A health care reform bill headed for a debate and vote in the House next week has some very good elements, but it also has some worrisome provisions, in particular the well-intended but flawed effort to raise commercial prices paid to the lowest-paid hospitals.
Paul A. Hattis
Posted inHealth Care
Steward has its doctors over a barrel in Optum deal
If the Optum purchase moves forward, Steward will directly transfer the previous provider agreements to Optum without an opportunity for physicians to negotiate a new deal, despite an entirely new corporate change-over.
Posted inOpinion
Here’s how HPC should be reviewing the Steward-Optum deal
Some of the issues arise because of who the seller is and some are tied to worries about this particular buyer.
Posted inOpinion
The state’s options with Steward on the brink
State government needs to re-engage in statewide health system planning. We need functioning markets in health and medical care, and we need intelligent and thoughtful statewide planning that is more proactive and less reactive.
Posted inOpinion
Some thoughts on how to deal with the Steward situation
STEWARD HEALTH CARE appears to be in serious financial trouble. In some ways, it’s surprising the for-profit health care system — with 33 hospitals, including eight in Massachusetts, plus a physicians network — has survived as long as it has. In August 2022, the system’s dire financials showed a negative net worth of $1.5 billion. That figure is […]
Posted inOpinion
Panelists who impressed at health cost trends hearing
The Health Policy Commission’s annual cost trends hearing didn’t attract much media coverage this year, so I thought I’d summarize what I thought was most interesting.
Posted inOpinion
SJC case raises interesting questions about tenure
Can Tufts Medical School cut the pay of tenured professors who fail to reach targets for outside fundraising? The Supreme Judicial Court will decide.
Posted inOpinion
Could Dana-Farber deal reduce health care spending?
EVERYONE IS TALKING about the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s decision to abandon its long-term affiliation with Brigham and Women’s Hospital and partner instead with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, which is offering the institute the opportunity to build a much larger free-standing cancer care hospital on the Beth Israel campus. It’s a really big deal, raising […]
Posted inHealth Care
A game plan for turning Tufts Medicine around
Second of two parts. Read the first part here. IF TUFTS MEDICINE is going to turn around financially, clearly there are short-term issues for management focus, but there are also intermediate and long-term ones as well, some of which may require state intervention. For me, there is no question that Tufts Medicine’s survival and vibrancy […]
Posted inOpinion
Tufts Medicine facing existential challenges
First of two parts. Read part two here. I’M WORRIED about Tufts Medicine. The latest news, that its current financial woes could trigger violations of bond covenants by late September, raises the possibility that key services could be shut down, employees laid off, and assets sold. Tufts may even have to partner up with some health system […]