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(h) The council, in consultation with its advisory committee, shall develop annual health care cost containment goals. The goals shall be designed to promote affordable, high-quality, safe, effective, timely, efficient, equitable and patient centered health care. The council shall also establish goals that are intended to reduce health care disparities in racial, ethnic and disabled communities. In establishing cost containment goals, the council shall utilize claims data collected from carriers under this section, and information gathered as part of the division of health care finance and policy's public hearings on health care costs under section 6 1/2 of chapter 118G. For each goal, the council shall identify: (i) the parties that will be impacted;(ii) the agencies, departments, boards or councils of the commonwealth responsible for overseeing and implementing the goals; (iii) the steps needed to achieve the goals;(iv) the projected costs associated with implementing the goals; (v) and the potential cost savings, both short and long-term, attributable to the goals. The council may recommend legislation or regulatory changes to achieve these goals. The council shall publish a report on the progress towards achieving the costs containment goals.
(i) The council, in consultation with its advisory committee, shall coordinate and compile data on quality improvement programs conducted by state agencies and public and private health care organizations. The council shall consider programs designed to: (i) improve patient safety in all settings of care; (ii) reduce preventable hospital readmissions; (iii) prevent the occurrence of and improve the treatment and coordination of care for chronic diseases; and (iv) reduce variations in care. The council shall make such information available on the council's consumer health information website. The council may recommend legislation or regulatory changes as needed to further implement quality improvement initiatives.
There is no subsection (j).
(k) The council shall conduct annual public hearings at which health care providers, insurers, relevant state agencies, and public and private health care organizations shall report their progress towards achieving the quality improvement and cost containment goals, adopting the standard performance measures and meeting the quality performance benchmarks. The council shall provide health care providers, insurers, state agencies and the general court with the following, at least 60 days prior to the public hearings: (i) recommended action required by each entity to achieve the specified quality and cost containment goals; and (ii) recommendations for adoption of each standard performance measure, quality performance benchmark and health information technology adoption goal established by the council.
(l) The council shall file a report, not less than annually, with the chairs of the house and senate committees on ways and means and the chairs of the joint committee on health care financing and the clerks of the house and senate on its progress in achieving the goals of improving quality and containing or reducing health care costs data provided pursuant to chapter 111N. The report shall include, at a minimum, a review of the progress towards achieving the quality improvement and cost containment goals, adoption of standard performance measures, meeting the quality performance benchmarks, and achieving the health information technology adoption goals. The council shall provide its advisory committee with reasonable opportunity to review and comment on all reports before their public release. Reports of the council shall be published on the consumer health information website.
Several functions of the Health Care Quality and Cost Council (QCC) are repealed, including the establishment of performance measures, quality benchmarks and health IT goals, as well as development of annual health care quality improvement goals. The QCC will still provide quality information through its website. The QCC will consider programs designed to improve patient safety, reduce preventable hospital readmissions, prevent chronic disease, improve coordination of care, and reduce variations in care.
M.G.L. Chapter 6A, section 16K; added by section 3 of Chapter 58 of the Acts of 2006; last amended by sections 2-3 of Chapter 288 of the Acts of 2010