
Our Focus
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Care.
Promoting world-class care delivery.
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Access.
Making care more accessible and equitable.
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Cost.
Keeping affordability at the forefront.
Making care easier to reach and easier to afford for every patient.
Furthering access to high-quality healthcare for all members of all communities is a core MHA goal. Accessible, convenient medical treatment is a lynchpin of public health and is critical in preventing medical emergencies and chronic conditions.
Promoting world-class care delivery.
Making care more accessible and equitable.
Keeping affordability at the forefront.
Sponsored by: Rep. Marjorie Decker (D-Cambridge) | Sen. Adam Gomez (D-Springfield)
This bill requires reimbursement parity for all telehealth services to be on par with in-person services by removing the sunset dates for reimbursement parity for telehealth services.
Sponsored by: Rep. John Lawn (D-Watertown) | Sen. John Velis (D-Westfield)
The Health Safety Net program is an integral part of protecting uninsured and underinsured Massachusetts patients. This bill addresses the financial stability of the program in three ways.
Sponsored by: Rep. Gerry Cassidy (D-Brockton) | Sen. Brendan Crighton (D-Lynn)
This bill directs MassHealth to retroactively apply coverage for new applicants 90 days prior to the date of application.
Sponsored by: Rep. John Santiago (D-Boston) | Sen. Jason Lewis (D-Winchester)
This legislation mirrors recommendations outlined in the HPC’s report and would prohibit insurers, including the Group Insurance Commission (GIC), MassHealth and commercial carriers, from utilizing brownbagging practices.
Sponsored by: Rep. John Lawn (D-Watertown) | Sen. Brendan Crighton (D-Lynn)
This bill mirrors recommendations from DPH’s Stroke Systems of Care Workgroup, which would update emergency medical services (EMS) field technology to ensure the use of the most recent database that collects stroke scale type and last known well, add data metrics to be collected by the PSS Stroke Management Tool.
Sponsored by: Rep. Kate Lipper-Garabedian (D-Melrose) | Sen. John Keenan (D-Quincy)
This bill would ensure healthcare providers are reimbursed for the delivery of medically necessary services that health insurers cover.
Sponsored by: Rep. Kathleen LaNatra (D-Kingston)
This legislation would improve access to vaccinations by expanding the types of physicians and advanced practice providers that can delegate the administration of an immunization to a certified medical assistant.
Sponsored by: Rep. Michael Finn (D-West Springfield) | Sen. Walter Timilty (D-Milton)
This legislation would disallow health plans from refusing to cover healthcare services on the basis that they were delivered by a state-approved mobile integrated health program, requires that said services be covered to the same extent as they would have had they been provided in a healthcare facility, and would lift application and registration fees for MIH programs that are focused on delivering behavioral health services.
Sponsored by: Rep. Bill Driscoll (D-Milton)
This bill establishes an EMS task force to ensure the stability of EMS in the commonwealth, and to put forth a report and recommendations on ways to ensure that the commonwealth’s emergency medical services capabilities are met.
An estimated 19,000 acute care hospital positions are currently vacant, leading to severe challenges for care access, capacity, and cost.
This MHA report illustrates how those pressures are intertwining to create the crisis being seen throughout the healthcare system today.
Every day, Massachusetts hospitals reach out to their communities, offering a wide range of community benefit services that help build and support the cities and towns they serve, and individuals in all walks of life.
Learn more about hospitals’ community benefits programs and how they address health inequities, build healthier lives, and improve access to care.