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Budget Recommendations
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Comptroller - Related Outside Sections Detail
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| Office of the Comptroller |
| Office of the Comptroller |
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Repeal of Fund
SECTION 17.
Section 2FF of chapter 29 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby repealed. As of the effective date of this section, the comptroller shall transfer any remaining balance in the fund to the General Fund.
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Establishment of the Medical Assistance Trust Fund
SECTION 18.
Said chapter 29, as so appearing, is hereby amended by adding the following:-
Section 2OOO. There shall be established on the books of the commonwealth the Medical Assistance Trust Fund, which shall be administered by the secretary of health and human services. Funds from this account may be expended for supplemental Medicaid payments to qualifying providers pursuant to an approved state plan or federal waiver. Amounts credited to the fund shall not be subject to further appropriation.
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MassHealth - Hospital Supplemental Payment #1
SECTION 61.
Section 18 of said chapter 118G, as so appearing, is hereby amended by adding the following subsection:-
(q) Within the Medical Assistance Trust Fund as established in section 2OOO of chapter 29, there is hereby established a MassHealth provider payment account, administered by the secretary of the executive office of health and human services. Subject to the availability of federal financial participation, funds may be expended from this account for supplemental Medicaid payments to qualifying providers pursuant to an approved state plan or federal waiver. All Title XIX federal financial participation revenue generated by hospital payments funded by the Medical Assistance Trust Fund, whether the payments are made by the division of health care finance and policy or the executive office of health and human services, shall be credited to the General Fund.
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Health Care Security Trust Fund Transfer to General Fund
SECTION 74.
Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, during fiscal year 2007, the comptroller shall transfer $50,000,000 from the Health Care Security Trust Fund, established under chapter 29D of the General Laws, to the General Fund.
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Peterson Case Transfer
SECTION 75.
Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, on or before June 30, 2007, the comptroller shall transfer $60,500,000 from the Commonwealth Stabilization Fund, established pursuant to section 2H of chapter 29 of the General Laws, to the General Fund for monies due taxpayers as a result of the enactment of sections 57, 57A, and 57B of chapter 163 of the acts of 2005.
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Suspension of Transfer
SECTION 76.
Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, during fiscal year 2007 there shall be no transfer by the comptroller of one-half of 1 per cent of the total revenue from taxes in the preceding fiscal year to the Stabilization Fund as specified in clause (a) of section 5c of chapter 29 of the General Laws.
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Tobacco Settlement Monies
SECTION 77.
Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, during fiscal year 2007, the comptroller shall transfer from the Health Care Security Trust, established under chapter 29D of the General Laws, to the General Fund an amount equal to 100 per cent of the total of all payments received by the commonwealth in fiscal year 2007 pursuant to the master settlement agreement in the action known as Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Philip Morris, Inc., et. al., Middlesex Superior Court, No. 95-7378, and 50 per cent of the earnings generated in fiscal year 2007 from the Health Care Security Trust as certified by the comptroller pursuant to paragraph (f) of section 3 of chapter 29D of the General Laws for certain health care expenditures appropriated in section 2 of this act.
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UMass/Health and Human Services Interagency Service Agreements
SECTION 83.
Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, the executive office of health and human services pursuant to section 16 of chapter 6A of the general laws, acting in its capacity as the single state agency under Title XIX of the Social Security Act, and other federally assisted programs administered by said secretariat, and as the principal agency for all of the agencies within the secretariat, is authorized to enter into interdepartmental services agreements with the university of Massachusetts medical school to perform such activities as the secretary, in consultation with the comptroller, determines are appropriate and within the scope of the proper administration of said Title XIX and other federal funding provisions to otherwise support the programs and activities of the executive office. Such activities shall include: (1) provision of administrative services, including, but not limited to, activities such as providing the medical expertise to support or administer utilization management activities, determining eligibility based on disability, supporting case management activities and similar initiatives; (2) consulting services related to quality assurance, program evaluation and development, integrity and soundness and project management; and (3) activities and services for the purpose of pursuing federal reimbursement or avoiding costs, third party liability and recouping payments to third parties. Federal reimbursement for any expenditures made by the university of Massachusetts medical school relative to federally-reimbursable services the university provides under said interdepartmental service agreements or other contracts with the executive office of health and human services shall be distributed to the university. The secretary may negotiate contingency fees for activities and services related to the purpose of pursuing federal reimbursement or avoiding costs, and the comptroller shall be directed to certify said fees and pay upon the receipt of such revenue, reimbursement or demonstration of costs avoided; provided however that the secretary shall not pay contingency fees in excess of $40,000,000 for state fiscal year 2007. The secretary of health and human services shall submit to the secretary of administration and finance and the senate and house committees on ways and means a quarterly report detailing the amounts of the agreements, the ongoing and new projects undertaken by the university, the amounts spent on personnel and the amount of federal reimbursement and recoupment payments that the university was able to collect.
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MassHealth - Spending Authorization for Nursing Facility Assessment
SECTION 84.
(a) Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, in fiscal year 2007, the division of health care finance and policy, hereinafter referred to as the division, shall establish nursing facility Medicaid rates, payable out of the Health Care Quality Improvement Trust Fund established under section 2EEE of chapter 29, effective July 1, 2006 through June 30, 2007 that cumulatively total $288,500,000 more than the annual payment rates established by the division under the rates in effect as of June 30, 2002, as mandated under section 1 of chapter 42 of the acts of 2003. Payments from the fund shall be allocated in the following manner in fiscal year 2007:
(1) $287,950,000 for the purposes of Medicaid per diem rate payments to nursing homes participating in the MassHealth program for services provided to MassHealth members during fiscal year 2007, provided that as a condition for such funds, the division shall require that each nursing home document to the division that at least $50,000,000 of such funds are spent only on direct care staff by increasing the wages, hours and benefits of direct care staff, increasing the facility's staff-to-patient ratio, or by demonstrably improving the facility's recruitment and retention of nursing staff to provide quality care, which shall include expenditure of funds for nursing facilities which document actual nursing spending that is higher than the median nursing cost per management minute in the base year used to calculate Medicaid nursing facility rates. A facility's direct care staff shall include any and all nursing personnel including registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, and certified nurses' aides hired by the facility from any temporary nursing agency or nursing pool registered with the department of public health. The division shall credit wage increases that are over and above any previously collectively bargained for wage increases. In monitoring compliance under this clause, the division's regulations shall adjust any spending compliance test to reflect any Medicaid nursing facility payment reductions, including, but not limited to, rate reductions imposed on or after October 1, 2002. The expenditure of these funds shall be subject to audit by the division in consultation with the department of public health and the executive office of health and human services;
(2) $300,000 for the purposes of an audit of funds distributed pursuant to subsection (1). The division of health care finance and policy, in consultation with the department of public health and with the assistance of the executive office of health and human services, shall establish penalties sufficient to deter noncompliance to be imposed against any facility that expends any or all monies in violation of subsection (1), including but not limited to recoupment, assessment of fines or interest; and
(3) $250,000 to fund expenses at the division of health care finance and policy related to the implementation and administration of section 25 of chapter 118G of the General Laws.
(b) The comptroller shall transfer from the Health Care Security Trust Fund to the Health Care Quality Improvement Trust Fund on the first business day of each quarter, the amount indicated by the division of health care finance and policy to fund the expenditures described herein.
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MassHealth - Hospital Supplemental Payment #2
SECTION 85.
The Comptroller shall, in consultation with the office of the state treasurer, the executive office for administration and finance, and the executive office of health and human services, develop a schedule and shall make a series of transfers not to exceed $251,000,000 from the General Fund to the MassHealth provider payment account in the Medical Assistance Trust Fund established in section 18 of this act.
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Effective Date - Repeal of Fund
SECTION 90.
Section 17 shall take effect June 30, 2006.
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