Governor Baker Signs Health Care Legislation
Increasing Access to Quality, Affordable Care, Promoting Telehealth and
Protecting Access To COVID-19 Testing, Treatment
New Law Also Expands Scope of Practice, Increases
Access to Urgent Care, Addresses Surprise Billing
BOSTON – Governor Charlie Baker today signed
comprehensive health care legislation that promotes key priorities initially
included in the Administration’s health care legislation filed in 2019. The new
law increases insurance coverage for telehealth services, expands the scope of
practice for nurse practitioners, other specialized nurses, and optometrists,
and takes steps to protect consumers from surprise medical bills. Recognizing
the continuing impacts of COVID-19, the law also extends requirements for all
insurance carriers in Massachusetts to cover COVID-19 testing and treatment.
The legislation signed today
contains several priorities initially included in the Baker-Polito
Administration’s health
care legislation which was introduced in the fall of 2019, including
requiring coverage of telehealth services and expanding the scope of practice
for Advanced Practice Nurses. The legislation also extends, and in some
instances codifies, critical measures taken through executive action throughout
the pandemic to ensure timely access and coverage for COVID-19 treatment and
services.
In addition to the provisions
enacted today, the recently signed Fiscal
Year 2021 budget includes several provisions that correspond to proposals
initially introduced in the Administration’s health care legislation. These
proposals require all Massachusetts insurers to use a standard credentialing
form, and prohibit additional costs for same-day billing for multiple primary
care and behavioral health visits.
The key provisions of the new
law include:
- Requiring coverage of telehealth services including
behavioral health care
- Expanding Scope of Practice for Advanced Practice
Nurses and Optometrists
- Increasing disclosures around provider costs and
network status to protect consumers from surprise medical bills
- Removing barriers to urgent care centers for MassHealth
members
- Extending insurance coverage and access to COVID-19
testing and treatment
- Directing a study and report of the impacts of COVID-19
on the health care system
“Massachusetts has long been
a leader in ensuring health care quality and access and with this new law, we
are making further progress in building a strong, accessible and affordable
health care system, a goal that is more important now than ever,” said
Governor Charlie Baker. “I am proud to sign this legislation which promotes
telehealth services that have become vital during this pandemic, expands access
to high-quality, affordable care, takes steps to protect consumers from
surprise medical bills, and preserves access to COVID-19 testing and treatment.
We look forward to working with our partners in the Legislature and the health
care community to build on these reforms in the future.”
“The legislation signed today
will increase access to high quality, affordable health care for residents and
families across the Commonwealth, and we thank our legislative partners for
their collaboration on these important issues,” said Lt. Governor Karyn
Polito. “We were pleased that many of the shared priorities that we
introduced in our health care legislation were enacted as part of the final
legislation and look forward to this law strengthening the Commonwealth’s
health care system for years to come.”
“The COVID-19 public health
emergency required immediate changes to our health care system to maintain
health care capacity and help our residents cope during this extraordinarily
challenging time. We’re pleased to now codify policies that help people access
the treatment and services they need in our fight against COVI-19, and look
forward to seeing them in action,” said Secretary of Health and Human
Services Marylou Sudders. “Now more than ever do we need to ensure access
to behavioral health care services, as the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the
need and urgency to increase behavioral health care access across the state. I
applaud the Legislature for addressing several proposals to increase coverage
and address barriers to necessary behavioral health services. We plan to
release our behavioral health roadmap in the coming weeks and look forward to
partnering with the Legislature to implement overdue reforms to ensure we have
a true behavioral health system.”
“This pandemic has brought an
urgency to the need to make quality healthcare more accessible to all,” said
Senate President Karen E. Spilka (D – Ashland). “By eliminating barriers to
care, protecting patients from surprise billing practices, and advancing our
state’s support for community hospitals, testing sites and medical staff, this
comprehensive legislation will equip healthcare providers to truly put patients
first. I am particularly happy that rate parity for telehealth services will
remain a permanent option for Massachusetts patients – thereby expanding
efficiency in care while reducing stress for everyone involved. I want to offer
my thanks to Senator Friedman, Speaker Mariano and their fellow conferees for
their hard work, as well as former Speaker DeLeo for his partnership in
advancing these significant reforms, and Governor Baker for signing this
important bill."
“This legislation applies
lessons learned during the pandemic to make long-lasting changes in the way
people access health care services,” said House Speaker Ronald Mariano (D –
Quincy). “I want to thank Governor Baker and his Administration for
signing this bill into law and for the emergency measures they implemented
during the pandemic to stabilize our health care system. I also want to thank
Senate President Karen Spilka and Senator Cindy Friedman for their cooperation
and partnership.”
“This conference committee
report embraces the best of both the Senate and House bills to create
comprehensive and necessary healthcare reforms,” said Senator Cindy Friedman
(D — Arlington), co-chair of the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing.
“While there is still more to do to improve patient outcomes and access to
care, this bill takes a meaningful step forward by ensuring that the
Commonwealth’s healthcare system can continue to meet the needs of patients
during this unprecedented time, and long after the COVID-19 pandemic has ended.
I am grateful to the House for their collaboration and to Senate President
Spilka and Chair Rodrigues for their leadership, and I want to thank Governor
Baker for recognizing the importance of this legislation by signing it into law
today.”
"This legislation
continues to advance our shared goal of transforming mental health care access
and delivery in Massachusetts," said Senator Julian Cyr (D – Truro),
co-chair of the Joint Committee on Mental Health, Substance Use and Recovery. "This
legislation will do so much good, but particularly it will expand mental health
care access for rural residents, people of color, working families, and young
people.”
“I would like to thank
Speaker Mariano, Governor Baker, and my colleagues on the Conference Committee
for all of their hard work to get this incredibly important and timely piece of
legislation across the finish line,” said Joint Committee on Public Health
House Co-Chair Representative John J. Mahoney (D – Worcester). “As we enter
these difficult months ahead in the midst of the pandemic, it is imperative
that health care be as accessible and affordable as possible across the
Commonwealth, and this legislation solidifies that ongoing commitment.”
“The legislation addresses
several key factors in making healthcare more accessible and medical bills less
surprising,” said Representative Randy Hunt (R – Sandwich). “Telehealth
is here to stay and, combined with expansion of practice responsibilities, more
people in more places will receive quality medical care. I especially applaud
mandatory coverage for PANS and PANDAS and my heart goes out to all of the
families dealing with these devastating conditions.”
"Health care is critical
to the physical and mental well-being of our residents. This historic
legislation will allow and expand access to Telehealth, reform the healthcare
workforce, provide assistance to eligible community hospitals, increase cost
transparency, provides coverage to PANDAS/PANS, eliminate barriers to urgent
care facilities for MassHealth patients, and provide access to COVID-19 testing
and treatment," said Senator Dean Tran (R – Fitchburg). "It
was a privilege to be on the conference committee and worked closely with my
colleagues in the Senate and House, as well as with the Governor and Lieutenant
Governor on this legislation to become law."
Key provisions of the law
signed today include:
Strengthening Telehealth
Coverage: At the start of the
COVID-19 public health emergency, the Baker-Polito Administration, through
emergency order, required insurers to immediately cover telehealth to ensure
the continuity of services remotely when it was not safe to do so in
person. This led to a rapid shift to remote delivery and significant uptake in
telehealth services. The legislation builds on these emergency flexibilities,
and requires coverage parity for telehealth services and implements permanent telehealth
rate parity for behavioral health services. Additionally, it requires
rate parity for telehealth coverage for primary care and chronic disease
management services for two years, and rate parity for all services for 90 days
past the state of emergency.
Expanding Scope of
Practice: During the public health
emergency, the Administration implemented emergency orders to increase health
care system capacity, including temporarily expanding the scope of practice for
several types of practitioners, and streamlining licensure requirements before
independent practice. The new law makes permanent certain measures to expand
scope of practice for nurse practitioners, nurse anesthetists, psychiatric
nurse mental health specialists and optometrists.
Taking Steps to Address
Surprise Billing: The new legislation
takes steps to protect consumers from surprise bills, including a provision
that requires providers to notify patients in advance as to whether a procedure
is in or out of network. Additionally, it directs the Secretary of the
Executive Office of Health and Human Services to work with the Health Policy
Commission, Center for Health Information and Analytics, and Division of
Insurance to recommend a default rate for out of network billing by September of
2021.
Increasing Access to
Urgent Care for MassHealth Members:
Retail clinics and urgent care centers provide important access points to
health care beyond the traditional hours and sites of physician offices,
community health centers, and hospitals. This legislation takes several steps
to increase MassHealth member access to urgent care sites, including
eliminating referral requirements before urgent care visits and requirements
for care coordination with the member’s primary care physician.
COVID-19 Related
Provisions: The bill extends
requirements for insurers in Massachusetts to cover COVID-19 testing and
treatment. Under this legislation, insurers, including MassHealth, are required
to cover all COVID-19 related emergency, inpatient, and cognitive rehab
services. Additionally, coverage is required for medically necessary outpatient
COVID-19 testing, including for asymptomatic individuals under specific
circumstances outlined by the Secretary of the Executive Office of Health and
Human Services. The legislation also directs the Health Policy Commission and
Center for Health Information and Analytics to analyze and report on the effect
of COVID-19 on healthcare accessibility, quality and fiscal sustainability in
both the short and long term as well as those effects on long term policy
considerations, including an examination of existing healthcare disparities due
to economic, geographic, racial or other factors.