This report – written by Anna Gosline and Elisabeth Rodman of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation – summarizes the key components of Chapter 224 of the Acts of 2012, “An Act Improving the Quality of Health Care and Reducing Costs Through Increased Transparency, Efficiency and Innovation,” which was signed into law on August 6, 2012. The law aims to control health care cost growth through a number of mechanisms, including the creation of new commissions and agencies to monitor and enforce the health care cost growth benchmark, wide adoption of alternative payment methodologies, increased price transparency, investments in wellness and prevention, an expanded primary care workforce, a focus on health resource planning, and further support for health information technology, among others. For a more in depth look at the Medicaid provisions in the law, see the Foundation’s report: Chapter 224 of the Acts of 2012: Implications for MassHealth. For additional information about scheduled stakeholder meetings, grant opportunities, and other implementation updates, see the state's website, Implementing Health Care Cost Containment.

This budget brief highlights the FY 2013 budget for MassHealth and health reform programs.  Since FY 2012, MMPI has produced budget fact sheets on the budget proposal for MassHealth (Medicaid) and other health care programs for each stage of the development of the state budget as the budget moves through the legislature.  Click here to see the full collection.

This budget brief describes authorization of the Delivery System Transformation Initiatives (DSTI) Trust Fund and statutory changes to support implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). 

UPDATED chart pack, prepared by the Center for Health Law and Economics at the UMass Medical School, including summary data on MassHealth enrollment and spending. Designed to support use of the charts in presentations.

This budget brief compares the House and Senate Fiscal Year 2013 (FY 2013) budget proposals for MassHealth (Medicaid) and other health care programs. It is the fourth in a series of fact sheets published by the Massachusetts Medicaid Policy Institute (MMPI) and produced by the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center in partnership with the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute.

A brief summarizing the House FY 2013 budget proposal for MassHealth and other health coverage programs.

A brief summarizing the House Ways and Means FY 2013 budget proposal.

This budget brief describing the Governor's Fiscal Year 2013 (FY 2013) budget proposal for MassHealth (Medicaid) and other health care programs is the first in a series of fact sheets that will be published by the Massachusetts Medicaid Policy Institute (MMPI) and produced by the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center in partnership with the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute. MMPI will be publishing budget fact sheets at each stage in the FY 2013 budget process, as budget proposals move through the legislature.

Stabilizing MassHealth Funding: Options to Break the Recurring Cycle of Expansion and Contraction, written by Beth Waldman of Bailit Health Purchasing, Robert Seifert of the Center for Health Law and Economics at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and Kate Nordahl of MMPI, discusses the challenges and implications of the counter-cyclical nature of the Medicaid program and options to reduce the reactive swings in MassHealth funding and scope of services that can come with downturns in the economy.

This report, written by Tony Dreyfus and Ellen Breslin Davidson of BD Group, provides an overview of the federal and state experience with risk adjustment in programs serving persons dually eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid.

Summary of the MassHealth 1115 waiver renewal including a brief overview of four new provisions approved under the waiver renewal.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation report by Alan G. Raymond on the first five years of Massachusetts health reform implementation, including comprehensive assessments of how the law is working, impacts on coverage and access to care, and cost and funding.

Chart pack, prepared by the Center for Health Law and Economics at the UMass Medical School, including summary data on MassHealth enrollment and spending.  Designed to support use of the charts in presentations. 

Comprehensive report presenting combined Medicare and Medicaid spending data for non-elderly adults (ages 21 to 64) dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid in Massachusetts. This report was created by Ellen Breslin Davidson and Tony Dreyfus of BD Group. MMPI produced this report in collaboration with the Office of Medicaid in the Executive Office of Health and Human Services. Designed to support use of the charts in slide presentations.