THE MASSACHUSETTS HEALTH POLICY COMMISSION voted unanimously on Wednesday to lower the state’s 2018 benchmark for health care spending growth from 3.6 percent to 3.1 percent, a move that some […]
Health Care
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
Drug deja vu
It’s not easy being a health insurer these days, particularly when pharmaceutical companies come along with wonder drugs that cost a fortune. Insurers are all about working the odds. They […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
Baker’s sweet talk on health care
Do you get more with honey than vinegar? That old adage is the framework for a Boston Globe editorial teeing up the challenge facing Gov. Charlie Baker in the unfolding […]
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion
Sanchez: A few common themes emerged
IN MAY OF 2016, I was named co-chair of the Special Commission on Provider Price Variation, a 23-member group consisting of legislators, insurers, providers, employers, and other stakeholders. The commission […]
Posted inHealth Care, State House News Service
Health panel finds some common ground
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE AFTER SIX MONTHS OF SEEKING WAYS to address the variation in prices charged by Massachusetts medical providers, officials plan to recommend a host of solutions including […]
Posted inHealth Care, State House News Service
Panel badly split on health care pricing
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE DIFFERENCES AMONG MEMBERS of a 23-person commission examining health care pricing variations were on full display Tuesday on the 21st floor of One Ashburton Place. Commission […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
A welcome boost for Boston Medical Center
A $25 million donation to Boston Medical Center has, in the words of the hospital’s CEO, Kate Walsh, brought “addiction medicine out of the philanthropic shadows.” The gift, from billionaire investor […]
Posted inHealth Care, The Download
Lahey + Beth Israel: Is bigger better?
Even with all the uncertainty surrounding health care and the Affordable Care Act, Lahey Health and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center are convinced bigger is better. The two hospital […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics, The Download
Baker pushes health cost controls
Gov. Charlie Baker launched the beginning of what promises to be a very interesting debate about how to rein in the cost of health care in Massachusetts, releasing an internal […]
Posted inHealth Care, State House News Service
Baker pushes health cost controls
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE COMPANIES THAT DO NOT OFFER their employees health insurance would pay a $2,000 annual assessment per full-time worker to the state under a plan Gov. Charlie […]
Posted inHealth Care
Baker letter to House on ACA
The Honorable Kevin McCarthy Majority Leader United States House of Representatives H-107, U.S. Capitol Building Washington D.C., 20515 Leader McCarthy, Thank you for the opportunity to provide initial input […]
Posted inHealth Care
Mass. health care costs moderating
THE MASSACHUSETTS HEALTH POLICY COMMISSION reported on Wednesday that health care is becoming more affordable, but not for everyone. As recently as 2009, Massachusetts spent more per person on health […]
Posted inHealth Care
Steward’s asset-light philosophy
NO ONE IS QUITE SURE what to make of Steward Health Care’s latest move. A for-profit health care company operating in a sea of nonprofits, Steward has always been something […]
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion
The Partners premium
IT IS INTERESTING TO WITNESS Partners HealthCare and its efforts to fend off any policy approaches that may attempt to rein-in the unwarranted high prices the company receives from commercial […]
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion
Mass. = primary care doctor desert
MASSACHUSETTS IS ARGUABLY home to the best hospitals, doctors, and medical research institutions in the world. The best and brightest attend our medical schools and many will subsequently live and […]
Posted inThe Download
Owner of Mass. psych hospitals in cross hairs
Some accounts sound like a step into the Twilight Zone, with people who arrived for free mental health assessments finding themselves in locked psychiatric wards without even realizing they had […]
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion
Repealing Obamacare won’t fix health care
“ALL BUREAUCRACIES, PUBLIC OR PRIVATE, are the same” is a motto I have lived by for years, and it applies to the health care and health insurance bureaucracies. I purchase […]
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion
Good health goes beyond health care
WITH MORE THAN 1.8 MILLION Massachusetts residents covered by MassHealth at a cost of more than $15 billion, there is no doubt that Massachusetts is committed to ensuring that care […]
Posted inHealth Care, State House News Service
$1b Children’s Hospital expansion approved
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE State health officials on Thursday gave Boston Children’s Hospital the green light to move forward with a controversial $1 billion expansion. The Public Health Council voted […]
Posted inHealth Care
State agency examines pricing of drugs
FOUR EXPERTS on prescribing, paying for, and manufacturing pharmaceuticals on Tuesday offered the state’s Health Policy Commission a series of recommendations on how to curb rising drug costs, but first […]
Posted inHealth Care
Prices biggest cause for rising health costs
IT’S THE PRICE, stupid. That was the message delivered at the first day of annual state hearings on health care cost trends with experts and officials pointing the finger at […]
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion
Baker’s big health care move
FOR THE THIRD time since 1996, the Massachusetts Medicaid program, called MassHealth, is preparing for transformation. After submitting a final proposal in July, state officials are anxiously awaiting a decision […]
Posted inHealth Care
Insurers raise concerns on Children’s
THE MASSACHUSETTS ASSOCIATION OF HEALTH PLANS on Monday urged the Department of Public Health to reconsider its conditional support for a proposed expansion at Boston Children’s Hospital. Lora Pellegrini, the […]
Posted inHealth Care, State House News Service
Baker’s DPH backs Children’s expansion
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH has recommended approval of a $1 billion expansion at Boston Children’s Hospital, a step that moves the controversial project closer […]