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In 2005, the Foundation launched the Closing the Gap on Racial and Ethnic Health Care Disparities grantmaking area and secured the Disparities Solution Center at Massachusetts General Hospital as an evaluation partner. This report highlights stories of change from policy, organizational, provider, and client perspectives. Lessons from this report guided the Foundation in revising its funding strategy for the subsequent 2008–2011 grantmaking cycle.

Full text of Chapter 58 of the Acts of 2006, as subsequently amended and revised, with links to relevant agencies, reports, and regulations.  

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According to this new report, implementation of national health reform will direct billions of new federal dollars into the Massachusetts health care system, expand public coverage to reach more of the state's residents, and has the potential to help the state reach its cost containment and quality of care goals. Written by the Center for Health Law and Economics at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, this report is the most comprehensive assessment to date of how the national reform law intersects with the Commonwealth's own health reforms.

This report is the latest in a series by the Urban Institute analyzing the impact of the Massachusetts health reform law. Findings show that despite the state's economic recession Massachusetts has maintained record low levels of uninsured and access to needed health care has improved. Additionally, disparities in coverage and care have been eliminated or narrowed. Solid public support for the health reform law continues. This report is based on the 2009 Massachusetts Health Reform Survey (MHRS), which has tracked the impact of the law annually since 2006.

This comprehensive chartbook describes key findings from the latest Urban Institute report analyzing the impact of the Massachusetts health reform. Data is based on the fall 2009 Massachusetts Heath Reform Survey.

This policy brief based on data from the 2009 Massachusetts Health Reform Survey shows that women have achieved significant gains in insurance coverage and in access and use of health care since health reform was implemented in Massachusetts. The gains were particularly strong for subgroups of women who had lower levels of coverage and poorer access prior to reform, including lower-income women, women of minority race/ethnicity, and women without dependent children.

This report, written in conjunction with senior staff at the Center for Health Law and Economics, examines the phenomenon of enrollees cycling on and off state health insurance programs, specifically MassHealth and Commonwealth Care.

In August 2009, legal immigrants who have been in the United State for fewer than five years lost their eligibility for health insurance coverage under Commonwealth Care. They now receive coverage under the Bridge Program. In December, the BCBSMA Foundation brought together grantees, government officials, advocates, and health insurers for an informal discussion about how and why these changes were made, and how to improve coverage for legal immigrants.

MassHealth, the Massachusetts Medicaid program, could play a leading role in implementing dramatic changes to the health care payment system. This report outlines how so-called global payments could be used in MassHealth, which provides insurance coverage to roughly 1.2 million people in the state. Global payments have been recommended by both the Special Commission on Health System Payment and the Massachusetts Health Care Quality and Cost Council as a means of reigning in health care cost increases and improving care coordination.

On November 13, 2009, MMPI partnered with the Massachusetts Health Policy Forum and Community Catalyst to sponsor a forum exploring efforts in Massachusetts to improve quality and control Medicaid prescription drug costs. At the forum, an issue brief was released that detailed implementation of a preferred drug list in the MassHealth program. In addition, speakers talked about the array of tools available to states to improve prescribing and reduce cost growth.

This report is based on a survey of 1,982 mental health providers in Massachusetts including psychiatrists, psychiatric clinical nurse specialists, psychologists, social workers, mental health counselors, and marriage and family therapists. It estimates the need for childrens mental health services; assesses child and family mental health service delivery capacity; identifies variation in capacity, including variation by geography, linguistic ability, and cultural competence; and documents challenges to meeting current demand for services.

MassHealth eligibility has expanded through a series of incremental steps since 1997. This chart shows the populations that have been made eligible for MassHealth as a result of these expansions, by category and income level (relative to the federal poverty guidelines).

This analysis outlines the potential impact a national health reform bill may have on Massachusetts, including key areas that bear further monitoring.

This policy brief based on data from the 2008 Massachusetts Health Reform Survey shows that while health reform in Massachusetts has succeeded in increasing health insurance coverage and access to care, use of emergency departments by working-age residents remains high. Those seeking care in EDs 5/have trouble accessing care in other settings. They are less likely to use a doctors office or private clinic as their usual source of care and they are somewhat less likely to report having a place they usually go to (other than the ED) when they are sick or need advice about their health.

This policy brief describes the rate of uninsurance among working-age adults in Massachusetts and public support for health reform. This brief is part of a series funded by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation, the Commonwealth Fund, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation on implementation of the Massachusetts reforms.