Committee debates healthcare delivery bill: $2M for transformation work, new steering committees and 5% hospital cost target

A legislative committee on May 6 discussed a healthcare delivery bill that would shift funding for statewide reform, create two new advisory bodies to guide primary care and healthcare delivery, require a January report on clinical and claims data integration, and set a target of at least a 5% reduction in hospital costs for hospital fiscal year 2026.

The conversation focused first on fiscal numbers and sources. Nolan Langwell of the fiscal office presented a side-by-side summary of the Senate-passed appropriations and the committee’s proposed changes, saying, “I had heard from AHS that they need $5,000,000 to do this work, but over 2 years.” He told the committee the bill’s proposal would move roughly $2,000,000 from the HIT (health information technology) fund to support transformation work and reduce the general fund by about $250,000. Langwell said the HIT fund is “estimated to be at the end of fiscal year 25, about $8,000,000, on the bottom line,” giving the committee room to use HIT dollars for the proposal.

The draft would allocate roughly $2.0 million for transformation work, with smaller amounts for developing quality and access measures and alternative payment models. Committee staff described a separate $2,000,000 proposal from Representative Houghton to award grants to hospitals to expand access—including telehealth—using HIT fund…