WHAT PERHAPS was the most surprising thing about this year’s Health Policy Commission cost trends hearing was how there was essentially no discussion of health care costs. Had panelist Andrew Dreyfus, the CEO of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, not added a very brief comment noting worries of health care affordability challenges resulting from […]
Paul Hattis
Posted inOpinion
Four issues to watch on health insurance
AT LAST WEEK’S Health Policy Commission meeting, Kevin Beagan, the deputy commissioner of the Division of Insurance, shared some interesting data highlighting the state of our private health insurance markets in Massachusetts during this COVID-19 era. When you put together some of the data he shared, along with other information that has come out about […]
Posted inOpinion
HPC: Health care spending to fall 10% in Mass.
AT LAST WEEK’S Health Policy Commission meeting, agency staff revealed that their current estimate is that total health care spending in the state will decrease 10 percent this year. Few expected to ever see health care spending fall, but the drop is happening because health care institutions canceled non-essential care that was not COVID related […]
Posted inOpinion
Juneteenth discussion at Tufts misses elephant in room
TUFTS UNIVERSITY, like many elite private colleges and universities in the wake of the killing of George Floyd and its aftermath of protests and related soul searching about racism in America, jumped on to the Juneteenth celebration bandwagon. To mark what is a new holiday for many at Tufts, the university decided to host a […]
Posted inOpinion
The black swan of our time
This is the twelfth conversation between Dr. Jarone Lee, a frontline critical care and emergency physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and associate professor at Harvard Medical School, and Dr. Paul Hattis, an associate professor at the Tufts University Medical School who participates in CommonWealth’s Health or Consequences Codcast. Find links for past conversations at the end of […]
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion
The box score on Baker’s COVID-19 response
AS WE REACH what may be fairly termed the “end of the beginning” phase of the coronavirus outbreak in Massachusetts, with initial efforts now to reopen the state, it’s fair to take a moment to review how effective Gov. Charlie Baker and his administration have been to date in confronting the challenges of COVID-19. It […]
Posted inOpinion
Fewer, but sicker patients in the MGH ICUs
This is the eleventh conversation between Dr. Jarone Lee, a frontline critical care and emergency physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and associate professor at Harvard Medical School, and Dr. Paul Hattis, an associate professor at the Tufts University Medical School who participates in CommonWealth’s Health or Consequences Codcast. Find links for past conversations at the end of […]
Posted inOpinion
At MGH, they worry about a second surge
This is the tenth conversation between Dr. Jarone Lee, a frontline critical care and emergency physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and associate professor at Harvard Medical School, and Dr. Paul Hattis, an associate professor at the Tufts University Medical School who participates in CommonWealth’s Health or Consequences Codcast. Find links for past conversations at the end of […]
Posted inOpinion
I’m seeing promising ventilator death data
This is the ninth conversation between Dr. Jarone Lee, a frontline critical care and emergency physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and associate professor at Harvard Medical School, and Dr. Paul Hattis, an associate professor at the Tufts University Medical School who participates in CommonWealth’s Health or Consequences Codcast. Find links for past conversations at the end of […]
Posted inOpinion
Dr. Lee says COVID-19 patient counts down
This is the eighth conversation between Dr. Jarone Lee, a frontline critical care and emergency physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and associate professor at Harvard Medical School, and Dr. Paul Hattis, an associate professor at the Tufts University Medical School who participates in CommonWealth’s Health or Consequences Codcast. Find links for past conversations at the end of […]