with the Massachusetts Pediatric Nursing Care Campaign, shall
65	65	36promulgate regulations to implement this section.
66	66	37 (e) Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit filling 85 percent of the
67	67	38continuous skilled nursing hours authorized by MassHealth prior to July 1, 2027.
68	68	39 SECTION 3. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the office of
69	69	40Medicaid shall review the wage payment rates established by home health agencies that provide
70	70	41continuous skilled nursing care, as defined in 101 CMR 361.00 and 130 CMR 403.402, for the
71	71	42providers of those services. The office shall provide: (i) an aggregated overview of the wage
72	72	43payment rates paid by home health agencies to staff or contracted nurses providing continuous
73	73	44skilled nursing care, including any increases in said wage rates resulting from increases in
74	74	45Medicaid rates paid to home health agencies for continuous skilled nursing care in state fiscal
75	75	46years 2022, 2023 and 2024; (ii) an aggregated breakdown of said wage rates as applied to the
76	76	47acuity level of patients receiving continuous skilled nursing care; (iii) an aggregated breakdown
77	77	48of said wage rates as applied to the licensure level of the providers of continuous skilled nursing
78	78	49care; and (iv) recommendations on criteria to be included in any future reporting by home health
79	79	50agencies receiving an increase of continuous skilled nursing care rates provided by the office.
80	80	51The office shall provide this report not later than March 1, 2027 to the clerks of the senate and
81	81	52house of representatives, the joint committee on health care financing and the senate and house
82	82	53committees on ways and means. Home health agencies providing continuous skilled nursing care 4 of 4
83	83	54shall provide all information and documentation requested by the office of Medicaid to compile
84	84	55the required report under this section.