Bill > H999

This bill requires the Center for Health Information and Analysis (CHIA), a state agency that collects and analyzes health care data, to publicly report the weighted average payer rate for each acute care hospital in Massachusetts. The weighted average payer rate is calculated by averaging the revenue per inpatient discharge and revenue per outpatient visit that a hospital receives from commercial insurers, MassHealth (Massachusetts' Medicaid program), and Medicare, with these figures weighted by the proportion of revenue each payer type contributes to the hospital's total net patient service revenue. The report will also include the median weighted average payer rate across all acute care hospitals. Furthermore, any acute care hospital whose weighted average payer rate is more than twenty percent higher than this median rate will be required to pay twenty percent of the excess amount to a designated fund.