One year after Steward Health Care’s demise, the Nashoba Valley and Dorchester communities are grappling with strained EMS services, diminished access to care, and trust that has been broken. Local leaders, hospital staff, and residents say they are a testament to the devastation that lingers after communities lose their critical infrastructure.
critical condition
Posted inThe Codcast
The math of rural health access
This week on The Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon reporter Jennifer Smith talks with Michael Leary, director of media relations for Berkshire Health Systems. They dive into what makes Berkshire County such a complicated place for health care access – with rural towns, busier cities, college students, and of course the seasonal visitors looking to peep some leaves or take in the snowy mountains. The far-flung region’s geography is a challenge on its own, and that’s before factoring in the system-wide staffing crunches and looming Medicaid
Posted inCourts
When the courthouse leads to the therapist’s office
The mental health courts make a compelling offer: If the participants agree to use it, the system will connect them with long-term and accessible mental health supports often out of reach for people in prison or just trying to navigate the crunched behavioral health landscape. But they are expensive, resource intensive, and serve just a fraction of the people in need of mental health services in and out of the criminal justice system.
Posted inOpinion
Affordable health care for all is the easiest problem to solve in Massachusetts
HEALTH CARE SPENDING in Massachusetts is just about the highest in the world. It is enough to finance health security for all of us. Health security means that we get […]
Posted inHealth Care
Massachusetts braces for ‘gut punch’ of health insurance costs if Congress fails to act
Elected officials, marketplace administrators, and health care advocates are ramping up pressure on Congress to extend Biden-era federal tax credits that help Americans pay for health insurance. Without action, they warn, out-of-pocket costs could increase dramatically.
Posted inHealth Care
Phoning it in – Mass. residents still lean toward in-person care as telehealth booms
While the rise of telehealth in the early 2020s “did improve access to care,” according to the Health Policy Commission, not everyone is able to use the new virtual hospital landscape. “Specific actions could be taken to further enhance access for more rural and vulnerable populations.”
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 inHealth Care
‘The gaps have become too big for too many’
Physicians, policymakers, and advocates hope to make a breakthrough this term on legislation that would boost the share of health care dollars that go toward primary care amid provider burnout and growing wait times for appointments.
Posted inThe Codcast
Health care workers struggle to navigate closures and immigration fears
This week on The Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon reporter Jennifer Smith continues health care month coverage in a conversation with 1199SEIU executive vice president Cari Medina and Anestine Bentick, lead medical assistant at South Boston Community Health. They discuss existing pressures on stretched workforces, the impacts of recent closures, and how immigration policy bleeds into the health care space.
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 inThe Codcast
Mass. HHS secretary on protecting health equity and access
On the monthly Health or Consequences episode of The Codcast, John McDonough of the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and Paul Hattis of the Lown Institute spoke with Dr. Kiame Mahaniah, Massachusetts secretary of Health and Human Services, about looming Medicaid cuts, the primary care crisis, and how to make sure the vulnerable can still access health services.
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 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 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.