Health Policy Commission Releases Hospital Funds

BOSTON — The Health Policy Commission (HPC) recently announced the availability of $10 million in funding for certain Massachusetts community hospitals. Eligible institutions may each apply for up to $500,000 from the first phase of the HPC’s investment program — Community Hospital Acceleration, Revitalization, and Transformation (CHART) — focused on enhancing community hospitals’ delivery of efficient, effective healthcare.

Established through the Commonwealth’s landmark cost-containment law, CHART will make phased investments to promote care coordination, integration, and delivery transformations; advance electronic health records adoption and information exchange among providers; increase alternative payment methods and accountable-care organizations; and enhance patient safety, access to behavioral-health services, and coordination between hospitals and community-based providers and organizations.

The CHART Investment Program will total $119.08 million to be dispersed over a four-year period. A request for proposals (RFP) governing the initial phase calls for funding activities such as pilot programs set for launch; capacity building to enhance clinical information flow, improve patient care management, and strengthen collaboration; and planning. The HPC will accept phase 1 applications until Dec. 11 and expects to announce award recipients in early January 2014.

 “Our commissioners have ensured CHART investments will be meaningful and timely, and that we are implementing the program consistent with the vision established by the Legislature,” said David Seltz, executive director of the HPC. “I look forward to a competitive application and careful review process so that we can present the board with proposals for approval in early January.”

Legislation known as Chapter 224, “An Act Improving the Quality of Health Care and Reducing Costs through Increased Transparency, Efficiency, and Innovation,” created CHART and several other significant investment programs in order to achieve the Commonwealth’s healthcare affordability, quality, and efficiency goals. Chapter 224 called for a one-time assessment on certain providers and insurers to support these programs. Only acute-care hospitals with more than $1 billion in total net assets and less than 50{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5} revenue from public payers were subject to the assessment. The funding collected by the one-time assessment is allocated as follows:

• $119.08 million for the HPC to reduce healthcare costs by investing in community providers through the CHART program;

• $57 million for the Prevention and Wellness Trust Fund to reduce healthcare costs by preventing chronic conditions and promoting healthy behaviors. This fund is administered by the Department of Public Health, and grant recipients include community-based partnerships including municipalities, healthcare systems, businesses, regional planning organizations, and schools; and

• $28.5 million for the e-Health Institute Fund to reduce healthcare costs by enhancing care coordination through a secure, interoperable health information exchange. This fund is administered by the e-Health Institute, and grant recipients include hospitals, physicians, and other provider organizations.

“Community hospitals are an essential part of the equation to achieve a high-value healthcare system,” said Dr. Paul Hattis, a member of the HPC and chair of its Community Health Care Investment and Consumer Involvement Committee (CHICI) that developed CHART. “Phase 1 of CHART will set a strong and immediate foundation for our future work and position us to bring about long-term, sustainable change at the institutions communities across our Commonwealth depend on.”