INSIDE THE ISSUE

> Healthcare Workforce
> Rebranding Saint Anne’s
> Point32Health/HNE
> Transitions

MONDAY REPORT

Building and Protecting the Healthcare Workforce

TGovernor Maura Healey last Wednesday signed the nearly $4 billion economic development bill that, among its many features, includes a provision that allows Massachusetts to enter the Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC).

The compact permits qualified nurses to have one license in their state of residency and to practice in other NLC states. Nurses participating in the compact are required to go through strict criminal history reviews and they have to meet all the licensing requirements of the states in which they want to practice. With Massachusetts joining the compact, 42 states and jurisdictions are now part of the NLC.

The legislature’s insertion of the NLC into the economic development bill, and the governor’s approval of the measure, is the second major legislative step the state has taken in 2024 to improve the nursing workforce.

In April, Healey signed a supplemental budget bill that allows graduate nurses and nursing students in the final semester to practice at the bedside as they wait to take their NCLEX licensing exams. That measure codified a regulatory flexibility that had been created during the pandemic to help hospitals deal with the influx of patients and workforce shortages. At the end of May, the Board of Registration in Nursing and Bureau of Health Care Safety and Quality issued guidance to implement the law.

“Our elected officials are helping Massachusetts hospitals and health systems meet the moment when it comes to workforce challenges,” said MHA’s Executive Vice President & General Counsel Mike Sroczynski. “These two measures will have an immediate, positive effect in making our talented base of healthcare professionals more flexible, prepared, and supported.”

One remaining healthcare workforce priority is passage of legislation to curb workplace violence and support caregivers who are victims of violent acts. The House and Senate each reported competing violence prevention bills but have not reached consensus on compromise legislation.

Across Massachusetts hospitals, a worker is subject to an act of violence or a threat every 36 minutes. MHA and its members have mounted numerous efforts over the years to address the growing issue and spread awareness about its urgency, including through the association’s Board of Trustees and Healthcare Safety and Violence Prevention workgroup. Massachusetts healthcare providers have signed onto a united code of conduct for patients and visitors, produced extensive violence prevention guidance that all facilities can implement, and are meeting frequently to share their best practices on the issue.

HPC Hearing Explores Current Problems, Potential Solutions

AnotherGovernor Healey was at Saint Anne’s Hospital in Fall River last Wednesday for a ceremony in which the logo of the hospital’s new owners – Brown University Health – ceremoniously replaced the branding of Saint Anne’s previous owners, the bankrupt Steward Health Care.

“There were Steward facilities in states around the country but only in Massachusetts were we able to do what we did, which was to save hospitals to protect jobs and to protect the stability of a healthcare market and access to critically needed care – and that includes 1,500 jobs right here at Saint Anne’s,” Healey said. “And in addition to saving 13,000 jobs [across the state], we also did something important and got a bad, unethical operator out of Massachusetts once and for all.”

John Fernandez, the president & CEO of Brown University Health, which purchased Saint Anne’s and Morton Hospital in Taunton, said, “The one thing that I wanted to make sure people know is that it is the people at Saint Anne’s and at Morton – the staff the nurses the doctors – that persevered through a very, very tough time. I cannot even imagine how difficult it was. It’s hard enough to deliver care, but it’s even harder under the circumstances that they were under. That commitment reminded me, and I know reminded many other people, why they got into healthare, which is to take care of people. So those workers deserve our big gratitude.”

Point32Health Acquires Health New England

The Division of Insurance (DOI) has signed off on Point32Health’s acquisition of Health New England, the former health plan subsidiary of Baystate Health. Point32Health, which was created in 2021 by combining Tufts Health Plan and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, signed an affiliation agreement with HNE in February 2024.

Point32Health serves about 1.9 million members in Massachusetts, Maine, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. HNE serves about 167,000 members in Western Massachusetts.

In the decision and order from DOI, Point32Health said it has no plans to liquidate HNE or sell its assets, and that “no material changes in the parties’ business lines or corporate structure are contemplated at this time. Point32Health, however, will evaluate, simplify, and enhance product portfolios over time, which might result in the combination of certain Health New England products with those of other Point32Health affiliates.”

Transitions

Last Wednesday, Robin Lipson was appointed Massachusetts Secretary of Elder Affairs, effective immediately. Lipson has been serving as acting secretary since June when Elizabeth Chen, who had been Elder Affairs secretary since 2019, left the post. Lipson first joined Elder Affairs as chief of staff in 2015. Previously she had served as Deputy Director of the Massachusetts Medicaid Program, and Vice President of Strategic Planning for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of MA.

President-elect Donald Trump nominated Dr. Mehmet Oz as Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Oz, a Harvard graduate, who received his M.D. and MBA degrees from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Wharton Business School, is a heart surgeon by training. He is best known as the resident physician on Oprah Winfrey’s former talk show and later as the host of “The Dr. Oz Show” on daytime TV. He ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate from Pennsylvania, losing to Democrat John Fetterman in 2022.

John LoDico, Editor