A UNION OFFICIAL who represents nurses at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home on Tuesday described a continuing culture of fear among employees, which has resulted in an unwillingness to speak out about the serious problems at the home. “Many people told me they’re not coming today (because) they’re afraid. They don’t want retaliation,” Andrea Fox, associate […]
Health Care
Posted inOpinion
Reading between the lines at cost trend hearing
WHAT PERHAPS was the most surprising thing about this year’s Health Policy Commission cost trends hearing was how there was essentially no discussion of health care costs. Had panelist Andrew Dreyfus, the CEO of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, not added a very brief comment noting worries of health care affordability challenges resulting from […]
Posted inHealth Care
Problems are persisting at Holyoke Soldiers’ Home
THIS PAST Sunday, Erin Schadel got a call from the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home, where she planned to visit her father, cancelling the visit. Her father, Frances Hennessy, had a mild fever and had been tested for COVID-19. His initial test came back negative, and the staffer promised to call her when a confirmatory test came […]
Posted inHealth Care
Sudders warns of future nursing home closures
MASSACHUSETTS’ TOP health official is warning that nursing home closures could accelerate due to the pandemic – but she said those that survive may be the better ones. “I’d expect we’d see more consolidations of facilities going forward, but you will see a higher quality,” Secretary of Health and Human Services Marylou Sudders told the […]
Posted inHealth Care
MassHealth enrollment surges during pandemic
THE STATE’S MEDICAID program is experiencing a big increase enrollment, with officials worried about its long-term impact on state finances. MassHealth, the state Medicaid program, is meant to cover the lowest income individuals in Massachusetts but in fact, it covers more than a quarter of the state’s population. Secretary of Health and Human Services Marylou Sudders testified at a budget hearing before […]
Posted inHealth Care
Families of Holyoke Soldiers’ Home vets tell heartbreaking tales
SUSAN KENNEY heard about the COVID-19 outbreak at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home and the rising veteran death toll on the news. Her father, Charles Lowell, lived at the home, yet his case manager had told her nothing in conversations earlier that day. For 30 hours, Kenney couldn’t get any information from staff about her father’s […]
Posted inHealth Care
Federal COVID funds boost flagging hospital revenue
THE CENTER FOR HEALTH Information and Analysis released its monthly hospital financial performance data on Thursday, providing a picture of how hospitals fared through the first five months of the pandemic. Among the key takeaways is the fact that COVID-19 federal funds, received by many hospitals throughout the state, boosted operating revenue and income significantly. […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Baker names Poppe secretary of vet services
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER appointed Cheryl Lussier Poppe as secretary of veterans’ services on Thursday, four months after she began filling the role on an interim basis after Francisco Urena resigned just before the release of a report on what led to the COVID-19 deaths of 76 veterans at the state-run Holyoke Soldiers’ Home. “Time and […]
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion
Trump executive order on race and diversity a big step backwards
LAST MONTH, President Trump issued an Executive Order on Combating Race and Sex Stereotyping to eliminate federal funding for initiatives that investigate how gender and racial biases consciously or unconsciously further inequality in America. Following a memorandum published weeks earlier by the Trump administration in response to the growth of diversity & inclusion (D&I) trainings in academic and corporate spaces, the executive order boasts a goal of […]
Posted inHealth Care
The COVID body count continues
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER touted all the ways yesterday that Massachusetts is now better prepared to deal with coronavirus than it was seven months ago. But the impressive accounting of the state’s anti-COVID armamentarium can’t answer what has emerged as the elephant in the room of pandemic statistics — the state’s “stubbornly high” coronavirus death rate. […]