Attorney General Martha Coakley says the state’s new health care law gives her office enormous power to force hospitals, doctors, and other providers to rein in cost increases.
The new law requires health providers to hold cost increases to no more than the growth of Massachusetts Gross State Product through 2017 and then to one-half of 1 percent below the GSP through 2022. Officials say the caps will save $200 billion over the next 15 years.
Both supporters and opponents of the law have focused on the lack of enforcement tools in the arsenal of regulators, claiming there’s little to bring reluctant providers in line with the cost-savings goals set by the legislation. But Coakley says the law allows her to use Chapter 93A, the state law banning deceptive or unfair business practices, and the state’s antitrust statutes against those who fail to toe the line.
“We believe this statute has enough [enforcement tools] to allow us to effectively help oversee the market,” Coakley said after Gov. Deval Patrick signed the new cost containment bill into law on Monday. “We’re going to have a lot more data at our disposal. I think we have power, real in-depth ability, that changes with this bill.”
Under the new law, the newly created state Health Policy Commission has the power to assess a maximum $500,000 civil penalty if providers fail to come up with a comprehensive plan to curtail costs. The law also says the commission can then forward the names of violators to Coakley’s office for further investigation.
“The attorney general may investigate any provider organization referred to the attorney general by the Health Policy Commission. . . to determine whether the provider organization engaged in unfair methods of competition or anti-competitive behavior in violation of chapter 93A or any other law, and, if appropriate, take action under chapter 93A or any other law to protect consumers in the health care market,” the law states.
Coakley says the new health care law empowers her office to expand the regulations associated with Chapter 93A to address health care cost containment practices. Coakley emphasized that it is the market that will ultimately bring the pressure to contain costs but says her office will monitor those efforts closely.
The bill signing by Patrick for the new health care cost containment law was pretty much a rally for Massachusetts health care reforms over the years that have become the template for the federal Affordable Care Act.
“We are ushering in the end of the ‘fee-for-service’ care system,” Patrick declared to a raucous crowd of supporters at the State House ceremony. “We become the first to crack the code on costs.”
In addition to Coakley, Patrick was joined by several members of his administration as well as House Speaker Robert DeLeo, Rep. Steven Walsh, co-chair of the committee that wrote the bill, and House Majority Leader Ronald Mariano. Noticeably absent was anyone from the Senate, including Senate President Therese Murray and Sen. Richard Moore, Walsh’s counterpart on the health committee.
Sources said Moore was unable to attend because he was out of town at a conference. The sources said Patrick’s office declined to reschedule the ceremony and, in protest, Murray and all other senators declined to attend. David Falcone, a spokesman for Murray, confirmed that Moore was out of town and Murray did not feel right attending without her chief negotiator present, though he insisted it was not a protest. Falcone said he did not know why other senators did not attend.
