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Senator withdraws amendment but highlights South Shore Hospital’s financial strain and seeks eligibility fix
Summary
A senator withdrew amendments intended to expand eligibility for hospital relief payments to include South Shore Hospital, and detailed the hospital’s negative operating margins and regional capacity strain while urging further consideration in committee.
A senator withdrew two amendments that would have modified eligibility criteria for supplemental relief payments so South Shore Hospital, a nonprofit community hospital serving the South Shore region, could qualify. On the floor, the senator said the withdrawal followed conversations with the Ways and Means chairman and others and expressed the intent to pursue an individualized approach to eligibility.
The senator described South Shore Hospital’s financial stress, citing a fiscal-year operating margin of minus 2.3% and a year-to-date operating margin of minus 4.6% through Dec. 31 for FY2025. He said 27 Massachusetts acute hospitals were operating in the red and that 37 of 45 affiliated physician organizations showed negative margins, citing data from the Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association as recounted in floor remarks.
The senator characterized South Shore as one of the busiest level-2 trauma centers in the state and described regional capacity pressures, including several nearby emergency-department and hospital closures in recent years. He quoted the hospital’s chief medical officer (as reported to the Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association): “We physically have no more space,” to describe the operational strain.
The senator said the amendment sought a technical change to eligibility language — changing a relative-price threshold from “less than” to “not more than 1” — so that hospitals at or below the statewide relative price could be eligible for relief. He said he withdrew the amendment to continue discussions with legislative leadership and hopes to address South Shore and similarly situated hospitals through committee and further legislative work. No formal change to the law occurred at the floor vote because the amendment was withdrawn.
