§ 8 — Public hearings; witnesses; annual report

[ Subsection (a) effective until April 8, 2025. For text effective April 8, 2025, see below.]Section 8. (a) Not later than October 1 of every year, the commission shall hold public hearings based on the report submitted by the center for health information and analysis under section 16 of chapter 12C comparing the growth in total health care expenditures to the health care cost growth benchmark for the previous calendar year. The hearings shall examine health care provider, provider organization and private and public health care payer costs, prices and cost trends, with particular attention to factors that contribute to cost growth within the commonwealth's health care system and trends in annual behavioral health expenditures.[ Subsection (a) as amended by 2024, 342, Sec. 6 and 2024, 343, Sec. 16 effective April 8, 2025. For text effective until April 8, 2025, see above.](a) Not later than October 1 of every year, the commission shall hold public hearings based on the report submitted by the center for health information and analysis under section 16 of chapter 12C comparing the growth in total health care expenditures to the health care cost growth benchmark for the previous calendar year. The hearings shall examine the costs, prices and cost trends of health care providers, provider organizations, private and public health care payers, pharmaceutical manufacturing companies and pharmacy benefit managers and any relevant impact of significant equity investors, health care real estate investment trusts, management services organizations on such costs, prices and cost trends, with particular attention to factors that contribute to cost growth within the commonwealth's health care system and trends in annual primary care and behavioral health expenditures.(b) The attorney general may intervene in such hearings.(c) Public notice of any hearing shall be provided at least 60 days in advance.[ Subsection (d) effective until April 8, 2025. For text effective April 8, 2025, see below.](d) The commission shall identify as witnesses for the public hearing a representative sample of providers, provider organizations, payers and others, including: (i) at least 3 academic medical centers, including the 2 acute hospitals with the highest level of net patient service revenue; (ii) at least 3 disproportionate share hospitals, including the 2 hospitals whose largest per cent of gross patient service revenue is attributable to Title XVIII and XIX of the federal Social Security Act or other governmental payers; (iii) community hospitals from at least 3 separate regions of the commonwealth; (iv) freestanding ambulatory surgical centers from at least 3 separate regions of the commonwealth; (v) community health centers from at least 3 separate regions of the commonwealth; (vi) the 5 private health care payers with the highest enrollments in the commonwealth; (vii) any managed care organization that provides health benefits under Title XIX; (viii) the group insurance commission; (ix) at least 3 municipalities that have adopted chapter 32B; (x) at least 4 provider organizations, at least 2 of which shall be certified as accountable care organizations, 1 of which has been certified as a model ACO, which shall be from diverse geographic regions of the commonwealth; and (xi) any witness identified by the attorney general or the center.[ Subsection (d) as amended by 2024, 342, Secs. 7 and 8 and 2024, 343, Secs. 17 and 18 effective April 8, 2025. For text effective until April 8, 2025, see above.](d) The commission shall identify as witnesses for the public hearing a representative sample of providers, provider organizations, payers, significant equity investors, health care real estate investment trusts, management services organizations, pharmaceutical manufacturing companies, pharmacy benefit managers and others, including: (i) at least 3 academic medical centers, including the 2 acute hospitals with the highest level of net patient service revenue; (ii) at least 3 disproportionate share hospitals, including the 2 hospitals whose largest per cent of gross patient service revenue is attributable to Title XVIII and XIX of the federal Social Security Act or other governmental payers; (iii) community hospitals from at least 3 separate regions of the commonwealth; (iv) freestanding ambulatory surgical centers from at least 3 separate regions of the commonwealth; (v) community health centers from at least 3 separate regions of the commonwealth; (vi) the 5 private health care payers with the highest enrollments in the commonwealth; (vii) any managed care organization that provides health benefits under Title XIX; (viii) the group insurance commission; (ix) at least 3 municipalities that have adopted chapter 32B; (x) at least 4 provider organizations which shall be from diverse geographic regions of the commonwealth, at least 2 of which shall be certified as accountable care organizations and 1 of which shall be certified as a model ACO; (xi) any significant equity investor, health care real estate investment trust or management services organization associated with a provider or provider organization; (xii) a representative from the division of insurance; (xiii) the executive director of the commonwealth health insurance connector authority; (xiv) the assistant secretary for MassHealth; (xv) not less than 2 representatives of the pharmacy benefit management industry; (xvi) not less than 3 representatives of pharmaceutical manufacturing companies, 1 of whom shall be a representative of a publicly traded company that manufactures specialty drugs, 1 of whom shall be a representative of a company that manufacturers generic drugs and 1 of whom shall be a representative of a company that has been in existence for fewer than 10 years; and (xvii) any witness identified by the attorney general or the center. The commission shall also request testimony from officials representing the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.[ Subsection (e) effective until April 8, 2025. For text effective April 8, 2025, see below.](e) Witnesses shall provide testimony under oath and subject to examination and cross examination by the commission, the executive director of the center and the attorney general at the public hearing in a manner and form to be determined by the commission, including, but not limited to: (i) in the case of providers and provider organizations, testimony concerning payment systems, care delivery models, payer mix, cost structures, administrative and labor costs, capital and technology cost, adequacy of public payer reimbursement levels, reserve levels, utilization trends, relative price, quality improvement and care-coordination strategies, investments in health information technology, the relation of private payer reimbursement levels to public payer reimbursements for similar services, efforts to improve the efficiency of the delivery system, efforts to reduce the inappropriate or duplicative use of technology and the impact of price transparency on prices; and (ii) in the case of private and public payers, testimony concerning factors underlying premium cost and rate increases, the relation of reserves to premium costs, efforts by the payer to reduce the use of fee-for-service payment mechanisms, the payer's efforts to develop benefit design, network design and payment policies that enhance product affordability and encourage efficient use of health resources and technology including utilization of alternative payment methodologies, efforts by the payer to increase consumer access to health care information, efforts by the payer to promote the standardization of administrative practices, the impact of price transparency on prices and any other matters as determined by the commission. The commission shall solicit testimony from any payer which has been identified by the center's annual report under subsection (a) of section 16 of chapter 12C as (1) paying providers more than 10 per cent above or more than 10 per cent below the average relative price or (2) entering into alternative payment contracts that vary by more than 10 per cent. Any payer identified by the center's report shall explain the extent of price variation between the payer's participating providers and describe any efforts to reduce such price variation.[ Subsection (e) as amended by 2024, 342, Secs. 9 and 10 and 2024, 343, Secs. 19 and 20 effective April 8, 2025. For text effective until April 8, 2025, see above.](e) Witnesses shall provide testimony under oath and subject to examination and cross examination by the commission, the executive director of the center and the attorney general at the public hearing in a manner and form to be determined by the commission, including, but not limited to: (i) in the case of providers and provider organizations, testimony concerning payment systems, care delivery models, payer mix, cost structures, administrative and labor costs, capital and technology cost, adequacy of public payer reimbursement levels, reserve levels, utilization trends, relative price, quality improvement and care-coordination strategies, investments in health information technology, the relation of private payer reimbursement levels to public payer reimbursements for similar services, efforts to improve the efficiency of the delivery system, efforts to reduce the inappropriate or duplicative use of technology and the impact of price transparency on prices; (ii) in the case of private and public payers, testimony concerning factors underlying premium cost and rate increases, the relation of reserves to premium costs, efforts by the payer to reduce the use of fee-for-service payment mechanisms, the payer's efforts to develop benefit design, network design and payment policies that enhance product affordability and encourage efficient use of health resources and technology including utilization of alternative payment methodologies, efforts by the payer to increase consumer access to health care information, efforts by the payer to promote the standardization of administrative practices, the impact of price transparency on prices and any other matters as determined by the commission; (iii) in the case of the assistant secretary for MassHealth, testimony concerning the structure, benefits, eligibility, caseload and financing of MassHealth and other Medicaid programs administered by the office of Medicaid or in partnership with other state and federal agencies and the agency's activities to align or redesign those programs in order to encourage the development of more integrated and efficient health care delivery systems; (iv) in the case of pharmacy benefit managers and pharmaceutical manufacturing companies, testimony concerning factors underlying prescription drug costs and price increases, the impact of aggregate manufacturer rebates, discounts and other price concessions on net pricing; provided, however, that such testimony shall be suitable for public release and not likely to compromise the financial, competitive or proprietary nature of any information or data; and (v) in the case of significant equity investors, health care real estate investment trusts or management services organization associated with a provider or provider organization, testimony concerning health outcomes, prices charged to insurers and patients, staffing levels, clinical workflow, financial stability and ownership structure of an associated provider or provider organization, dividends paid out to investors, compensation including, but not limited to, base salaries, incentives, bonuses, stock options, deferred compensations, benefits and contingent payments to officers, managers and directors of provider organizations in the commonwealth acquired, owned or managed, in whole or in part, by said significant equity investors, health care real estate investment trusts or management services organizations. The commission shall solicit testimony from any payer which has been identified by the center's annual report under subsection (a) of section 16 of chapter 12C as (1) paying providers more than 10 per cent above or more than 10 per cent below the average relative price or (2) entering into alternative payment contracts that vary by more than 10 per cent. Any payer identified by the center's report shall explain the extent of price variation between the payer's participating providers and describe any efforts to reduce such price variation.(f) In the event that the center's annual report under subsection (a) of section 16 of chapter 12C finds that the percentage change in total health care expenditures exceeded the health care cost benchmark in the previous calendar year, the commission may identify additional witnesses for the public hearing. Witnesses shall provide testimony subject to examination and cross examination by the commission, the executive director of the center and attorney general at the public hearing in a manner and form to be determined by the commission, including, but not limited to: (i) testimony concerning unanticipated events that may have impacted the total health care cost expenditures, including, but not limited to, a public health crisis such as an outbreak of a disease, a public safety event or a natural disaster; (ii) testimony concerning trends in patient acuity, complexity or utilization of services; (iii) testimony concerning trends in input cost structures, including, but not limited to, the introduction of new pharmaceuticals, medical devices and other health technologies; (iv) testimony concerning the cost of providing certain specialty services, including, but not limited to, the provision of health care to children, cancer-related health care and medical education; (v) testimony related to unanticipated administrative costs for carriers, including, but not limited to, costs related to information technology, administrative simplification efforts, labor costs and transparency efforts; (vi) testimony related to costs due the implementation of state or federal legislation or government regulation; and (vii) any other factors that may have led to excessive health care cost growth.[ Subsection (g) effective until April 8, 2025. For text effective April 8, 2025, see below.](g) The commission shall compile an annual report concerning spending trends, including behavioral health expenditures, and underlying factors, along with any recommendations for strategies to increase the efficiency of the health care system. The report shall be based on the commission's analysis of information provided at the hearings by providers, provider organizations and insurers, registration data collected under section 11, data collected by the center for health information and analysis under sections 8, 9 and 10 of chapter 12C and any other information the commission considers necessary to fulfill its duties under this section, as further defined in regulations promulgated by the commission. The report shall be submitted to the chairs of the house and senate committees on ways and means and the chairs of the joint committee on health care financing and shall be published and available to the public not later than December 31 of each year. The report shall include any legislative language necessary to implement the recommendations.[ Subsection (g) as amended by 2024, 342, Sec. 11 and 2024, 343, Sec. 21 effective April 8, 2025. For text effective until April 8, 2025, see above.](g) The commission shall compile an annual report concerning spending trends, including primary care and behavioral health expenditures, and the underlying factors influencing said spending trends. The report shall be based on the commission's analysis of information provided at the hearings by witnesses, providers, provider organizations and payers, registration data collected pursuant to section 11, data collected or analyzed by the center pursuant to sections 8 to 10A, inclusive, of chapter 12C and any other available information that the commission considers necessary to fulfill its duties under this section, as defined in regulations promulgated by the commission. The report shall be submitted to the house and senate committees on ways and means and the joint committee on health care financing and shall be published and available to the public not later than December 31 of each year. The report shall include recommendations for strategies to increase the efficiency of the health care system and promote affordability for individuals and families, recommendations on the specific spending trends that impede the commonwealth's ability to meet the health care cost growth benchmark and draft legislation necessary to implement said recommendations.