Reduced reimbursement should "never be mistaken" for reducing healthcare costs, since the expense will only be shifted to someone else, according to Lynn Nicholas, president and CEO of the Massachusetts Hospital Association and author of yesterday's op-ed in the Boston Globe.
Ms. Nicholas said the decline in average Medicaid reimbursement — from 83 cents per dollar in 2008 to 71 cents per dollar in 2011 — is not "reform" but rather the government relocating costs onto others.
She expressed concern about the government over-steering the healthcare system and spinning reform off course. "Successful reform is about collaboration between government and stakeholders," she wrote, "not government exerting control over them."
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D) is expected to sign a healthcare cost-control bill into law before the state legislature adjourns July 31. The House and Senate have passed their own versions, but leaders have not provided comment on the status of negotiations aimed at producing a compromise bill, according to a Boston Globe report.
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Ms. Nicholas said the decline in average Medicaid reimbursement — from 83 cents per dollar in 2008 to 71 cents per dollar in 2011 — is not "reform" but rather the government relocating costs onto others.
She expressed concern about the government over-steering the healthcare system and spinning reform off course. "Successful reform is about collaboration between government and stakeholders," she wrote, "not government exerting control over them."
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D) is expected to sign a healthcare cost-control bill into law before the state legislature adjourns July 31. The House and Senate have passed their own versions, but leaders have not provided comment on the status of negotiations aimed at producing a compromise bill, according to a Boston Globe report.
More Articles on Healthcare Reform and Massachusetts:
Massachusetts Hospital Association: State Medicaid Cuts Are a "Barrier" to ReformMichael Dukakis: The Problem is Not Fee for Service; ACOs Not the Solution
Dr. Don Berwick Urges Massachusetts Lawmakers to Keep Spending Bills Ambitious