Browse by Type: Reports

Innovations in Medicaid: Considerations for MassHealth

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.

Beyond Parity: Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder under Payment and Delivery System Reform in Massachusetts

This report by Colleen Barry of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health explores opportunities and issues around integrating behavioral health care and primary care under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and payment and delivery system reforms in Massachusetts. The report provides preliminary recommendations on how these major policy changes might be implemented with the goal of improving the coordination, quality and outcomes of mental health and addiction care in the Commonwealth.

Public Perceptions of Health Care Costs in Massachusetts

This poll, fielded in late September 2011 and led by Robert Blendon at the Harvard Opinion Research Program, probed 1002 Massachusetts adults on various questions surrounding health care costs, including their perceptions 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 results reveal that the public is greatly concerned over rising costs and ready for the state to take major actions to tackle them.

FY2012 General Appropriations Act Brief

This budget brief describes the sections of the Fiscal Year 2012 (FY 2012) final budget bill as signed by the legislature and including the Governor's vetoes' that are relevant to MassHealth (Medicaid) and other programs that support health care coverage for the state's low- and moderate-income populations. It is the final 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.

MassHealth Enrollment Growth Since Reform

New analysis by MMPI examining the growth in MassHealth enrollment since passage of the state?s health reform law. This analysis shows that most of the growth in MassHealth enrollment (76 percent) has been in eligibility categories that existed prior to reform, and therefore would have occurred in the absence of the state?s health reform law.

Lessons from the Implementation of Massachusetts Health Reform

Massachusetts groundbreaking 2006 health reform law served as a model in many respects for the insurance coverage provisions of the 2010 federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. This report by Alan G. Raymond and funded by the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation presents an overview of key lessons from Massachusetts that could be relevant to stakeholders working to implement health reform in other states and nationally.

FY2012 Governor's House 1 Budget Proposal

This budget brief describing the Governor's Fiscal Year 2012 (FY 2012) 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 2012 budget process, as budget proposals move through the legislature.

The Basics of the Massachusetts Medicaid Program

A fact sheet that introduces MassHealth, the Massachusetts Medicaid program, describing its basic structure, benefits, and beneficiaries. It examines how enrollment and spending have changed over time and describes some current policy issues and challenges. A updated fact sheet that introduces MassHealth, the Massachusetts Medicaid program, describing its basic structure, benefits, and beneficiaries. It examines how enrollment and spending have changed over time and describes some current policy issues and challenges.

Closing the Gap on Racial and Ethnic Health Care Disparities: Lessons Learned from 2005-2008 Grantees

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.

Re-Forming Reform: What the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Means for Massachusetts

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.