Now is the time for providers, payers, and legislators to come together to develop solutions that reduce administrative burdens for providers, increase investments in primary care, and strengthen safety net institutions.
Medicare
Posted inOpinion
We can fix what ails our community hospitals
The Steward Health Care crisis has left many Massachusetts residents with the belief that when a hospital enters bankruptcy, it is never to emerge again. Heywood Healthcare – the nonprofit community hospital and health care system that I lead – is proof that this doesn’t have to be the case.
Posted inOpinion
Time to plug gaps in Medicare coverage
A 72-YEAR-OLD woman went in for surgery to remove a brain tumor in 2019. The last thing she remembers before her surgery was a doctor putting her to sleep. When she awoke, she was missing her dentures, her glasses, and had no memory of how she got home. Shortly after, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and […]
Posted inGambling
Budget notes: Beacon Hill assuming Encore will open on time
THE MASSACHUSETTS GAMING Commission is currently meeting in private, trying to decide whether Wynn Resorts should be allowed to retain its casino license and open on time in June. But budget officials on Beacon Hill are acting as if the decision has already been made. A fiscal 2020 budget proposal put out by the House […]
Posted inOpinion
Alzheimer’s a growing public health crisis
STATE SEN. BARBARA L’ITALIEN‘s mother, Claire, lived with her and her family for 20 years near the end of her life. Claire helped raise Barbara’s four children, enabled Barbara to run her first campaign, and was a great source of support and love for the family. When Claire was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, from which […]
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 on the plan from the US Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services. The goals are to: first, transform how medical services are delivered to many […]
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion
Why Republicans hate the Affordable Care Act
THIS WEEK, THE US House of Representatives will take up reconciliation legislation, amended and approved in the US Senate last month, that would drill major, damaging holes in the Affordable Care Act. Though the bill has zero chance of becoming law because of a certain veto by President Obama, it is – by the Democrats’ count […]
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion
Reality and unreality in new Congressional Medicare deal
THIS WEEK, YOU can be confident that the US Senate will approve bipartisan legislation approved on March 26 in the House of Representatives by an overwhelming (392-37) bipartisan majority to repeal a long-standing feature of Medicare physician payment policy called the Sustainable Growth Rate, or SGR. If you’ve never heard of SGR, you are among […]