Author: Massachusetts Rate Setting CommissionPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Medical care
Languages : en
Pages :
Book Description
Health Care Costs in Massachusetts
Author: Massachusetts Rate Setting CommissionPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Medical care
Languages : en
Pages :
Book Description
Health Care Expenditures in Massachusetts
Author: Massachusetts. Health Planning and Policy CommitteePublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Medical care
Languages : en
Pages : 64
Book Description
Health Care Costs in Massachusetts
Author: R. C. BradburyMassachusetts Health Care Cost Trends
Author: Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 34
Book Description
The Massachusetts health care system is a critical component of the state's economy. Health care is the state's top industry, the largest employer of Massachusetts residents, and accounts for over 13 percent of its $365 billion Gross State Product (GSP). The Commonwealth Fund ranks Massachusetts first in terms of access to care and seventh overall among states on its State Scorecard, which measures health system performance. Massachusetts hospitals are often cited as among the best in the nation in terms of the quality of health care services provided, scoring higher than national average on treatment of major conditions. Furthermore, Massachusetts health insurers are consistently rated among the top ten best plans in each category nationwide. At the same time, Massachusetts is grappling with escalating health care costs, which are consuming a greater portion of the economy and lowering real wage growth. Some of the cost growth is driven by system-wide challenges, such as an aging population and the greater use and availability of increasingly complex levels of medical care, much of which can be uncoordinated. To that point, Massachusetts ranks in the lowest quartile of states for avoidable hospital use and costs on the Commonwealth Fund State Scorecard. However, some challenges, such as those that stem from the structure of the health care market place, are unique to Massachusetts and must be considered when identifying strategies to mitigate health care cost growth. This report examines the factors that contribute to high health care costs in Massachusetts, including the structure of the health care system and the payment methods currently used by Massachusetts health insurers. Understanding these factors will better prepare the Commonwealth to evaluate and develop reforms that have the potential to simultaneously contain cost growth and improve quality. Data describing the Massachusetts health care system are drawn from various published sources. Data on payment methods are based on the results of a 2009 questionnaire administered for the Division of Health Care Finance and Policy, in which Massachusetts insurers documented the ways in which they pay hospitals, physicians, and intermediary organizations (medical groups, Independent Practice Associations [IPAs] and physician-hospital organizations [PHOs]).
Massachusetts Health Care Cost Trends, 2010 Final Report
Author: Massachusetts. Division of Health Care Finance and PolicyPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Medical care
Languages : en
Pages : 52
Book Description
Massachusetts Health Care Cost Trends
Author: Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Medical care, Cost of
Languages : en
Pages : 61
Book Description
Roadmap to Cost Containment
Author: The Health Care Cost Challenge and Policy Recommendations for Massachusetts
Author: Massachusetts Health Care Cost Trends
Author: Investigation of the Impact of the Massachusetts Health Care Reform on Hospital Costs and Quality of Care
Author: Fabienne MillerPublisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
In 2006, the Massachusetts legislature passed a landmark health care reform bill (the Reform) that has served as a model for the national health care reform. By aiming to provide “access to affordable, quality, accountable health care,” the goals of this reform were to reduce the number of uninsured Massachusetts residents while containing health care costs and improving the quality of health care services. This bill has been the subject of much controversy at both the national and state level. Although most agree that the Reform has improved the insurance coverage rate of Massachusetts residents, the financial impact of the Reform has been of special concern with critics arguing that the Reform has increased the overall cost of health care. Despite this scrutiny, it is still unclear whether the goals of the Reform have been achieved. We propose to test a subset of the Reform's goals by examining at the hospital level whether the Massachusetts Health Care Reform has achieved its cost containment and quality improvement goals. We use Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and Hospital Compare (HC) data to investigate this issue and study hospital costs and quality for the period spanning 2003 to 2009. To assess the impact of the Reform on costs and quality, we compare the change in Massachusetts hospital costs and quality pre- and post-Reform to changes in two states that provide a similar level of health care quality for the same period (namely, Connecticut and Wisconsin). Data from acute care hospitals show that there is no evidence that Massachusetts total hospital costs or salaries of departments providing clinical services were adversely affected by the Reform. Moreover, we find that quality of care improved for several quality measures post-Reform to a greater extent in Massachusetts than in our control states. In sum, our evidence is consistent with the claim that Massachusetts hospital costs were contained and quality improved subsequent to the Reform. Thus, this study provides preliminary support for the argument that the Reform achieved some of its financial and quality goals.