About 40 Massachusetts hospitals are on track to receive relief payments from the state, including some facilities that are facing severe financial difficulties and serve a large volume of patients on public insurance, according to estimates from a state agency.
The latest $234 million spending bill (H 4530) to clear the Legislature directs $122 million to acute care hospitals based on criteria including their public payer mix; their “relative price,” which the Center for Health Information and Analysis uses as a metric to compare average provider prices; and their operating margin.
Gov. Maura Healey signed the bill Monday, spokesperson Karissa Hand told the News Service.
Senate Ways and Means Chair Michael Rodrigues said last week that some hospitals are at risk of defaulting on bond covenants without the aid but did not specify which facilities are at risk of defaulting.
CHIA, at the request of the State House News Service, produced a list of hospitals that meet the eligibility parameters under the spending package. Within each category, total funding will be distributed based on hospitals’ “Medicaid gross patient service revenue,” according to a CHIA spokesperson. The agency could not say how the money will be split among entities with multiple campuses like Holy Family Hospital.
Here’s a breakdown of the hospital aid allocation:
Hospitals qualifying for a share of a $20 million allocation: Baystate Wing Hospital, Heywood Hospital, Holyoke Medical Center, Lawrence General Hospital and Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital
Hospitals qualifying for a share of a $41 million allocation: Anna Jaques Hospital, Boston Medical Center, MetroWest Medical Center, Morton Hospital, North Shore Medical Center and Holy Family Hospital
Hospitals qualifying for a share of a $22 million allocation: Athol Hospital, Baystate Franklin Medical Center, Baystate Medical Center, Baystate Noble Hospital, BI-Plymouth Hospital, Cooley Dickinson Hospital, Harrington Memorial Hospital, HealthAlliance-Clinton Hospital, Lowell General Hospital, Marlborough Hospital, MelroseWakefield Healthcare, Mercy Medical Center, Northeast Hospital and Southcoast Hospitals Group
Hospitals qualifying for a share of a $17M allocation: Berkshire Medical Center, Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital, Cape Cod Hospital, Fairview Hospital, Falmouth Hospital, Saint Vincent Hospital, South Shore Hospital, BMC-South, Saint Anne’s Hospital, BMC-Brighton, Sturdy Memorial Hospital, Tufts Medical Center and UMass Memorial Medical Center.
A Senate Ways and Means Committee spokesperson called CHIA’s numbers “estimates” and said that “MassHealth will ultimately be the entity that interprets our language and disburse[s] the funds.”
The package also specifically carves out $16.5 million in aid to Cambridge Health Alliance.
In addition to receiving funding from one of the buckets listed above, MetroWest Medical Center will also receive $10 million from another provision in the bill, the Senate Ways and Means spokesperson said.
Steve Walsh, CEO of the Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association, said the Legislature’s “investment comes at a time of extraordinary distress for our hospitals and health systems.”
The bill on Healey’s desk also authorizes a $77 million transfer from the Commonwealth Care Trust Fund to the state’s Health Safety Net Trust Fund, which pays providers who care for underinsured or uninsured patients.
“It is an immediate lifeline, not just a budget line,” Health Care Financing Committee Co-chair Rep. John Lawn said last week. “The transfer will allow hospitals and community health centers to keep their doors open and ensure that every person who walks through those doors continues to receive the care they need and deserve.”
The bill’s overall investments protect jobs and allow providers “to focus on patient care rather than financial survival,” said Lawn, who outlined growing health care funding problems even before “hundreds of thousands” lose health insurance due to the One Big Beautiful Bill that became law this summer.
The deficit in the Health Safety Net Trust Fund was $152 million in fiscal year 2023, rose to $198 million in fiscal 2024, and will exceed $300 million for fiscal 2025, which ended on June 30, Lawn said.
[Michael P. Norton contributed reporting]