Posted on February 9th, 2012 by Rick Gulla
By Lynda Young President, Massachusetts Medical Society The Massachusetts Senate’s recent unanimous passage of a bill to expand the state’s Prescription Monitoring Program is well intentioned, addresses a serious and growing problem, but, like The Boston Globe editorial of February 8 that speaks to the issue, falls short of addressing the heart of the matter. [...]
Filed under: Drug Abuse, Health Policy, Mass. Legislature | 1 Comment »
Posted on February 2nd, 2012 by Rick Gulla
In a letter delivered today to state senators, MMS President Lynda Young, M.D. shared physician concerns on Senate 2122, An Act Relative to Prescription Drug Diversion, Abuse and Addiction, proposed legislation intended to address the growing problem of prescription drug abuse in the Commonwealth. Here is the text of her letter: The Massachusetts Medical Society [...]
Filed under: Drug Abuse, Health Policy, Mass. Legislature, Public Health, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Posted on May 16th, 2011 by Frank Fortin
Gov. Patrick’s payment reform legislation got the full range of comments today, from the Governor’s own depiction of the legislation as the key to a better world, to the health plans’ concerns that the bill could produce a long list of unintended consequences. The Boston Globe and WBUR’s CommonHealth blog have summaries of what was [...]
Filed under: Mass. Legislature, Payment Reform | No Comments »
Posted on May 9th, 2011 by Lloyd Resnick
In addressing more than 200 Massachusetts physicians gathered this morning for Doctors’ Day at the State House, Gov. Deval Patrick reiterated his sense of urgency about controlling unsustainable health care costs. “The complexity of this has to stop defeating us,” the governor said. “We have to stop looking for blame and start finding solutions.” At [...]
Filed under: Global Payments, Health Reform, Mass. Legislature, Payment Reform | No Comments »
Posted on September 27th, 2010 by Frank Fortin
Charlie Baker, running for governor of Massachusetts, discusses his views on health care for the Massachusetts Medical Society. See other candidates’ videos, as they become available, at http://blog.massmed.org
Filed under: Health Policy, Health Reform, Malpractice, Mass. Governor Campaign, Mass. Legislature, Payment Reform | 1 Comment »
Posted on August 10th, 2010 by Frank Fortin
Governor Patrick is scheduled to sign the Legislature’s small business health care bill today at the State House at 2 p.m. The bill contains a number of important and reasonable provisions to moderate the rising cost of health care for small businesses. We’re hopeful that these measures will protect the gains we have made in [...]
Filed under: Global Payments, Health Reform, Mass. Legislature, Payment Reform | No Comments »
Posted on August 2nd, 2010 by Frank Fortin
Amid the frenzy and emotion over casinos, slot machines and other issues, the Massachusetts Legislature last weekend passed a 63-page health care bill (.pdf) that in part addresses small business health care costs. But it was much more limited than an earlier House bill, which would have imposed an untested, complex and controversial system to [...]
Filed under: Health Policy, Mass. Legislature | No Comments »
Posted on July 21st, 2010 by Frank Fortin
The Massachusetts House today unveiled its long-awaited health care cost containment bill, and it’s much more aggressive and sweeping in its scope than the bill the Senate passed several weeks ago. Its central piece is a proposal to control insurer and provider rates. Here’s a section-by-section summary. Here’s the statement by MMS President Alice A. [...]
Filed under: Health Policy, Mass. Legislature, Payment Reform | 1 Comment »
