STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE WITH CONSUMERS experiencing higher health care outlays and some putting off care because of it, a state commission on Wednesday stuck with the annual state health care cost growth benchmark, which is a target rather than a binding cap on price or spending escalation. The Health Policy Commission voted to keep […]
Health Care
Posted inHealth, Health Care, Opinion
Mass. can do a better job on sexual and relationship education
MASSACHUSETTS TEENS deserve to live healthy lives free from violence, but our public schools are failing them. As pediatricians, we see how the inadequacy of sex and relationship education in our schools puts children and teens at risk for sexual assault. We have cared for teens in our medical practices who have experienced sexual violence. […]
Posted inHealth Care
Mass. moves to stockpile supplies of abortion pill
MASSACHUSETTS IS STOCKPILING the abortion drug mifepristone through the state university system and health care providers, shoring up access to the medication after a federal judge in Texas issued an order that could invalidate the drug’s 23-year-old authorization by the end of the week. At Gov. Maura Healey’s request, the University of Massachusetts Amherst last […]
Posted inHealth Care
Mass. nursing homes approaching capacity, association says
A NEW INDUSTRY survey indicates short- and long-term skilled nursing facilities across the state are approaching capacity because of a shortage of workers. The Massachusetts Senior Care Association said one of every five staff positions is currently vacant, a situation that has forced nursing homes to take 3,000 of the 40,000 licensed beds offline. With a […]
Posted inHealth Care
To lower drug costs, report says let doctors dispense
IN MASSACHUSETTS, a doctor who diagnoses someone with pneumonia has to send the patient off to a pharmacy to fill a prescription for antibiotics. In most other states, the doctor can dispense the prescription right in the office, saving the patient time and money. “Part of the reason drugs cost so much is that middlemen […]
Posted inHealth Care
Travel nurses fill a gap but also create problems
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE AN INCREASING RELIANCE on travel nurses is contributing to high turnover rates among nurses in Massachusetts, as health care remains strapped by labor shortages here and around the country, according to a Health Policy Commission report. Registered nurse vacancy rates in Massachusetts hospitals doubled from 6.4 percent in 2019 to 13.6 […]
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Mass. health care expenditures rise sharply
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE A NEW REPORT estimates that per capita health care expenditures in Massachusetts shot up 9 percent in 2021 after having dropped 2.3 percent in 2020, giving elected officials and policymakers fresh data two days ahead of hearing that could consider how the health costs oversight system put in place by a […]
Posted inOpinion
My agenda for health cost benchmark hearings
IT’S MARCH, so that means it is time for the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournament and all of the suspense, surprise, and excitement connected to it. But March also brings us the 7th annual Massachusetts Health Policy Commission health care cost growth benchmark hearing—scheduled this year for March 15. Though prior hearings have lacked any “buzzer […]
Posted inOpinion
When a discount isn’t a discount
MOST OF US have negotiated a better price for ourselves at one time or another – online, with a local merchant, or as part of our job. Those selling an item we want set the opening bid – we counter with a lower offer. And so on. While every negotiation is different, they all share […]
Posted inHealth Care
Mass. doctors feeling burned out, survey finds
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE HALF OF 500 MASSACHUSETTS doctors surveyed have already or intend to soon cut back their clinical hours, and one in four plan to leave medicine altogether in the coming years, according to new data released Thursday by a leading industry group. Fueling concerns about staffing shortages that have plagued the health […]