Publications

Poster presented at the AcademyHealth 2017 Annual Conference on the Science of Dissemination and Implementation in Health on building a stakeholder-informed learning and dissemination strategy

This report analyzes out-of-network billing in Massachusetts and provides context for state policy approaches to protect consumers, improve market functioning, enhance the viability of limited network products, and reduce costs.

This report analyzes the increasing issue of behavioral health-related emergency department boarding in Massachusetts, the inadequate outpatient and inpatient supply of BH services causes of this increase, and identifies ways to alleviate pressure on EDs and improve outcomes for patients with BH diagnoses.

This 2017 chartpack is one in a series of regularly reported updates on the impact of opioid use on the health care system, availability of pharmacologic treatment, and recommendations for payment and care delivery reform in the Commonwealth.

The HPC will publish a chartpack in order to better understand the impact of the epidemic on the health care system from 2011 to 2015. While the initial report focused on opioid-related hospital inpatient discharges, the new chartpack includes ED visits as well. Below are some highlights from this upcoming chartpack.

In the 2016 Cost Trends Report, the Health Policy Commission (HPC) reported on an increase in prescription drug claims with no cost sharing in the years following the ACA’s implementation across the three largest commercial payers in the Commonwealth. The HPC has now expanded this analysis to better understand the nature of these claims, including the extent to which they comprised claims for contraception services, which represent high-value care.

Poster presented at the AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting in 2017, examining the utilization and variation in hospice use in Massachusetts

Poster presented at the AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting in 2017, examining the impact of the preventive coverage mandate in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on spending and utilization of contraception in Massachusetts

Poster presented at the AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting in 2017, examining emergency department boarding for behavioral health patients

Poster presented at the AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting in 2017, examining variation in prices paid to Massachusetts health care providers for the same services