Please join us on Wednesday, December 13th for an event featuring key findings from a forthcoming report focused on developing a vision and action plan for achieving a racially and ethnically equitable health care delivery system in Massachusetts. Accompanying the report we will release a “Health Equity Action Plan Toolkit,” which identifies a comprehensive set of interventions, policies, and programs from around the country that can be deployed by health system leaders and other stakeholders to achieve health equity goals.

This in person event will include a presentation by our partners at Manatt Health who will describe the vision and plan for action—collectively the “Health Equity Action Plan”—for achieving a racially and ethnically equitable health care delivery system in Massachusetts. The agenda will also feature a panel of reactors that will speak to the proposed approach to launch this action plan in Massachusetts. A formal agenda and list of speakers will be shared prior to the event.

Registration is closed.

The Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation held an event on Thursday, January 31st on the topic of creating a model behavioral health system in Massachusetts. The event featured a presentation by Manatt Health on the findings from a new report that analyzes the current state of the Massachusetts behavioral health care delivery system, identifies gaps and challenges in the system, and proposes a series of recommendations to help move Massachusetts toward a model behavioral health system. The proposed model system is inclusive of all payers and intends to deliver coordinated, whole-person, and recovery-focused care to individuals with mental health and substance use disorder care needs across the state; the model is based on programs, policies, and practices that have demonstrated success.

Following the presentation of findings, there was a moderated discussion among national experts. They spoke to existing programs or models in other states that have accomplished aspects of what Massachusetts is striving for and key considerations for Massachusetts as it envisions moving toward this model system. Confirmed panelists include:

• Stuart Buttlaire, PhD, Regional Director of Behavioral Health Inpatient, Continuing Care, and Addiction Medicine, Kaiser Permanente
• John O'Brien, Senior Consultant, Technical Assistance Collaborative, Incc
• Kimá Taylor, MD, MPH, Managing Principal, Anka Consulting LLC

This webinar 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 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.

On December 7, 2017, the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation, The Boston Foundation, Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association, and the Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations hosted an event featuring hospital institutions and their approaches to investing in housing. The event highlighted the diverse models of seven institutions across the country and state, key successes, and lessons learned, as represented by the following speakers:

National Panel

• Penrose Jackson, Director, Community Health Improvement, The University of Vermont Medical Center
• George Kleb, Executive Director, Housing & Community Development, Bon Secours Baltimore Health System
• Monica J. Mitchell, PhD, Senior Director, Community Relations, and Professor, Division of Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital

Massachusetts Panel

• Shari Nethersole, MD, Executive Director for Community Health, Boston Children’s Hospital
• Joan Quinlan, MPA, Vice President for Community Health, Massachusetts General Hospital
• Frank Robinson, PhD, Vice President, Public Health, Baystate Health
• Megan Sandel, MD, MPH, Principal Investigator, Children’s HealthWatch, Boston Medical Center

The Foundation hosted a webinar on Thursday, March 20th on the topic of potential threats to subsidized health insurance coverage and financing in Massachusetts under the new federal administration. The goals of the webinar were to:

• Provide a high-level overview of MassHealth, the Health Connector, and publicly subsidized health insurance programs in Massachusetts.
• Describe the changes in federal health care financing and policy related to subsidized coverage that are likely being considered by the new federal administration.
• Provide estimates, based on existing data, on the impact of these potential changes (in terms of dollars or lives) in Massachusetts.

The webinar featured a presentation by our colleagues at Manatt Health, as well as time for audience Q&A. 

The Massachusetts Medicaid Policy Institute, a program of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation, held an event exploring the strategic and operational aspects of creating effective cross-sector partnerships between community-based social service organizations and health care providers. In recognition of the importance of social determinants of health on the overall health and well-being of populations, MassHealth's Accountable Care Organization (ACO) model has incorporated explicit goals aimed at fostering coordination and integration of health-related social services. The event featured discussion to help identify best practices that may be translatable to the developing MassHealth ACOs.

This event, in collaboration with the Center for Health Care Strategies, showcased three such partnerships: 1) the Henry Ford Health System and the Ruth Ellis Center working together to provide a range of social services including meals, peer supports, and short-term housing, in addition to primary and preventive care to LGBTQ youth in Detroit, Michigan; 2) a partnership between the city of Central Falls, Rhode Island, a local community health center, Memorial Hospital, the YMCA, and the Department of Parks and Recreation aimed at creating a Neighborhood Health Station, a one-stop shop for all health needs, including related social services; and 3) a partnership between Providence Healthcare and Catholic Charities of Spokane, Washington to operate the Respite Program at the House of Charity for individulas with acute conditions who are experiencing homelessness.

Webinar Dates:
Thursdsay, October 8, 2015, 12-1PM
Friday, October 16, 2015, 12-1PM

Massachusetts' Medicaid program (commonly referred to as "MassHealth") provides health insurance to more than one in four Massachusetts residents and, as of March 2015, enrollment has risen to 1.8 million people.

The Massachusetts Medicaid Policy Institute (MMPI) hosted a webinar featuring our recently updated edition of MassHealth: The Basics - Facts and Trends, a chart pack that includes summary data on MassHealth enrollment and spending. Speakers included MMPI Senior Director Kate Nordahl and Bob Seifert, Principal Associate, and Carol Gyurina, Health Policy Associate, from the Center for Health Law and Economics, University of Massachusetts Medical School.

Click here to view a recording of the October 16th webinar.

On Thursday, May 29, the Massachusetts Medicaid Policy Institute (MMPI) hosted two webinars to walk through the recently released UPDATED MassHealth: The Basics chart pack. Speakers included Bob Seifert, Carol Gyurina, and Kate Russell of the Center for Health Law and Economics at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, as well as MMPI Director Kate Nordahl.

This event included presentations by Medicaid leaders and experts from Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, and Oregon who provided an overview of their accountable care models and share lessons learned. If you were unable to attend this event, please click the links below to see it online:

• Opening Remarks
• Presentation by Dr. Julian Harris, MassHealth
• Presentation by Marceil Case, Colorado
• Presentation by Dr. Mike Hogan, New York
• Presentation by Michelle Probert, Maine
• Presentation by Dr. Jeanene Smith, Oregon
• Question & Answer
• Presentation by Secretary JudyAnn Bigby

On June 21, 2010, the BCBS of Massachusetts Foundation hosted a forum on the implementation of national health reform in the Commonwealth. 

A Tribute to Senator Kennedy

The Reverend Hurmon Hamilton delivers a tribute to the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy.

Senator Kerry Speaks

U. S. Senator John Kerry speaks about the benefits of national health reform for the state of Massachusetts.

Experts Bob Blendon and Bob Seifert

Bob Seifert, from the Center for Health Law and Economics at UMass Medical School, reports findings on the impact of national health reform in Massachusetts, and Bob Blendon, professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, discusses the political climate for implementation.

A Panel Conversation of Health Care Leaders

Nancy Turnbull, Associate Dean at the Harvard School of Public Health, moderates a panel of health care leaders on the implementation of national health reform in Massachusetts, including:

• JudyAnn Bigby, MD, Secretary, Executive Office of Health and Human Services
• Deborah C. Enos, President and CEO, Neighborhood Health Plan
• Toni McGuire, President and CEO, Great Brook Valley Health Center
• Glen Shor, Executive Director, Connector Authority
• Amy Whitcomb Slemmer, Executive Director, Health Care For All

This event included a presentation of findings from a report by Tony Dreyfus and Ellen Breslin Davidson of BD Group on the federal and state experience with risk adjustment in programs serving persons dually eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid.  In addition, there were presentations on risk adjustment models used in New York and Wisconsin as well as a reactor panel discussion with national experts on the topic. 

This breakfast forum looked at Vermont's recent single payer legislation and explored how the state plans to implement the most radical health system reform in the US, achieve universal coverage and reduce health care cost. The event was co-sponsored with the Massachusetts Health Policy Forum.

Event Recordings:

Main Event 
Includes: Reflection on Past, Present, and Future of the Foundation; Presentation of Key findings from MassHealth Impacts Series; and Remarks by Marylou Sudders, Massachusetts Secretary of Health and Human Services
Breakout Session 1: MassHealth and the Behavioral Health System
Breakout Session 2: MassHealth and Schools and School-Aged Children
Breakout Session 3: MassHealth and Justice-Involved People
Foundation 20th Anniversary Timeline

Event Overview:

In 2001, when the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation was established, almost 7% of Massachusetts residents (or 500,000 individuals) had no health insurance. During this time, MassHealth coverage and benefits were also being scaled back and rates of uninsurance were growing. Because of a collective cross sector effort that included consumer advocates, providers, insurers, employers, and the work of the Foundation, Massachusetts created a model of near-universal coverage, with MassHealth serving as the anchor for these successful reforms.

Fostering dialogue among stakeholders about MassHealth and promoting the development of effective policy solutions to address the challenges associated with this critical program and access to affordable coverage more broadly remains a key strategy in fulfilling the Foundation’s mission since its establishment. In 2021, the Foundation will continue to pursue solutions that create equitable access to coverage and eliminate barriers to care. 

On Wednesday, June 30^th the Foundation hosted a virtual event in recognition of its 20^th anniversary. We reflected on the past, present, and future of the Foundation with Foundation leadership including: our President and CEO, Audrey Shelto, and members of our Board of Directors - Andrew Dreyfus, President and CEO, BCBSMA and first President of the Foundation and Manny Lopes, President and CEO, East Boston Neighborhood Health Center, and current Chair of the Foundation’s Board of Directors.

Our colleagues at Manatt Health Strategies then shared findings from a series of issue briefs commissioned by the Foundation’s Massachusetts Medicaid Policy Institute about the key role of MassHealth on the health and finances of its members, families, and communities, as well as on the wide variety of stakeholders and sectors outside of the traditional health care realm that benefit from the program. And we heard reflections about MassHealth’s role and future in these realms from state leaders including Marylou Sudders, Massachusetts Secretary of Health and Human Services, providers, and consumers.

Guests had the opportunity to choose between breakout sessions that focus on MassHealth’s impacts on:

• the Commonwealth’s schools and school‐aged children, teens, and young adults;
• the behavioral health care system, addressing how MassHealth provides coverage, access, and delivery of services across the full behavioral health care continuum; and
• justice-involved persons, describing how MassHealth supports re-entry into the community

Problem Management Plus (PM+) is a community-based, low-intensity mental health intervention that can be delivered by trained non-clinical workers for adults experiencing mild to moderate mental health distress and practical problems of daily living. PM+ fills a gap in the behavioral health services system by providing early intervention and potential prevention of more acute behavioral health service needs. By helping to build the capacity of the workforce, PM+ holds promise for improving access to community-based mental health supports. Earlier this year, the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation (Foundation) launched its Advancing Community-Driven Mental Health (ACDMH) grant program which leverages the evidence-based PM+ intervention to enhance access to mental health supports among five community-based organizations in Massachusetts.

To help broaden the understanding of community-based mental health supports the Foundation hosted a webinar on Tuesday, November 7^th from 1-2:30 PM on the topic of PM+. The webinar focused on how this evidence-based intervention – which was originally developed by the World Health Organization to address mental health treatment gaps in low- and middle-income countries – is now being implemented in the United States. The webinar provided an overview of the key components of PM+ and describe lessons learned based on the experience with implementing the intervention in the United States. It featured several guest speakers, including the leaders from three U.S. sites that have recently implemented PM+, and included a brief overview of the Foundation’s ACDMH initiative.

Featured Speakers:

• Adam Brown, PhD, Associate Professor of Psychology (Clinical) and Vice Provost for Research, The New School
• Piper Derenoncourt, LICSW, Assistant Director, Mental Health Equity Programs, The Family Van
• Jerome Galea, PhD, MSW, LCSW, Associate Professor of Social Work, University of South Florida
• Giuseppe Raviola, MD, MPH, Director, Mental Health, Partners In Health
• Rainelle Walker-White, Associate Director, Health Equity Programs, The Family Van

Click here to view a recording of the webinar.

Long-term services and supports (LTSS) allow hundreds of thousands of people of all ages with disabilities and chronic conditions to live their daily lives with independence and dignity. The number of Americans needing LTSS is expected to surge from 12 million in 2010 to 27 million in 2050. In Massachusetts, roughly 750,000 people report having a disability. Meanwhile, the state’s population is projected to age rapidly over the next two decades, with the number of seniors (those over age 65) increasing by 46 percent. MassHealth, as the dominant payor of LTSS in Massachusetts, – accounting for nearly half of all LTSS spending – could see its LTSS costs more than double by 2030. Facing a growing elder population and people with disabilities living longer, now is the time for an important discussion about improving LTSS services to better meet the needs of people with disabilities and do so in a more cost effective manner.

On Tuesday, May 10, the second in a series of Foundation events and publications on LTSS picked up where the first had left off. Carol Raphael of Manatt Health Solutions provided an overview of options for reforming the way MassHealth purchases and supports access to LTSS. Following the presentation, Alice Bonner, Secretary of the Executive Office of Elder Affairs and Daniel Tsai, Assistant Secretary for MassHealth and Medicaid Director, participated in a community conversation around the future of MassHealth LTSS. The event concluded with a reactor panel of experts and stakeholders.