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Healthcare
August 9, 2012

Medicaid Patient Access in Mass

Yesterday the Massachusetts Medical Society released its annual MMS Patient Access to Care Studies. While the media coverage has focused on the lack of change in wait times across the Commonwealth from last year and the regional issues that remain in the...
Healthcare
August 8, 2012

Moody's Report: New Mass Price Capping Law "Credit Negative" for Hospitals

In the soon to be long list of unintended consequences as a result of the brand new price capping law signed yesterday by Governor Patrick, Moody’s released a report warning of the future impact of the law on hospitals in the Commonwealth. While not...
Healthcare
August 8, 2012

Funny Business Ahead in Massachusetts?

Over at the Manhattan Institute, Paul Howard recently blogged on Massachusetts’ move towards a price cap on health care growth.  The whole piece is worth reading, but he makes one great point that has not be explored enough in Massachusetts: Bay State legislators are...
Education
August 6, 2012

The right reform path in Lawrence?

There are two issues that matter in K-12 education – what you might call the twin achievement gaps, those between the inner city poor (often including English language learners) and the rest of the state, and the international achievement gap whereby the...
Healthcare
August 6, 2012

Will Government-Directed Healthcare in Mass. Really Contain Costs?

Governor Patrick signed a new healthcare law today aimed at cost containment, and the rhetoric soared assuring all that Massachusetts has “cracked the code on healthcare costs.” Unfortunately, with no debate on the underlying bill in the House of Representatives and only...
Healthcare
July 18, 2012

Pulling Back the Curtain on Beacon Hill's "Healthcare Reform 2.0"

T-minus 13 days until the end of the legislative session and one of the largest and most controversial pieces of legislation has moved with almost no media attention. The promises for the new cost containment/ payment reform bills (or health reform 2.0,...
Transportation
June 15, 2012

MBTA Doing More With Less

Rather than big dollar expansion projects, the MBTA’s Key Bus Routes program stands as an example of modest incremental investments that can yield improved service (and potentially increased ridership). The program released its initial design for improvements to the 39 bus route...
June 6, 2012

Public Pensions and Workforce - State Police Version

The recent announcement that State Police Superintendent Marian McGovern was going to retire prompted me to look into her compensation and her choices. (N.B. I don’t know the Superintendent and don’t question her commitment to public service. The point here is simply...
Healthcare
May 29, 2012

Video: But Will The Cost-Cutting Bills Really Save Money?

The debate on Beacon Hill is heating up on payment reform legislation, but the public discourse has revolved primarily around dueling press releases.  There has been little discussion exploring the real challenges of fundamentally changing 18 percent of the Massachusetts economy with...
May 25, 2012

Our Final Thoughts on The 38 Studios Meltdown

First and foremost, this is an economic disaster for Rhode Island and a personal tragedy for the individuals and their families affected. Rhode Island is in much worse shape, employment-wise, than Massachusetts, ranking 50th (out of 51) in unemployment rate at 11.2%....