“The Department of Public Health is working with MassHealth to implement more than 20 provisions within the 2024 maternal health law designed to bolster access to services and tackle racial disparities in care outcomes.”
Health
Posted inOpinion
What Norway’s dominance at the Winter Olympics can teach us about youth sports
American sports culture clings to the belief that early competition builds champions—that competition produces toughness, and that lowering the stakes makes kids soft. Norway offers the most compelling counterexample imaginable.
Posted inState Government
‘It just requires people to be destitute’: Healey draws criticism over push to tighten eligibility for safety-net program
Five years after lawmakers scrapped the asset limit attached to the Emergency Aid to the Elderly, Disabled, and Children program, Gov. Maura Healey wants to bring it back at a higher threshold — a move that advocates say will impose unnecessary burdens on at-risk recipients.
Posted inHousing
Trump administration targets program for chronically homeless residents, sparking fear for vulnerable populations in cities like Springfield
The overhaul has been temporarily and partially blocked by a federal judge, but the move is impacting local administrators of the federal program across Massachusetts and has threatened millions of dollars in funding for permanent housing and thousands of beds for the chronically homeless.
Posted inHealth
As cases rise, flu-related illness claims lives of two Boston children
TWO BOSTON CHILDREN under the age of two have died from flu-related illness, marking the city’s first pediatric influenza deaths since 2013 and raising alarms as flu cases surge and […]
Posted inOpinion
Understanding the Massachusetts health care crisis, with help from Muhammad Ali
While there was general consensus at the hearing that it can’t be business as usual, the ideas offered up for what to do about it were piecemeal. There was no coherent roadmap, no shared strategy, and certainly nothing resembling a statewide plan.
Posted inHealth Care
Health care workplace violence bill finding traction
According to a bill summary, someone in a Massachusetts health care facility is assaulted, threatened or verbally abused every 38 minutes.
Posted inGovernment
DTA: Some food aid recipients will see benefits drop to ‘zero’
“I’m trying to do the best I can to manage the situation,” Healey said. She added, “No state can come forward and replace what the federal government has taken away.”
Posted inGovernment
Looming federal food aid cuts put state Democrats in the hot seat
Massachusetts Democrats are unwilling to tap into the state’s significant savings balance to replace food aid, previewing difficult decisions that loom on the horizon.
Posted inState Government
Health care advocate joining state service as undersecretary
“Amy Rosenthal, executive director of the nonprofit Health Care For All, will join state government next month as undersecretary of health, the Executive Office of Health and Human Services announced Wednesday.”
Posted inHealth
Trump administration handling of vaccine guidelines causes unnecessary confusion, rift with scientific community
A WEEK AGO, the CDC’s acting director signed off on the recommendations made by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), an external panel that sets US vaccine policy. The […]
Posted inHealth Care
Two years after the closure of Leominster’s maternity unit, a region is struggling
It’s been two years since Clinton Hospital’s maternity unit closed. The fallout of the closure paints a complicated picture in a state without maternity care deserts. But experts and advocates say recent losses and impending cuts to Medicaid make maternal health care access in Massachusetts something that stands to get worse.
Posted inOpinion
I don’t want to close any more mental health centers
The cost of operating our clinic with optimal staffing simply exceeded by a wide margin the amount we received from insurers – largely the state Medicaid program MassHealth – to operate it.
Posted inOpinion
‘Persistently high volumes’: The view from inside a hospital
“I wish I could say that stress and burnout has started to decline, but burnout continues to be high among doctors, nurses, and allied health staff working in all of our clinical settings, ranging from emergency departments and ICUs to our outpatient clinics and services. I am hopeful that one of the silver linings of COVID is an increasing focus on the mental health of health care workers.”
Posted inHealth Care
New poll shows high satisfaction with health insurance in Mass., even as residents delay or skip care for cost reasons
New polling for CommonWealth Beacon conducted by the MassINC Polling Group paints a picture of Massachusetts residents mostly happy with their health care coverage, especially when compared with other states, even while large slices of the population report struggling with cost and access.
Posted inOpinion
Follow the money: Is the CVS-MGB primary care deal good for Mass.?
The plan must be considered in the context of the state’s primary care task force and its emerging vision for a reformed primary care system.
Posted inHealth Care
Red lights on the way to health care
When hospitals close, communities reel. Even in well-covered Massachusetts, some regions of the state still struggle to access its nation-leading health care. And after decades of hospital consolidation, the system is staring down federal changes likely to make the hard job of providing care for underserved communities even more challenging.
Posted inHealth
Healey puts Mass. on its own vaccine path
The state Department of Public Health on Thursday updated its vaccine administration policy, enabling pharmacists to administer vaccines and emergency medications. The maneuver promotes the availability and distribution of vaccines in Massachusetts beyond those approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.
Posted inOpinion
A mother’s plea: Fix the broken continuum of care for brain injury patients
As if the agony of his horrific injury weren’t enough, I’ve also been forced to wage another relentless battle—this one against a cold, indifferent private health insurance industry that treats my son like a number instead of a life worth fighting for.