Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Emergency Preparedness topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Sen. Driscoll proposes statutory stockpile and surge rules, cites 85% hospital threshold
Summary
Senator Jane Driscoll urged the committee to make Massachusetts’ strategic stockpile statutory and to adopt surge‑response triggers to ease hospital capacity pressures. She proposed codifying existing stockpile practices and a bill setting an 85 percent bed‑capacity threshold to trigger streamlined emergency actions such as temporary prior‑auth wa
Senator Joan (Jennifer) Driscoll (transcript name: Senator Driscoll) testified to the Joint Committee on Emergency Preparedness and Management in support of two related bills: S.537, which would codify and standardize the Commonwealth’s strategic preparedness stockpile, and S.538, which would establish procedures for emergency response when pediatric or adult hospitalizations surge.
Driscoll told the committee the proposals would enshrine practices that have already been used during the pandemic and make them statutory to ensure continuity. "This is a practice that has been done. We're doing it not only for things like the temporary hospital equipment that was utilized at various points during the height of the pandemic," she said, adding the stockpile can include items affected by supply chains or federal changes — she mentioned mifepristone as an example of a non‑traditional item the state now stockpiles.
On surge response, Driscoll proposed an 85 percent hospital capacity threshold to activate streamlined actions, such as temporary waivers of prior authorization to move patients and speed throughput during acute bed shortages. She cited an example from the South Shore Hospital: "At 06:30 AM today, they had 438 patients in their 374 bed hospital," Driscoll told the committee to illustrate strain on the system. Driscoll said any temporary waivers would not prevent later insurer adjudication of claims.
Committee members thanked Driscoll for the bills and noted the practical value of codifying stockpile and surge processes; the hearing included no committee vote on the measures.
Ending: The sponsor asked the committee to advance the bills so the Legislature can set statutory standards for stockpiling and surge response; the committee did not take a vote at the hearing.
