Dear All,

The House and Senate have come to agreement on two important health care bills: the Healthcare Market Review bill and the Pharmaceutical Access, Costs and Transparency bill. Both bills have been released as Conference Committee reports and will be passed by the legislature before the end of the year. Conference committee reports are unamendable, so no further changes can be made to the legislation. Both bills have been in the works for most of this session, but the House and Senate have been unable to come to a resolution on either bill since talks started in late July.

S.3012, An Act Relative to Pharmaceutical Access, Costs and Transparency

S.3012, the Drug Cost Bill, will ensure that patients will pay less for medication by limiting out-of-pocket costs for essential prescription drugs, promoting the affordability of health insurance premiums for consumers, and regulating pharmacy benefit managers.

H.5159, An Act Enhancing the Health Care Market Review Process.

H.5159, the Market Review Bill, is intended to address the ongoing fallout from the collapse of Steward Health Care and to prevent another such occurrence by increasing state oversight and regulation of private equity investors and management service organizations by the Health Policy Commission, the Center for Health Information and Analysis, the Attorney General, and the Division of Insurance. It also requires the licensure of Urgent Care Centers and of a new category called Office-Based Surgical Centers that perform ambulatory, surgical, or other invasive procedures requiring general anesthesia, moderate sedation, or deep sedation, excluding minor procedures and procedures requiring minimal sedation.

Noteworthy is that the final Market Review bill does not include the more onerous provisions in the Senate bill that would have prohibited certain contractual relationships with private equity investors and management service organizations and focuses more on reporting and transparency by hospitals and providers.