Leaders of the five Pioneer Valley hospitals and community health centers that are receiving a portion of the recently approved $234 million supplemental budget are breathing a sigh of relief, while cautioning that “significant challenges remain” amid ongoing financial strain, including impending Medicaid changes.
Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton, the Community Health Center of Franklin County, Baystate Health, Heywood Healthcare (including Athol Hospital) and Hilltown Community Health Centers (including the John P. Musante Health Center) will see assistance from the spending package, which received House and Senate support and has been signed into law by Gov. Maura Healey.
The bill, H.4530, allocates $122 million to acute care hospitals with negative margins that are serving a high percentage of low-income patients. Included in that, Cooley Dickinson Hospital, Baystate Franklin and Athol Hospital will receive a portion of $22 million, which is the second-largest funding pool in the package. Another $77 million will stabilize the Health Safety Net Trust Fund, which helps reimburse hospitals and community health centers for treatment of uninsured patients.
“It’s part of our Senate’s work to bolster our providers in health … to shore up where the federal government is retreating,” state Sen. Jo Comerford, D-Northampton, said in a Facebook statement about her “yes” vote on the spending bill.
Comerford, along with state Sen. Paul Mark, D-Becket, and Reps. Natalie Blais, D-Deerfield, Susannah Whipps, I-Athol, Lindsay Sabadosa, D-Northampton, Mindy Domb, D-Amherst, and Homar Gomez, D-Easthampton, all voted in favor of the package.
Kelly Mitchell, a program manager for public affairs at Mass General Brigham, under whose network Cooley Dickinson belongs to, said the Northampton hospital is estimated to receive about $1 million through the spending bill. That money would be used to reimburse previously performed care the hospital provided to uninsured and underinsured patients.
“We look forward to working with the administration and Legislature on long-term reforms regarding the state’s Health Safety Net,” Mitchell said in a statement. “We work to provide the best quality, personalized care to every patient across our hospital system.”
Peter Banko, president and CEO of Baystate Health, said Baystate is “deeply grateful” to the legislative delegation, the governor and the “many advocates who worked tirelessly to secure this important funding relief for hospitals in Massachusetts.”
Banko said the combined supplemental payments to hospitals and the Health Safety Net will provide stability for western Massachusetts communities, noting that 70% of patients in the state are covered by public insurance.
While recognizing the positive impact of the funding to all four Baystate hospitals, Banko said the problems aren’t over.
“While these funds will have a positive impact across all four Baystate Health hospitals, we must also acknowledge that significant challenges remain as we face ongoing financial pressures, including impending Medicaid changes and persistent gaps in reimbursement,” he said in a statement.
The impending changes to Medicaid were solidified with the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that cut roughly $1.1 trillion in health care spending. This bill was signed into law by President Donald Trump on July 4, and rolls back the Medicaid expansion from the Affordable Care Act. It is expected to result in 11.8 million more people going without health coverage by 2034, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
Prior to the bill’s passage, the office of U.S. Sen. Edward Markey and other Senate Democrats released a list of hospitals considered at risk of closure, with Baystate Franklin listed as the only Massachusetts hospital considered at risk of “financial distress and even closure, conversion or service reductions” because of the bill’s $500 billion Medicaid slash.
Baystate clarified in July that the Greenfield hospital is not at risk of closure, but said impacts will be felt across the health care industry, and Baystate could see an estimated $30 to $50 million loss from the changes. According to a new annual report from the Center for Health Information and Analysis, Baystate Franklin reported a $15.1 million loss in hospital fiscal year 2024, making it among the 61% of acute hospitals in Massachusetts that ended the year in the red.
MassHealth, the state’s Medicaid program, is expected to feel the impact of the federal spending and tax cuts to the tune of a $1.75 billion loss, and with 250,000 MassHealth enrollees losing their insurance coverage, according to Gov. Healey’s office.
In Franklin County and parts of the North Quabbin region, nearly half of those insured rely on public health insurance, including Medicaid, at 48.3% — more than 10% above the state average of 38.1%, according to the Massachusetts Health Data Community Report provided via the state Department of Public Health.
“This relief package is a vital step forward and we also recognize western Massachusetts will need further action and funds to stabilize health care throughout the region,” Banko said in his statement.
With state support, health centers feeling ‘seen’
Local community health centers will also benefit from the spending bill, which allocates $35 million to the network of health centers across the state. This figure includes $2.5 million for the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers, which will help regional savings initiatives, including options for shared service.
The Community Health Center of Franklin County, with offices in Greenfield, Turners Falls and Orange, will benefit from this allocation, as well as the Hilltown Community Health Center, with locations in Amherst, Worthington and Huntington. Community health centers are able to serve communities with primary care, dental care and behavioral care, regardless of someone’s insurance status.
Michael Purdy, CEO of the Hilltown Community Health Center, and Allison van der Velden, CEO of the Community Health Center of Franklin County, said it is not yet clear how the health centers will divide that money.
“Some of the things we’re expecting to be spending more money on in the coming year are going to be things like discounts for folks who become uninsured, as well as medications for people who don’t have adequate pharmacy coverage, and also [health insurance] eligibility help,” van der Velden said about the expenses she expects the Community Health Center of Franklin County will incur moving forward.
Van der Velden said the assistance from the state is “fantastic,” but she noted health officials are bracing for underinsured and uninsured patients seeking care at a level that is difficult to estimate now. The Community Health Center of Franklin County is trying to “shore up” its systems for this possible “tidal wave.”
As health care providers and systems are still recovering from the hardships of the pandemic, on top of new incoming hardships from cuts made on the federal level, van der Velden said this state funding can help reassure staff members and patients that the state is paying attention.
“I feel really confident assuring my staff that I can support them, and that they can focus on their patients, and that we know we will be here and their job is secure,” she said. “Without the support of systems around us in these uncertain times, people do feel the stress and the uncertainty, and it is good to be able to assure them that we are seen, and that the work we’re doing is important.”
Staff Writer Alexander MacDougall contributed reporting.