Health Care

Question 1 bad for care, nursing education

Opinion

Question 1 bad for care, nursing education

Measure will lead to cutbacks, closures at hospitals

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IMPROVING PATIENT CARE and supporting healthcare workers should always be the top priorities when making changes to today’s health care system. I am a nurse and educator with 40 years of experience, and I am convinced the Question 1 ballot initiative does neither–and will in fact cause lasting damage to our entire healthcare system. As(...)

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Mass. leading way on reining in health care costs

Opinion

Mass. leading way on reining in health care costs

Credit a united effort, avoidance of regulatory overreach

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THE CONSTITUENCIES THAT CAME together to gain passage of the state’s landmark universal health care law in 2006 — consumers, employers, providers, insurers — were justifiably proud of our achievement. But we all recognized that an even larger problem lay ahead – gaining control over the escalating costs of health care. Looking back, we could(...)

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Cash may net lower price for some drugs

Cash may net lower price for some drugs

Overpayments common using insurance for top generics

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MASSACHUSETTS CONSUMERS may be spending too much for popular generic prescription drugs if they use their insurance instead of paying with cash, according to research released on Wednesday by the Health Policy Commission. The commission analyzed 1.15 million insurance claims for 10 generic prescription drugs and found that the difference between using insurance (copays, co-insurance,(...)

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Health panel ventures into political arena

Health panel ventures into political arena

Altman: We’re providing information, not telling people how to vote

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TOP OFFICIALS AT THE HEALTH POLICY COMMISSION privately began debating this summer whether it made sense for the watchdog agency to wade into the political arena and analyze the potential impact of a ballot question mandating nurse staffing ratios at the state’s hospitals. Stuart Altman, the chairman of the commission, said the agency didn’t take(...)

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Health commission report: Big cost increases from nurse ballot question

Health commission report: Big cost increases from nurse ballot question

Analysis supports hospital arguments that measure would drive up health care costs

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A BALLOT QUESTION mandating nurse staffing levels in hospitals and other health care settings would increase health care costs in Massachusetts by $676 million to $949 million, according to an analysis released Wednesday by the state Health Policy Commission. The report estimated that 2,286 to 3,101 new nurses would have to be hired under the(...)

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Can we make the (bad) BI-Lahey merger work?

Opinion

Can we make the (bad) BI-Lahey merger work?

If conditions are the way to go, here are my suggestions

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THE RIVETING FORD-KAVANAUGH hearing before the US Senate Judiciary Committee garnered most of the public’s attention last Thursday, but a separate gathering of the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission raised important issues that could dramatically affect the local health care market. In response to the 80-page rebuttal by the merging parties to the Health Policy Commission’s(...)

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Health commission seeks ‘guardrails’ on merger

Health commission seeks ‘guardrails’ on merger

Panel asks AG to review Beth Israel-Lahey Health deal

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STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE AN APPREHENSIVE HEALTH POLICY COMMISSION voted unanimously Thursday to refer the Beth Israel-Lahey Health mega-merger to Attorney General Maura Healey and Public Health Commissioner Monica Bharel for further review, with commission members hoping enforceable “guardrails” can be put in place to mitigate their concerns that the deal will threaten access to(...)

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Health Policy Commission to assess ballot question

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A state agency is preparing to play the role of fact checker in a bitter, high-stakes campaign over a ballot question that would mandate nurse-patient staffing ratios in hospitals across the state. The Health Policy Commission, after weeks of hedging when asked whether it would analyze the impact of Question 1, revealed that it had(...)

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Health Policy Commission to assess ballot question

Health Policy Commission to assess ballot question

Agency would implement nurse staffing law if it is approved

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A STATE AGENCY is preparing to play the role of fact checker in a bitter, high-stakes campaign over a ballot question that would mandate nurse-patient staffing ratios in hospitals across the state. The Health Policy Commission, after weeks of hedging when asked whether it would analyze the impact of Question 1, revealed that it had(...)

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