This is the fifth conversation between Dr. Jarone Lee, a frontline critical care and emergency physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and associate professor at Harvard Medical School, and Dr. Paul […]
Paul Hattis
Posted inHealth Care
Dr. Lee: ICU units won’t beat this disease
This is the fourth conversation between Dr. Jarone Lee, a frontline critical care physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and associate professor at Harvard Medical School, and Dr. Paul Hattis, an […]
Posted inHealth Care
Dr. Lee: Preparing for the surge
This is the third conversation between Dr. Jarone Lee, a frontline critical care physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and associate professor at Harvard Medical School, and Dr. Paul Hattis, an […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
2 takes on how to protect our health and democracy
Push back deadlines and reduce signature requirements By John E. McDonough, Paul Hattis, and David K. Jones The ongoing COVID-19 global epidemic is having an unexpected negative impact on our […]
Posted inHealth Care
MGH doc Jarone Lee: We’re seeing patients of all ages
Dr. Jarone Lee, a critical care physician at Massachusetts General Hospital, appeared on the Health and Consequences CommonWealth Codcast six days ago, providing a report from the front lines in […]
Posted inOpinion
Stepping up on coronavirus treatment coverage
THE MASSACHUSETTS DIVISION of Insurance issued a bulletin late last week that strongly suggests health insurers should cover coronavirus testing without copayments, deductibles, or co-insurance and treatment without copayments. Andrew […]
Posted inOpinion
Making sense of the governor’s 30% proposal
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER’S PROPOSAL to require that health care spending for both primary care and behavioral health grow from its current base by at least 30 percent over the next […]
Posted inOpinion
I’ve got questions on Rep. Neal, Partners
AS DECEMBER DRAWS to a close, there have been a number of “happenings” in health care, both nationally and locally, that have major implications for policy. A few are worth […]
Posted inOpinion
Five takeaways from the Health Policy Commission hearing
THERE HAVE BEEN SEVEN Health Policy Commission cost trend hearings since 2013, but the one that took place recently was the most interesting. Part of it was timing – Gov. […]
Posted inOpinion
Money for nothing
MASSACHUSETTS HOSPITALS appear to be getting more money while providing no added value to patients. Patients, premium payers, and the state or federal governments (funded by our payroll or income […]
Posted inHealth Care
What consumers deserve from Harvard Pilgrim-Tufts merger
WHEN I SPEAK with colleagues around the country about how expensive health care is in Eastern Massachusetts, I tend to place most of the blame on our large and prestigious health […]
Posted inOpinion
Medicare for All interim steps
WHETHER YOU ARE an avid supporter of the Bernie Sanders-style single-source financing concept (often referred to these days as Medicare For All), dead set against it, or somewhere in-between, you […]
Posted inOpinion
MassBIO’s drug pricing concerns don’t add up
ONE OF THE MORE PUZZLING arguments the Massachusetts biopharma industry is putting forward during the Beacon Hill debate over Medicaid drug pricing is that innovative drugs won’t be developed and […]
Posted inOpinion
Time for Tufts soul-searching on Purdue Pharma
AS A FACULTY MEMBER at Tufts University School of Medicine, I, along with colleagues and many of our students, have found it embarrassing to be confronted by news reports on […]
Posted inOpinion
A pitch for socializing corporate health insurance premiums
LAST WEEKEND I attended the memorial service for Rob Restuccia, a longtime and pioneering advocate for a more just and consumer responsive health care system in Massachusetts, and really across […]
Posted inOpinion
Partners is like a shark – always on the move
Second of two parts AS A BIG, COMPLEX SYSTEM that pursues diverse missions of clinical care, research, teaching, and community benefit, Partners HealthCare has an almost insatiable need to significantly […]
Posted inOpinion
Are the Partners hospitals really partners?
First of two parts PARTNERS HEALTHCARE has been in the news a lot lately. First, on January 22, Partners started to spread the word about a plan for Massachusetts General […]
Posted inOpinion
A Partners take on BI-Lahey merger
I HAVE MIXED FEELINGS about the merger of Beth Israel Deaconess and Lahey Health, but now that it has received the conditioned approval of Attorney General Maura Healey I want […]
Posted inOpinion
Why we’re voting no on Question 1
SHOULD MASSACHUSETTS establish mandated nurse-to-patient ratios in law for all the state’s acute care hospitals? This 25-year-old conflict between the Massachusetts Nurses Association and Massachusetts Hospital Association will be determined […]
Posted inOpinion
Can we make the (bad) BI-Lahey merger work?
THE RIVETING FORD-KAVANAUGH hearing before the US Senate Judiciary Committee garnered most of the public’s attention last Thursday, but a separate gathering of the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission raised important […]
Posted inOpinion
5 takeaways from the Beth Israel-Lahey merger review
THE MASSACHUSETTS HEALTH POLICY COMMISSION’S preliminary review of the proposed BI-Lahey et al merger and the comments of the commissioners on that review surprised me a bit. Here are my […]
Posted inOpinion
A letter to Larry Bacow
DEAR LARRY, As you begin your tenure as president of Harvard University next week, I wish you the very best. We appreciated all you did when you were the president of Tufts […]
Posted inOpinion
House bill plays Robin Hood on health care
THE HOUSE HEALTH CARE BILL breathes new life into an approach taken in the 2012 cost containment bill—using some Robin Hood-like assessments as a means to improve the financial plight […]
Posted inOpinion
Health Policy Commission should do more
THE 2012 LAW CREATING the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission (HPC) includes a provision setting up an advisory council to the executive director of the commission. The charge to the advisory […]
