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 […]
Health Care
Posted inThe Download
The Codcast: A devilish health care merger
Two of the state’s leading health care analysts say they aren’t sure whether creating a powerful alternative to Partners HealthCare will reduce health care costs in Massachusetts or increase them. […]
Posted inOpinion
Unlikely partners protect contraceptive coverage
A YEAR AGO IN MASSACHUSETTS, reproductive freedom advocates and health insurance plans sat down for an unlikely meeting: to find a way to protect access to birth control in the […]
Posted inHealth Care
Tufts CEO slams BI-Lahey merger
THE CEO OF TUFTS MEDICAL CENTER took issue with the stated rationale behind the proposed megamerger of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Lahey Health, and several other hospitals, saying the […]
Posted inOpinion
How we end the opioid epidemic
IT’S DIFFICULT TO WATCH OR READ the news without seeing another family torn apart by the opioid crisis. The epidemic is so widespread that it’s been declared a national public […]
Posted inHealth Care
BI-Lahey merger gets a break on cost growth
STATE HEALTH OFFICIALS stripped language from a document that would have required the merger of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Lahey Health to prove they’ll meet legislatively mandated cost […]
Posted inOpinion
NIH funding provides the core foundation for new drugs
HOW MANY NEW drugs come from research funded by the National Institutes of Health? That was the question posed by Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, co-chair of the Senate’s bipartisan NIH […]
Posted inOpinion
Tracking hospital community investments
IN FEBRUARY, ATTORNEY GENERAL MAURA HEALEY released her office’s revised community benefit guidelines for hospitals and for HMOs—with scant media attention. This surprised the two of us a bit, as […]
Posted inOpinion
One woman’s to-do list for 2018
I’VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT where to focus my work and energy in 2018. I participated in the Women’s March last month, and was energized by the massive coming together of […]
Posted inHealth Care
GIC health premiums will fall or stay flat
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE ABOUT HALF THE MORE than 430,000 people covered by Group Insurance Commission plans will see a decrease in their premiums in fiscal 2019 and on average […]
Posted inHealth Care
Group Insurance Commission reverts to status quo
THE STATE’S GROUP INSURANCE COMMISSION on Thursday shelved an ambitious proposal to save an estimated $21 million by paring back the number of health insurance carriers available to its 430,000 […]
Posted inHealth Care
GIC chief takes the fall
THE HEAD OF THE STATE’S Group Insurance Commission took the fall on Wednesday for a bungled rollout of a plan to cut health care costs for more than 400,000 state […]
Posted inHealth Care
Four thoughts for the GIC
MANY OF US ARE BREATHING a sigh of relief with the hope that the Group Insurance Commission will vote to rescind its initial January 18 decision to accept the staff […]
Posted inHealth Care
What was the Group Insurance Commission trying to do?
THE GROUP INSURANCE COMMISSION has taken enormous heat for voting to restructure its network of health plans, but almost no one, including the commission itself, has explained the reasoning behind […]
Posted inOpinion
Electronic opioid scripts save lives
A HEARING EARLIER this month on Beacon Hill underscored the critical need for Massachusetts-specific solutions to the nation’s opioid crisis. As the Legislature prepares next steps to address this critical […]
Posted inDrug Addiction
Treating addiction as a chronic illness
You’ve shaped drug policy at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, at the White House, and now as executive director of the Grayken Center at Boston Medical Center. But it […]
Posted inOpinion
Time to repeal medical device tax once and for all
THERE’S A LOT OF TALK in Washington about health care, its future, and what our health ecosystem could look like in the next 5, 10, and even 50 years. These are important […]
Posted inHealth Care
What’s likely to happen with the Partners-Eye and Ear deal
PARTNERS HEALTHCARE NEEDS a good dose of Vitamin N (a clear No) from either or both the Department of Public Health or the Attorney General with respect to its wanting […]
Posted inDrug Addiction
Big Tobacco’s mea culpa ad campaign
Big Tobacco is launching a major ad campaign this Sunday in which it acknowledges the deadly nature of smoking and the industry’s role in concealing the danger of cigarettes from […]
Posted inHealth Care
Some top Steward execs relocating
A NUMBER OF TOP OFFICIALS at Steward Health Care, including Chairman and CEO Ralph de la Torre, are relocating their base of operations from Boston to Dallas in the wake […]
Posted inHealth Care
Lawmakers must make hospital rates fairer
HEALTH EQUITY MOTIVATED Massachusetts’ first-in-the-nation, near-universal healthcare coverage in 2006. Now, it should be a guiding principle as we tackle rising healthcare costs so necessary to keep the healing and […]
Posted inHealth Care
Insurers sound alarm on Senate health bill
InsuSTATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE SEVERAL LARGE HEALTH INSURERS are sounding the alarm on the eve of Senate debate on a health care bill that seeks to shrink the gap between […]
Posted inOpinion
Take the chains off nurse practitioners
HISTORICALLY, MASSACHUSETTS HAS BEEN a leader in healthcare reform. However, antiquated, restrictive laws and licensing requirements leave Massachusetts among only 13 states in the country – and the only state […]
Posted inOpinion
Public health emergency rings hollow
PRESIDENT TRUMP’S ANNOUNCEMENT that the opioid epidemic is a public health emergency certainly drew attention to the problem, but in reality it is an empty declaration that, at least as […]