Lynn Nicholas, President & CEO of the Massachusetts Hospital Association, says the state needs an interim U.S. senator now to protect our interests during the health reform debates, or local hospitals risk losing up to $1 billion annually:

Massachusetts has been on the forefront of America’s current healthcare reform efforts, and the Commonwealth’s hospitals actively support health system reform and continued coverage expansion both state-wide and across the nation. . Our hospitals will continue to provide a unified voice in favor of comprehensive, high-quality and affordable care and we commend our state leaders for their ongoing support and the members of our Congressional delegation for championing this important effort on behalf of all Americans. (See Martha Bebinger’s Aug. 4 post on why some hospitals are worried about two particular elements of the national health care reform debate.)

As these healthcare reform efforts continue to unfold, we must ensure that the state’s current focus on controlling costs fairly engages all stakeholders – hospitals, physicians, state government, employers, insurers and patients themselves– and that any federal proposals are not a step backward from the advances we have made here in the Commonwealth. Read more…

Across the US, we are all struggling through a time of transition and uncertainty. Here in the Bay State, even the weather can’t seem to make up its mind where to head next.

In healthcare, cost is the falling barometer that indicates big storms and other inclement conditions. Nationally and in Massachusetts, hospitals are working to find ways to make contributions to cost savings efforts. In addition, I represent the Massachusetts Hospital Association (MHA) on the Special Commission on the Health Care Payment System, which is charged with making policy changes to the payment system to improve the delivery and cost of care at the state level. The Commission is due to issue its final report and recommendations within days.

Massachusetts hospitals have always been willing and committed to doing their fair share as part of healthcare reform and also in terms of helping the state weather this current economic crisis. But many of our providers’ major contributions and sacrifices have gone unrecognized. Hospitals have repeatedly stepped up to the plate: to fund quality and transparency initiatives; to contribute to the Health Care Quality and Cost Council’s web site and other projects; to track and publish data on Serious Reportable Events (SREs) and Healthcare Acquired Infections (HAIs), and voluntarily not charge for care resulting from SREs; to offer hundreds of millions of dollars of community benefits ranging from asthma education to free cancer screenings; and to live up to their missions of providing care regardless of a person’s ability to pay. These contributions are just a few of the many made by hospitals to remove costs from the healthcare system while improving quality of care.

Our hospitals’ participation in these efforts has largely been voluntarily, though some has been due to legislation or other mandates. But none of these efforts has been without cost, and all have been paid for by the hospital and provider community. Read more…

As President Obama embarks on his second 100 days in office, our nation continues to slog through an extraordinary economic downturn that now has Massachusetts lawmakers struggling to create a viable state budget in the face of rising unemployment and continuously plummeting revenues. April receipts were nearly 35 percent below the same month last year– down almost $1 billion from last April’s collections – and $456 million under already lowered projections for the month. The Commonwealth’s lawmakers are starting to use words like “catastrophic” and plain old “awful” to describe next year’s budget.

Both nationally and at the state level, healthcare reform is correctly being linked to economic recovery. In the face of such severe deficits, the temptation will be to make even more widespread cutbacks. But we must pursue our goals of economic recovery through investments in healthcare, or risk doing irreparable damage not only to our healthcare infrastructure but to the broader economy.

There are three powerful reasons for investing in Massachusetts healthcare:

• Keeping the state population healthy is invaluable as a humanitarian goal, but it also helps keep our workforce productive; Read more…

Our recent presidential election was a stirring reminder of the power of the ballot box. Pending federal legislation on the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) threatens that basic democratic value and could significantly change labor relations in the United States.

In Massachusetts, hospital workers have always acted independently around unionizing; some hospital employees have chosen unions, while others have not. Our state’s hospitals value employees as essential contributors to a quality healthcare system, and have a long history of collaborating with their employees – union and non-union – to provide the quality care for which the Commonwealth is nationally known.

The existing National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) is intended to protect a worker’s individual right to decide whether or not to unionize through a democratic election process free from harassment, threats, or intimidation from either employer or union.

Under EFCA, the decision whether or not to unionize would no longer be made via a democratic voting process. Read more…