H 2139 Massachusetts House · 193rd Legislature (2023-2024)

An Act to increase patient access to certain health care services

This bill amends state laws to clarify how health care facilities are defined and what constitutes a "substantial change in services" for regulatory purposes. It directly affects hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, and other medical institutions by updating the rules that determine when a facility must report new or expanded services to the state department. The legislation specifically excludes spiritual healing centers and ambulatory surgical centers from the definition of a health care facility and clarifies that adding staff alone does not count as a major service change unless it significantly increases operating costs. Additionally, the bill sets specific financial and capacity thresholds for what counts as a substantial change for different types of facilities, such as requiring a minimum expenditure or an increase of more than twelve beds for non-hospital settings.
Bill status passed 3 of 4 stages cleared
Introduction
Feb 2023
Committee Review
Feb 2023
Senate Passage
Feb 2023
Governor
Introduced Feb 16, 2023 Last action Jul 1, 2024
Floor votes

How they voted

This bill passed the Senate. No roll call record of that vote is available.
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
4
Key actions
1
Committee
1
Feb 16, 2023
Upper · Passed
Senate concurred
upper
Feb 16, 2023
Committee
Referred to the committee on Public Health
lower
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Photo of Nick Boldyga
Nick Boldyga
RRepublican
MA
3rd Hampden