Massachusetts’ historical achievements in bold and innovative health care policy have positioned the state as a national leader in transforming health care coverage, access, affordability, and quality. Yet despite decades of progress, the COVID-19 pandemic made it impossible to ignore that not all Massachusetts residents are able to access, afford, or experience health care equally.
In December 2021, Governor Baker signed Chapter 102 of the Acts of 2021 into law. This legislation, often referred to as the “ARPA bill,” appropriates close to $4 billion, including $2.55 billion in funding directly from the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). ARPA was passed in March 2021 to provide money to states to start recovering from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Chapter 102 invests money from ARPA in many areas, including housing, infrastructure, education, and economic development.
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. This educational primer was developed to build a deeper understanding of the dual eligible population in Massachusetts. It illustrates the diversity of dual eligible individuals’ clinical and functional needs, service utilization, and spending patterns.
This report seeks to inform the discussion of MassHealth sustainability through a novel analysis of MassHealth data that differentiates among the major drivers of MassHealth spending. The report examines whether spending is being driven by growth in enrollment or per-enrollee spending, and which populations or types of services are the biggest contributors to spending growth.
This brief prioritizes issues for consideration as accountable care organizations (ACOs) and managed care organizations (MCOs) prepare to integrate and fully manage comprehensive long-term services and supports (LTSS) over the course of Massachusetts’ five year 1115 waiver extension. The identified priority areas were informed by lessons learned from managed LTSS programs in other states and interviews with key stakeholders in Massachusetts.
This report, prepared by Manatt Health, lays out a vision for MassHealth long-term services and supports (LTSS) that is person-centered, integrated, sustainable, accountable, and actionable, providing Massachusetts policymakers with a set of options to consider when tackling some of the most intractable challenges facing the Commonwealth’s LTSS system.
This chart pack, prepared by Manatt Health Solutions, provides an examination of the current state of long-term services and supports (LTSS), an area identified as a priority for reform by MassHealth (Massachusetts Medicaid). MassHealth accounts for nearly half of all spending on LTSS, amounting to $4.5 billion annually, and equal to 12 percent of the state budget. Using previously unpublished LTSS data, the chart pack examines MassHealth LTSS spending and utilization, access and affordability, workforce capacity and quality.
This report summarizes the results of a July 2015 poll conducted by a team led by Robert J. Blendon, Sc.D. of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The poll was conducted to assess the perspectives of Massachusetts adults age 65 and over on the issues of affordability, access, and satisfaction with their health care coverage.
There are almost one million seniors in Massachusetts 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 report, prepared by Nancy Turnbull and Katherine Heflin of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, reviews the many private and public coverage options available to seniors to supplement Medicare coverage.
Responsible for the health care coverage of nearly two million residents and $13.7 billion in related expenditures, the future of MassHealth matters to all of us. This report, by Manatt Health Solutions, includes a series of recommendations that emerged through interviews with consumer advocates, providers, insurers, business leaders, public officials, and policy experts as priorities for the next governor.
One Care is Massachusetts’ demonstration project for adults with disabilities between the ages of 21 and 64 who are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid. October 1, 2014 marked the first year anniversary of the demonstration, which is slated to run through December 31, 2016.
Report summarizing the results of a series of interviews conducted by the Center for Health Care Strategies with key Medicaid stakeholders from across the country on cutting-edge Medicaid strategies including: purchasing strategies to optimize delivery systems; payment strategies to leverage existing funds; integrated models of care to improve services for complex populations; and opportunities for improved organizational capacity.
Non-elderly people with disabilities comprise one-fifth of MassHealth enrollment and an even larger share of expenditures, yet their circumstances and the crucial role of Medicaid in financing essential services for them are not well understood. This comprehensive report seeks to promote such understanding and support informed policy discussions about this group.
