On November 29, President Clinton signed the BBA relief bill into law at a Rose Garden ceremony attended by Partners’ Chief Operating Officer Tom Glynn and BWH President Jeffrey Otten. The new law provides $17.1 billion over 10 years and $12.4 billion over five years in increased Medicare reimbursements, with roughly one third of the monies targeted to hospitals. An additional $4 billion in relief will come to hospitals over the next five years ($9.6 billion over 10 years) because the Clinton Administration also has agreed to eliminate the proposed 5.7 percent cut in hospital outpatient payments. Statewide, the BBA relief totals $281.4 million. Partners Finance is at work on estimates of the impact on each of its acute hospitals.