Winter 2025
The 2023/24 session ended on December 31, 2024. All bills pending before the legislature in 2024 will carry over to 2025
SUMMARY OF 2023-2024 BILLS
Health Care Market Oversight. (H.5159)
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 prior authorization reform provisions supported by the MOA, changes to the Determination of Need program that would have impacted ambulatory surgery centers which were opposed by the MOA, or the more onerous provisions in the Senate bill that would have prohibited certain contractual relationships with private equity investors, real estate investment trusts and management service organizations, and focuses more on reporting and transparency.
Prescription Drug Bill, S.3012 “An act relative to pharmaceutical access, costs and transparency”
Will license and regulate Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs), and empower the state’s Center for Health Information Analysis and Health Policy Commission) to obtain and analyze information regarding various pricing factors from drug manufacturers and Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs).
Substance Use and Recovery. Chapter 285 of the Acts of 2024,“An Act relative to treatments and coverage for substance use disorder and recovery coach licensure”
Allows for the licensure and regulation of recovery coaches and would expand access to substance abuse treatment by requiring insurers to cover emergency opioid antagonists used to reverse overdoses, such as naloxone or name-brand Narcan, without cost-sharing or prior authorization.
Notice and Disclosure Law Delay. Chapter 248 of the Acts of 2024, Section 39
Will delay until January 1, 2027 implementation of the Notice and Disclosure law that was scheduled to become effective Jan 1, 2025.
As a reminder, the Legislature passed a law in 2020 requiring all physicians, and other health care providers, to disclose to patients if they participate in the patient’s insurance network and, if the patient requests it, to provide the patient with the cost of the service. There are some inconsistencies between the state law and the notice and disclosure requirements of the federal No Surprises Act that could result in two sets of differing laws being enforced.
Limited Licensure of Foreign Trained Physicians. Chapter 238, Section 226, Acts of 2024
Included in the Economic Development law, Section 238 creates a streamlined pathway to licensure for internationally trained doctors and eliminates the requirement to repeat residency training in the United States. Eligible physicians will receive a limited license to practice under the mentorship of participating health centers or hospitals in a physician shortage area.
Maternal Health. Chapter 186 of the Acts of 2024. “An Act promoting access to midwifery care and out-of-hospital birth options,”
Licenses and regulates certified professional midwives and lactation consultants, eliminates regulatory barriers for opening birthing centers for low risk pregnancies, requires MassHealth coverage of doula services.
Sexual Assault. Chapter 167 of the Acts of 2024, “An Act Criminalizing Sexual Assault by Fraud of a Medical Professional.”
Criminalizes a sexual assault on a patient or client during the course of diagnosis, counseling, or treatment, where consent to the act was procured by a false representation that the act was for a bona fide medical purpose and not consistent with generally accepted principles of professional medical practice.
Parentage. Chapter 166 of the Acts of 2024 “An Act to ensure legal parentage equality,”
The law updates Massachusetts statutes to clarify who can be a parent and how to establish parentage. The law ensures that all children can access the security of legal parentage, regardless of the circumstances of their birth by providing a path to parentage through birth, adoption, acknowledgment, adjudication, genetics, assisted reproduction, surrogacy, de facto parentage, and presumptions (including a marital presumption).
Gun Control. Chapter 135 of the Acts of 2024 “An act modernizing firearm laws:”
• Bans guns in public spaces like schools, government buildings and polling places (except off-duty police);
• Requires businesses to explicitly post any gun “carry” restrictions;
• Prohibits visitors from carrying firearms into another person’s home without permission;
• Updates assault weapons ban to include new weapons manufactured after 2004 (new AR-15) and by including new technology that can convert firearms into assault weapons;
• Cracks down on “ghost” guns - all kit or homemade firearms, if sold, must be etched with unique serial numbers and registered with state;
• Expands state’s “Red Flag” law by adding to list of those who can file under the law: licensed health care providers, school administrators and employers.