Mass., Feds Agree to $26.7B Health Care Extension

The goal of the federal funding is to help those hospitals and similar primary care providers to move away from a fee-for-service model of care — where doctors are paid per operation, for example — and toward a model that rewards hospitals and doctors for helping keep patients healthy.

Another program funded by the deal will let the state try to curb the growing problem of pediatric asthma by covering services not traditionally paid for under insurance plans.

Those services include home visits by community home health workers and paying for the cost of supplies aimed at easing environmental factors in the home that can trigger asthma attacks.

The deal will also help the state create an "express lane eligibility program" to make it easier to renew eligibility for parents with children who are enrolled in the food stamp program. About 140,000 MassHealth members may be eligible for the express lane renewal program.

The agreement also includes more than $500 million annually for Commonwealth Care and the Health Safety Net — the program that helps reimburse hospitals for the cost of caring for the uninsured — and more than $300 million annually in other federal help to pay for services to low income and uninsured populations.

Early intervention programs, including programs aimed at helping children with autism, are also funded by the agreement.

Cindy Mann, deputy administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, also praised the deal, saying it will help Massachusetts continue to make progress on expanding health coverage by testing new ideas.

"The demonstration will support the Commonwealth's delivery and payment reforms while also helping it to move forward on several innovative new programs," Mann said in a statement. "We are pleased to be able to support these important initiatives."