Massachusetts Hospital Association (MHA) Launches Public Outreach Campaign on Healthcare Payment Reform

Setting the record straight on hospitals' concerns and vision for success

The Massachusetts Hospital Association (MHA) has launched a public outreach campaign to highlight hospitals' key positions on healthcare payment reform. In the face of increasing misperception that hospitals are the primary driver for rising healthcare costs, MHA's effort sets the record straight and brings hospitals' message to a broader audience.

"Massachusetts hospitals and other healthcare providers are being mislabeled as the “reason” for escalating healthcare costs - and that's simply not true," said MHA President and CEO, Lynn Nicholas. "Hospitals are committed to being part of the cost solution, but we cannot do it all, and we cannot do it alone. Everyone involved — caregivers, insurers, businesses, consumers, legislators, and government — must share and contribute to making healthcare payment reform work."

MHA believes the following five shared changes must occur in Massachusetts to achieve successful healthcare payment reform:

• All stakeholders must recognize that hospitals already have reduced costs significantly
• Insurance companies should stop playing doctor
• Government must close the underpayment gap for public healthcare programs
• Everyone must understand that hospitals are major employers as well as community anchors 
• Together we must develop a payment system that makes sense.

Click here to see the ads in MHA's campaign.