All Publications

This report presents the results of a study analyzing the impact of the Community Support Program for People Experiencing Chronic Homelessness (CSPECH) on the utilization and cost of health care services. CSPECH is an innovative program through which MassHealth reimburses community-based support services provided to chronically homeless individuals residing in permanent supportive housing.

This issue brief describes the key elements of the most recent MassHealth 1115 waiver extension, including the shift to a delivery system centered on Accountable Care Organizations and Community Partners, a Delivery System Reform Incentive Program, the redesigned Safety Net Care Pool, and the expansion of services for treatment of substance use disorders. It concludes with a discussion of implications of the new system for major stakeholder groups.

Despite the near-universal health insurance coverage that the state has maintained for nearly a decade, pockets of high uninsurance remain for both adults and children in communities across Massachusetts. This brief, prepared by the Urban Institute, explores the relationship between community characteristics and the uninsured rate for people of all ages in Massachusetts and highlights the geographic and community context of the remaining uninsured. It also provides data to better target outreach and enrollment activities.

This chart pack provides updated MassHealth enrollment data as of September 2016.

This budget brief highlights the fiscal year (FY) 2017 budget for MassHealth (Medicaid) and other subsidized health coverage programs. It is the last in a series of FY2017 budget briefs produced by the Massachusetts Medicaid Policy Institute (MMPI) in partnership with Health Management Associates.

The third edition provides a detailed description of key components of Chapter 224, highlighting the progress the state has made in its implementation of the law as of September 2016. This tool is designed for policymakers, advocates, and other stakeholders who wish to track when and how state leaders have addressed policy issues pertaining to Chapter 224.

This report includes findings from the evaluation of the 2015 Fostering Effective Integration grant program. The goals of the evaluation were to determine 1) how grantees defined “success” for their integration efforts, 2) grantee perceptions of the critical components of effective integration programs, 3) common barriers to integration, and 4) measures grantees used to assess programs.

In recent years, integrating treatment for mental health and substance use disorders (SUD) with primary care has been the subject of extensive research testing a number of different integration models and specific interventions. While many of these approaches have shown promise in demonstrations or clinical trials, the true test of value is in real-world settings where there are competing demands on scarce resources, strict fidelity to intervention protocols is difficult, and patients have multiple urgent needs.

Massachusetts currently has the lowest uninsurance rate in the nation, and as part of the individual mandate to carry health insurance coverage, the state collects detailed information through its tax filing process about the health insurance status of over four million residents. This report analyzes 2011 and 2012 state tax filer data and provides new information about Massachusetts residents that are prone to remaining uninsured over consecutive years.

UPDATED (June 2016) chart pack produced by the Massachusetts Medicaid Policy Institute (MMPI), a program of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation, in partnership with the Center for Health Law and Economics at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. This updated edition includes MassHealth enrollment as of January 2016 and spending from state fiscal year 2015 and is made available in PDF and Power Point formats to facilitate its use in presentations.

This brief describes the Massachusetts Senate fiscal year (FY) 2017 budget proposal for MassHealth (Medicaid) and other subsidized health coverage programs and compares it to the proposal put forth by the House. It is the third in a series of FY2017 budget briefs produced by the Massachusetts Medicaid Policy Institute (MMPI) in partnership with Health Management Associates. MMPI will be publishing budget briefs at several stages in the FY2017 budget process as proposals move through the state legislature.

This report includes findings from the evaluation of the 2013-2015 Connecting Consumers with Care grant program. The goals of the evaluation were to 1) assess progress made on select outreach and enrollment measures, 2) describe the practices grantees adopted to reach and enroll consumers in health insurance, and 3) characterize efforts and challenges in defining, promoting, and evaluating consumer self-sufficiency.

International comparisons of industrialized countries show that those with a higher ratio of social service spending relative to health care spending have better health outcomes. This finding is consistent with decades of research underscoring the importance of social, behavioral, and environmental factors on health outcomes.

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 brief describes the Massachusetts House of Representatives fiscal year (FY) 2017 budget proposal for MassHealth (Medicaid) and other subsidized health coverage programs. It is the second in a series of FY2017 budget briefs produced by the Massachusetts Medicaid Policy Institute (MMPI) in partnership with Health Management Associates. MMPI will be publishing budget briefs at several stages in the FY2017 budget process as proposals move through the state legislature.