Several area hospital leaders say they need more time to determine how a new bill to control health-care costs will impact their institutions, but they agree action is necessary to make health care more affordable.

The first-in-the-nation 349-page bill was signed into law by Gov. Deval Patrick on Aug. 6.

"It's an extremely complex bill, and we don't really know how it's all going to play out," said Patrick Muldoon, president and CEO of HealthAlliance Hospitals. "We said consistently that it's terrific we have health-care reform, but now we have to figure out how to make it affordable because the system we have now is unsustainable."

Norm Deschene, president and CEO of Lowell General Hospital, said the bill meets the goals of the hospital community to deliver quality and affordable care.

"The bill clearly recognizes that there needs to be a number of different approaches to meeting those goals; we agree with many of those programs," wrote Deschene in an email.

The bill is intended to save up to $200 billion in health-care costs over the next 15 years by moving the state toward a payment system in which doctors receive an annual budget for each patient's care, known as a "global payment system," rather than having them charge a fee for each service or test provided. Like the 2006 universal-access law; however, it could be years before its changes are fully implemented and its impacts known.

While the law's critics say it represents a thicket

The law says medical costs must grow at the same rate as the state's economy until 2017. After that, health-care costs must grow even slower.

A state board, known as the Health Policy Commission, will help hospitals meet these goals. Deschene credits lawmakers for preventing the board from automatically taxing or punishing hospitals that don't meet the benchmarks. Hospitals will instead be required to file a performance-improvement plan.

As a last resort, the bill does allow the board to fine providers up to $500,000 for failing to file or faithfully implement its improvement plan.

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Health-care reform's impact as yet unseen