AUDITOR’S REPORT NOW OVER BUDGET
State health care review costing more than $2M
A study lawmakers ordered nearly five years ago to see if the state’s health care law is reining in costs is turning into its own budgetbuster, with plans to arrive a year late and carry a projected $2 million price tag — hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars more than anticipated.
The “comprehensive review” the Legislature ordered state Auditor Suzanne Bump to conduct as part of its 2012 health care cost containment law had a deadline to wrap this month. But Bump has told lawmakers she needs another year to collect data, and in January — months after submitting her initial budget request — she asked for another $375,000 to fund the additional work.
The extra infusion, if approved in the next state budget, would push the study’s projected cost to more than $2 million, adding fuel to criticisms that the massive 350-page bill has long been too heavy on bureaucratic mandates.
“I think it certainly raises questions of what value are we getting out of each of these reports,” said Josh Archambault, a health care expert at the Pioneer Institute. “Are we effectively spending every dollar to make sure we have a piece of information that’s actionable? Or are we just producing long white papers?”
Others questioned why a separate report from Bump was needed. Paul Ginsburg, a health policy professor at the University of Southern California, noted that the law created both the Health Policy Commission and the Center for Health Information and Analysis, both of which are already “specifically designed to play this monitoring role.”
Bump, in fact, had to create a new unit to perform the review, because it’s not part of the normal work of her office.
“Why did it ask the state auditor?” asked Ginsburg, who has studied the Massachusetts health care system. “They may have overdone it.”
Bump’s office did not make her available for an interview, but she told Gov. Charlie Baker in her January letter that many of the initiatives she’s supposed to study are either “completing the first year or just nearing operational status.” Her office pointed specifically to delays in MassHealth, which is behind in implementing alternative payment methodologies to help control costs.
Michael Wessler, a Bump spokesman, said she plans to release initial reports by June, but full supplemental findings and recommendations won’t be published until a year later.
“Completing the work of the unit before a full analysis can be completed would be a disservice to the taxpayers,” Wessler said.
The 2012 law did not put aside any money for the review, but Bump’s office has gotten more than $400,000 each of the last four years toward it. More than $772,000 of that has gone to various consultants.
State Sen. James Welch, who co-chairs the Legislature’s health care financing committee, said the goal of the review, despite its escalating price tag, remains the same.
“It’s going to add to the bottom line, but when you create this oversight, it’s going to save you money in the long run,” he said. “I think that’s the consensus, or the belief out there.”
State Rep. Jeffrey Sanchez, the top House member on the committee, said uncertainty about health care on the federal level, including a bill that could replace the Affordable Care Act, puts an onus on the review to help state policy-makers.
“They have data that we don’t have access to,” he said. “I’m looking forward to what they put together, and how it contributes to how we look at the impending cloud before us.”