On Thursday, December 8th we shared findings from a recent research project highlighting key health care priorities for the incoming Massachusetts Governor and legislative leaders.

This in-person event included the opportunity to network with friends and colleagues and learn about key health care and coverage priority issues and opportunities for the next Administration from our partners at Manatt Health. The agenda also featured a panel discussion that offered reactions on the identified priority issues and potential policy solutions, as well as an opportunity for Q&A.

The Foundation's Massachusetts Medicaid Policy Institute (MMPI) hosted a webinar with chart pack author Rachel Gershon, Senior Associate for Health Law & Policy from the Commonwealth Medicine Division at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. The goal of the webinar was to provide participants with basic background information about MassHealth, including what benefits MassHealth covers, who it serves, program spending and cost drivers, and a status update on the state's delivery reform efforts.

Click here to access the webinar recording. 

This webinar featured a review key facts and data about MassHealth eligibility, costs, and recent reforms from our October 2023 edition of the MassHealth: The Basics – Facts and Trends chart pack. The goal of the webinar was to provide participants with basic background information about MassHealth, including what benefits MassHealth covers, who it serves, program spending, and a status update on the state’s latest delivery reform efforts.

Click here to view a recording of the webinar. 

This Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation event featured an important discussion on the topic of innovative approaches to investing in social services. The event highlighted findings and recommendations from the recently released report, Investing in Social Services as a Core Strategy for Healthcare Organizations: Developing the Business Case, published by KPMG and The Commonwealth Fund.

The program included panel discussions highlighting creative approaches and tools being used to facilitate partnerships between social service and health care organizations at both national and local levels.

National Speakers

• Annika Ginsberg, MPA, Director, Engagement & Collaborations, OneCity Health
• Marjorie Momplaisir-Ellis, MPH, Senior Director, Engagement & Collaborations, OneCity Health
• Tanya Shah, MBA, MPH, Assistant Vice President, Delivery System Reform, The Commonwealth Fund
• Eveline van Beek, Managing Director, Health and Human Services, KPMG LLP

Massachusetts Speakers

• Jessica Collins, MS, Executive Director, Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts
• Myechia Minter-Jordan, MD, MBA, President & Chief Executive Officer, The Dimock Center
• David Waters, Chief Executive Officer, Community Servings

In early 2023, Massachusetts began implementing its Roadmap for Behavioral Health Reform (Roadmap), a sweeping set of changes aimed at simplifying access and entry to the state’s outpatient behavioral health care system for all Massachusetts residents. The Roadmap reforms are designed to address challenges with the current behavioral health care system, including difficulty finding community-based providers and culturally relevant services, a lack of integrated mental health and addiction treatment, and a continued reliance on the emergency department for crisis and acute care.

Last month the Foundation released a report describing the key components of the Roadmap and how they are intended to improve access to behavioral health care services. It also provided an update on Roadmap implementation, described early successes and challenges, and identified opportunities to strengthen implementation moving forward.

As a follow on to the release of this report, the Foundation hosted a webinar with the report's authors from Manatt Health on Wednesday, September 11, 2024, from 1-2 PM. The webinar provided an overview of the Roadmap and key takeaways from the report.

Click here to view a recording of the webinar.

This forum featured the results from the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation's annual Massachusetts Health Reform Survey (MHRS). The survey shows that while coverage and access continue to be strong in Massachusetts, health care costs are a burden for many individuals and families. 

The Foundation hosted a second webinar that featured a review of key facts and data about MassHealth eligibility, benefits and delivery systems, costs, and recent reforms from our October 2024 edition of the MassHealth: The Basics – Facts and Trends chart pack. The goal of this webinar was to provide participants with basic background information about MassHealth, including what benefits MassHealth covers, who it serves, program spending, and a status update on the state’s latest delivery reform efforts. NOTE: This webinar covered the same content as our November 2024 webinar on MassHealth: The Basics. 

The Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation hosted an event on the topic of access to outpatient mental health services in Massachusetts. The event featured remarks by Secretary Marylou Sudders of the Executive Office of Health and Human Services and a presentation from Abt Associates on the results of a never before released mixed-methods study to better understand access to outpatient mental health services in Massachusetts. The researchers discussed key study findings, which are based on interviews with stakeholders and consumer focus groups, as well as quantitative data from a statewide survey of mental health providers and a survey of organizations providing outpatient mental health services to predominantly MassHealth clients.

The program included two panel discussions highlighting (1) other relevant research on this topic and (2) programs, practices, resources, and models of care that have demonstrated success in facilitating access to outpatient mental health services.

The Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation and Community Catalyst hosted an important discussion about hospital community benefit in Massachusetts. In Fiscal Year 2015, Massachusetts hospitals reported to the Attorney General’s office approximately $570 million in aggregate community benefit expenditures, a significant investment in the health of communities across the Commonwealth. Many hospitals also make contributions through the Massachusetts Department of Health’s Determination of Need program and municipal Payment In Lieu of Tax programs.

A report featuring an analysis of hospital community benefit activities in Massachusetts that examines how hospitals have been fulfilling their community obligations and offers recommendations for ensuring those hospital resources have the desired impact on community health was presented by authors Paul Hattis of Tufts University School of Medicine and community health advocate Enid Eckstein followed by a panel discussion with community and health care leaders who shared their perspective on the report’s data and recommendations.

The Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation hosted an event to discuss affordability of, access to and satisfaction with health care among seniors in Massachusetts. There are almost one million seniors in MA and while most enjoy broad coverage and protection against the cost of many health care services through Medicare, they may also face significant gaps, finding themselves responsible for substantial deductibles, coinsurance and copayments. This can put incredible strain on seniors, forcing tough choices and leaving them vulnerable.

The event included:

• A presentation of July, 2015 survey results assessing the perspectives of seniors on the issues of affordability of, access to and satisfaction with their health care coverage by Robert Blendon of the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health.

• A presentation by Nancy Turnbull of the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health providing an overview of the many private and public coverage programs available to seniors to help fill the gaps in Medicare.

Followed by a panel discussion.

This event discussed the challenges and implications of the counter-cyclical nature of the Medicaid program and options to reduce reactive swings in MassHealth funding and scope of services that come with downturns in the economy.

Please join MassHealth, the Massachusetts Medicaid Policy Institute (MMPI), and the Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS) for a series of stakeholder meetings to solicit broad public input as MassHealth begins to develop a new ACO program.

Click here to R.S.V.P.

MassHealth, MMPI, and CHCS will host four sessions:

(1) ACO Kick-Off Symposium - See Agenda

Date: June 12, 2014
Time: 1:00 - 5:00 pm
Location: Omni Parker House - Ballroom; 60 School Street, Boston, MA  02108
Audience: All interested stakeholders
Download the PowerPoint Presentations

(2) ACO Input Session – Focused on Provider Experience - See Agenda

Date: June 24, 2014
Time: 9:00 am - 12:00 pm
Location: Omni Parker House Hotel – Kennedy Room, 60 School Street, Boston, MA   02108
Audience: Providers
Download the PowerPoint Presentation

(3) ACO Input Session – Focused on Member Experience - See Agenda

Date: June 24, 2014
Time: 1:00 - 4:00 pm
Location: Omni Parker House Hotel – Kennedy Room, 60 School Street, Boston, MA   02108
Audience: Consumers and consumer advocates
Download the PowerPoint Presentation

(4) ACO Input Session – Focused on Health Plan Experience - See Agenda

Date: June 25, 2014
Time: 1:00 - 4:00 pm
Location: Omni Parker House Hotel – Kennedy Room, 60 School Street, Boston, MA   02108
Audience: Health Plans
Download the PowerPoint Presentation

This information is also available on the state's procurement website here.

As Massachusetts continues the debate on health care costs and the next wave of health reform it grows increasingly important to understand public's opinion on these topics. This event presented the findings of a poll led by researchers at the Harvard Opinion Research Program. The poll touched on a number of different questions including the public's perception of major cost drivers, who they believe should take the lead on addressing costs and how important is it for the state to take major action. The presentation was followed by a panel discussion about the polling results.

This event, co-hosted with the Access Project, Health Law Advocates and the Massachusetts Hospital Association, discussed the lingering burden of medical debt in Massachusetts even as health insurance coverage in the state expands.

Of the more than 1.8 million people enrolled in MassHealth, Massachusetts’ Medicaid program, one in five are dually eligible and receive health care coverage through two distinct payers – Medicare and MassHealth. In the coming weeks, the Foundation will be releasing a comprehensive set of materials that aims to help policymakers and other interested stakeholders better understand the characteristics and needs of the dual eligible population in Massachusetts, the programs that serve them, and proposed reforms to improve care integration and quality for dual eligible MassHealth members.

This webinar featured a presentation by the authors from Manatt Health and highlighted key takeaways from the educational primer on the dual eligible population in Massachusetts. Participants learned about:

• The diversity of dual eligible members, and how they vary by age, gender, race/ethnicity, clinical need, and functional status, among other characteristics.
• Their especially complex care needs, and how they translate to more costly care relative to other MassHealth or Medicare-only populations.
• The integrated care programs that coordinate Medicare and MassHealth benefits, simplify administrative processes, and align financing through a single program.
• The Duals Demonstration 2.0 – reforms proposed by MassHealth to standardize and grow enrollment in its two largest integrated care programs while ensuring transparency, choice, and quality of care.
   

Click here to access the webinar recording.