By Mr. Moore, a petition (accompanied by bill, Senate,
No. 101) of Richard T. Moore for legislation relative to
funding for school health programs. Children, Families and
Persons with Disabilities. |
By Mr. Moore, a petition (accompanied by bill, Senate,
No. 101) of Richard T. Moore for legislation relative to
funding for school health programs. Children, Families and
Persons with Disabilities. |
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
SECTION 1. Section 72 of chapter 44 of General Laws, as amended by section 55 of chapter 127 of the acts of 1999 is hereby further amended by inserting after the following sentence:- “Any funds received by a local government entity pursuant to the provisions of this section shall be considered unrestricted revenue of the local government entity and may be spent in accordance with any general or special law governing the expenditure of the entity’s revenues.”, the following sentence:‑
“provided, however, that a city, town or regional school district shall deposit in a separate account for expenditure by the school committee no less than 75 percent of any such amount; provided, further, that a school committee may make expenditures from said separate account for the enhancement of school health services, including but not limited to school-based health centers and school nursing programs or any lawful health-educational purposes without further appropriation; provided further, that any expenditure from said account on items qualifying as net school spending shall supplement, and not substitute for, the net school spending requirement of the district; and provided, further, that the receipt of such funds shall not affect the calculation of the minimum required local contribution and state school aid as defined in section 2 of chapter 70.
SECTION 2. Section 72 of chapter 44 of the General Laws as most recently appearing in the 2002 Official Edition is herby amended by inserting at the end thereof the following new subsection:-
Section 72(a) The division of medical assistance shall promulgate rules and regulations to improve the efficiency of the Massachusetts Municipal Medicaid program in order to maximize the benefits received by state and local communities. Said rules and regulations shall include but shall not be limited to the development of a fee-for-service rate structure and billing methodology, implement oversight procedures to minimize incidents of improper payments, develop in conjunction with the department of education a more effective process for obtaining parental authorization to ensure that every district is maximizing their federal reimbursements under the Massachusetts municipal medicaid program for all eligible special needs students, develop in conjunction with the department of education a Municipal Medicaid section on the department’s website, and improve overall communications with school districts through the DOE.
(b) The division shall take steps to review federal financial participation parameters to ensure that the state program captures all reimbursement opportunities, shall provide updated program materials and manuals and improve overall communications with school district providers and shall implement improved data management procedures to facilitate program monitoring, oversight and review.
