Sec. 14. Outpatient cost-efficiency. By January 1, 2006, the Maine Hospital Association and the Governor's Office of Health Policy and Finance shall agree on a timetable, format and methodology for the hospital association to measure and report on outpatient cost-efficiency. The methodology must use the ambulatory payment classification system as the unit of cost.

Sec. 15. Standardization of administrative cost tracking. The Legislature requests that the Maine Hospital Association develop, by January 1, 2006, standardized definitions of various administrative cost categories that hospitals may use when establishing budgets and reporting on spending on administrative costs.

Sec. 16. Health care administrative streamlining work group.

1. Work group established. The Governor's Office of Health Policy and Finance shall convene a health care administrative streamlining work group to facilitate the creation and implementation of a single portal through which hospitals can access and transmit member eligibility, benefit and claims information from multiple insurers. The work group shall investigate:

A. Funding mechanisms, including seeking outside funding for start-up and ongoing operational costs, with the intention that the portal become independent and sustainable over time; and

B. Ways to ensure that savings resulting from implementation of such a portal are passed on to purchasers in the form of rate reductions by hospitals and other providers and by reductions in administrative costs by insurers and 3rd-party administrators.

The work group may also consider the incorporation of medical and quality data to the extent possible in the future.

2. Membership. The work group consists of 17 members appointed by the Governor. The membership of the work group must reflect the geographic diversity of the State. Members serve as volunteers and without compensation or reimbursement for expenses. The membership consists of the following persons:

A. Four members representing community hospitals chosen