§ 22 — Office for health resource planning; state health resource plan; assessments of health care resource supply, distribution and capacity

[ Text of section added by 2024, 343, Sec. 25 effective April 8, 2025.]Section 22. (a)(1) There shall be within the commission an office for health resource planning. The office shall develop a state health resource plan to identify: (i) the anticipated needs of the commonwealth for health care services, providers, programs and facilities; (ii) the existing health care resources, providers, programs and facilities available to meet those needs; (iii) the projected resources, including the health care workforce, necessary to meet those anticipated needs; (iv) recommendations for the appropriate supply and distribution of resources, workforce, programs, capacities, technologies and services on a statewide and regional basis; (v) the priorities for addressing those needs; and (vi) recommendations for any further legislative, regulatory or other state action to assist the commonwealth in achieving the recommendations identified in the plan.(2) The state health resource plan developed by the office shall be a forecast of anticipated demand, production, supply and distribution of health care resources on a state-wide and regional basis during a 5-year planning period, and shall include the location, distribution and nature of all health care resources in the commonwealth, including: (i) acute care units; (ii) non-acute care units; (iii) specialty care units, including, but not limited to, burn, coronary care, cancer care, neonatal care, post-obstetric and post-operative recovery care, pulmonary care, rare diseases care, renal dialysis and surgical, including trauma and intensive care units; (iv) skilled nursing facilities; (v) assisted living facilities; (vi) long-term care facilities; (vii) ambulatory surgical centers; (viii) office-based surgical centers; (ix) urgent care centers; (x) home health; (xi) adult and pediatric behavioral health and mental health services and supports; (xii) substance use disorder treatment and recovery services; (xiii) emergency care; (xiv) ambulatory care services; (xv) primary care resources; (xvi) pediatric care services; (xvii) pharmacy and pharmacological services; (xviii) family planning services; (xix) obstetrics and gynecology and maternal health services; (xx) allied health services including, but not limited to, optometric care, chiropractic services, oral health care and midwifery services; (xxi) federally qualified health centers and free clinics; (xxii) numbers of technologies or equipment defined as innovative services or new technologies by the department of public health pursuant to section 25C of chapter 111; (xxiii) hospice and palliative care service; (xxiv) health screening and early intervention services; and (xxv) any other service or resource identified by the office.(3) The goal of the state health resource plan shall be to promote the appropriate and equitable distribution of health care resources across geographic regions of the commonwealth based on the needs of the population on a statewide basis and the needs of particular geographic and demographic groups The recommendations shall support, at a minimum, the commonwealth's goals of: (i) maintaining and improving the quality of and access to health care services; (ii) ensuring a stable and adequate health care workforce; (iii) meeting the health care cost growth benchmark established pursuant to section 9; (iv) supporting innovative health care delivery and alternative payment models as identified by the commission; (v) avoiding unnecessary duplication of health care resources; (vi) advancing health equity and addressing health disparities; (vii) integrating oral health, mental health, behavioral health and substance use disorder treatment services with overall medical care; (viii) aligning housing, health care and home care to improve overall health outcomes and reduce costs; (ix) tracking trends in utilization and promoting the best standards of care; and (x) ensuring equitable access to health care resources across geographic regions of the commonwealth.(b)(1) In addition to the state health resource plan, the office may conduct focused assessments of health care resource supply, distribution and capacity in relation to projected need. Each assessment shall be conducted in consultation with the board, the advisory council established pursuant to section 4 and other state agencies as appropriate, including, but not limited to, the executive office, the executive office of economic development, the board of higher education, the department of public health, the department of mental health, the office of Medicaid, the division of insurance, the center for health information and analysis, the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, the executive office of elder affairs, the board of registration in medicine, the bureau of health professions licensure and the office of health equity established under section 16AA of chapter 6A. All such agencies shall provide data and information necessary for the office to conduct the assessment. The office shall consider available state and national data and academic research on health service supply and need and relevant community health needs assessments by non-profit hospitals and other organizations and other individual and community statements of need.(2) Each focused assessment may present findings that include, but are not limited to: (i) the extent to which supply, distribution and capacity of a given health care resource aligns with projected need at the statewide or regional level; (ii) health system factors driving any documented health disparities; (iii) services or providers, including in a specific geographic area, that are critical to the proper functioning of the health care system; (iv) estimates of where and how many additional units of service would be needed in the state or in a specific geographic area to meet projected need; (v) an analysis of health care workforce needs; (vi) identification of barriers impacting accessibility of available health care resources by specific populations; and (vii) legislative, regulatory or other policy recommendations to address the drivers of health disparities, access barriers and areas of misalignment of need and supply, distribution and capacity.(c) The office shall provide direction to the department of public health to establish and maintain on a current basis an inventory of all such health care resources together with all other reasonably pertinent information concerning such resources. Agencies of the commonwealth that license, register, regulate or otherwise collect cost, quality or other data concerning health care resources shall cooperate with the office and the department of public health in coordinating such data and information collected pursuant to this section and section 25A of chapter 111. The inventory compiled pursuant to this section and said section 25A of said chapter 111 and all related information shall be maintained in a form usable by the general public and shall constitute a public record; provided, however, that any item of information which is confidential or privileged in nature under any other law shall not be regarded as a public record pursuant to this section.(d) In developing the state health resource plan, the office shall conduct no fewer than 1 annual public hearing seeking input on the development of the plan and any focused assessment under development, and shall give interested persons an opportunity to submit their views orally and in writing. In addition, the office may create and maintain a website to allow members of the public to submit comments electronically and review comments submitted by others.(e) The office shall publish analyses, reports and interpretations of information collected pursuant to this section to promote awareness of the distribution and nature of health care resources in the commonwealth.(f) Annually, not later than January 1, the office shall file a report with the joint committee on health care financing concerning the activities of the office in general and, in particular, describing the progress to date in developing the state health resource plan and any focused assessment produced to date or under development, and recommending such further legislative action as it considers appropriate.(g) Nothing in this section shall be construed to impose caps on health care resources in the commonwealth or a particular region in the commonwealth.