Massachusetts Limiting Hospital Operating Margins Initiative (2022)
| Massachusetts Limiting Hospital Operating Margins and Chief Executive Officer Compensation Initiative | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 8, 2022 | |
| Topic Business regulation | |
| Status Not on the ballot | |
| Type State statute | Origin Citizens |
The Massachusetts Limiting Hospital Operating Margins and Chief Executive Officer Compensation Initiative was not on the ballot in Massachusetts as an indirect initiated state statute on November 8, 2022.
The initiative would have penalized hospitals that received funds from the state for operating margins exceeding 8%. The civil penalty would have been equal to the operating margin that exceeds 8%, and it would have been deposited into a newly established Medicaid Reimbursement Enhancement Fund. The law would have taken effect on July 1, 2024.[1][2]
Text of measure
Ballot summary
The final ballot summary for the initiative was as follows.[3]
| “ | This proposed law would impose financial penalties on certain hospitals and create a fund to expand Medicaid reimbursement and maintain certain essential health services.
The proposed law would impose a civil penalty on hospitals that receive public funding, including licensed acute care hospitals and the teaching hospital at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, if the hospital’s annual operating margin is greater than eight percent in any fiscal year. The amount of the penalty would equal the amount by which the operating margin exceeds eight percent. The proposed law would direct such penalties into a new fund from which, subject to appropriation, expenditures would be made to improve Medicaid reimbursement to certain covered hospitals and maintain essential services, as determined by the Department of Public Health, at acute care hospitals. The proposed law would take effect on July 1, 2024 and would not interfere with any contract or agreement in effect as of July 1, 2024. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health would issue regulations to implement the proposed law. The proposed law states that, if any of its parts were declared invalid, the other parts would stay in effect.[4] |
” |
Full text
The full text of the initiative can be read here.
Path to the ballot
The state process
In Massachusetts, the number of signatures required to qualify an indirect initiated state statute for the ballot is equal to 3.5 percent of the votes cast for governor in the most recent gubernatorial election. No more than one-quarter of the verified signatures on any petition can come from a single county. The process for initiated state statutes in Massachusetts is indirect, which means the legislature has a chance to approve initiatives with successful petitions directly without the measure going to the voters. A first round of signatures equal to 3 percent of the votes cast for governor is required to put an initiative before the legislature. A second round of signatures equal to 0.5 percent of the votes cast for governor in the last election is required to put the measure on the ballot if the legislature rejects or declines to act on a proposed initiated statute. Signatures for initiated statutes in Massachusetts are collected in two circulation periods. The first period runs from the third Wednesday in September to two weeks prior to the first Wednesday in December, a period of nine weeks. If the proposed law is not adopted by the first Wednesday of May, petitioners then have until the first Wednesday of July (eight weeks) to request additional petition forms and submit the second round of signatures.
The requirements to get an initiated state statute certified for the 2022 ballot:
- Signatures required (first round): 80,239 signatures
- Signatures required (second round): 13,374 signatures
- Deadline (first round): The deadline to submit the first round of signatures to the secretary of state was December 1, 2021. Signatures needed to be submitted to local registrars by November 17, 2021.
- Deadline (second round): The deadline to submit the second round of signatures was July 6, 2022.
If enough signatures are submitted in the first round, the legislature must act on a successful petition by the first Wednesday of May. The measure only goes on the ballot if the legislature does not pass it and if the second round of signatures is successfully collected.
Details about this initiative
- The initiative was filed by Julie B. Pinkham.[2]
- On September 1, 2021, the attorney general cleared the initiative for signature gathering.[3]
- The Massachusetts Nurses Association announced the suspension of the initiative campaign.[5]
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Massachusetts Secretary of State, "Text of the initiative," accessed August 3, 2021
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Massachusetts Secretary of State, "List of petitions," accessed August 3, 2021
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Massachusetts Attorney General, "Final Summary," accessed September 1, 2021
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Eagle Tribune, "Variety of proposals inching toward 2022 ballot," November 18, 2021
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