Bill > S1287

This bill aims to increase investment in behavioral health care in the Commonwealth. It does this by: 1) Defining key terms like "aggregate behavioral health baseline expenditures" and "behavioral health expenditure target" to establish a framework for monitoring and setting targets for behavioral health spending. 2) Requiring the Health Policy Commission to hold public hearings and set an aggregate behavioral health expenditure target, initially a 30% increase above 2021 baseline spending, with the ability to modify the target in future years. 3) Allowing the Commission to require health care entities that fail to meet their individual behavioral health expenditure targets to submit and implement performance improvement plans, with potential penalties for non-compliance. 4) Expanding the reporting requirements for the Center for Health Information and Analysis to include detailed analysis of behavioral health spending trends and utilization. 5) Establishing a special task force to develop guiding principles and practice specifications to assist health care entities in meeting their behavioral health expenditure targets. Overall, the bill is intended to increase accountability and investment in behavioral health services across the Commonwealth's healthcare system.

Health and Social Services

https://malegislature.gov/Bills/192/S1287