Section 2SSSS. (a) There shall be a MassHealth Delivery System Reform Trust Fund. The secretary of health and human services shall be the trustee of the fund and shall expend money in the fund to: (i) provide reimbursement for services delivered to MassHealth beneficiaries by acute hospitals participating in the MassHealth program; (ii) make enhanced service payments and incentive payments to acute hospitals and other providers or care organizations under contract to provide MassHealth services pursuant to an approved state plan or federal waiver; and (iii) provide for other federally-approved delivery system reform incentive program purposes. There shall be credited to the fund: (1) any transfers from the Health Safety Net Trust Fund established in section 66 of chapter 118E; (2) an amount equal to any federal financial participation revenues claimed and received by the commonwealth for eligible expenditures made from the fund; (3) any revenue from appropriations or other money authorized by the general court and specifically designated to be credited to the fund; and (4) interest earned on any money in the fund. Amounts credited to the fund shall be expended without further appropriation.

Terms Used In Massachusetts General Laws ch. 29 sec. 2SSSS

  • Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
  • Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.

(b) Money in the fund may be expended for Medicaid payments under an approved state plan or federal waiver; provided, however, that all payments from the fund shall be: (i) subject to the availability of federal financial participation; (ii) made only under federally-approved payment methods; (iii) consistent with federal funding requirements and all federal payment limits as determined by the secretary of health and human services; and (iv) subject to the terms and conditions of an agreement between acute hospitals, other providers or care organizations and the executive office of health and human services. To accommodate timing discrepancies between the receipt of revenue and related expenditures, the comptroller may certify for payment amounts not to exceed the most recent revenue estimates as certified by the secretary of health and human services to be transferred, credited or deposited under this section. Money remaining in the fund at the end of a fiscal year shall not revert to the General Fund.

[There is no subsection (c).]

(d) Not later than 30 days after the close of each hospital fiscal quarter, the executive office of health and human services shall submit to the house and senate committees on ways and means a detailed accounting of all money transferred, credited or deposited into the fund. The fourth quarter report shall include the amount remaining in the fund at the end of each hospital fiscal year and the reasons for the unspent amount.