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Feds plug the Money Hole in Massachusetts Health Reform?

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To close the loop from an earlier post on federal money being sent to safety-net hospitals in Massachusetts to balance their budget sheets, the State House News Service had this piece recently. FEDS OKAY $157 MILLION FOR MASS. HOSPITALS Massachusetts is due to receive $157 million in federal funds that will help trigger the release of $230 million in payments to hospitals that serve disproportionate shares of low-income and uninsured patients.  The funds are expected to provide state matches and free up the flow of funding to Boston Medical Center and hospitals in Brockton, Dorchester, Lawrence, Holyoke and Springfield.  Cambridge Health Alliance has already received about half of the $486 million in funds approved last October by federal government health […]

Contracting for Performance: Teacher Union Contract Langiage in Massachusetts

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Teacher Union Contract Langiage in Massachusetts Author(s): Pioneer Institute — Publication date: 2011-01-21 Category: Education Abstract: A study of teacher contracts in 25 Massachusetts school districts finds they range from “professional” to “factory” models, with high-achieving districts more likely to have contracts that give teachers flexibility to make decisions. Contracting for Performance

What we should we ask of the new UMass president?

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With former Congressman and current chancellor of the University of Massachusetts at Lowell Marty Meehan having pulled out of the running for the presidency of the overall UMass system, we are left with three finalists: Charles Bantz, the chancellor of Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis, Robert Caret, the president of Towson University in Maryland, and Phillip Clay, chancellor of MIT IUPUI’s website trumpets that it is one of the top five “up and coming” American universities that U.S. News and World Report says people should be watching, and the 8th best public college in the Midwest according to Forbes magazine. IUPUI has a strong mix of undergraduate (22,000) and graduate and professional students (8,000). Its progress in raising the quality […]

MBTA Parking Proposal Should Go Further

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The MBTA is proposing to securitize its parking revenues (roughly $30m per year) in order to fill a budget gap next year and pay down some debts, according to a Globe article. Also, the T will continue to run the lots and set prices. First, its not clear to me that this proposal creates value, except by solving a short-term fiscal problem (at potentially great expense). If this is just a pure securitization of a future stream of income (without the promise of operational improvements that would provide better service and/or generate more revenue), then its just taking money from the future to the present. Its even worse if the money goes to fund operating costs, then you’ve taken future […]

Troubling Cost Trends in Massachusetts Health Care

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Two trends that might determine the long term success of health reform here in Massachusetts: 1) The Boston Globe ran an article about the immense upward cost pressure on the state’s Medicaid program. I blogged about the enrollment and cost increases in Medicaid about a week ago, here. In addition, under the federal law, at least 90,000 people will be moved from the current state subsidized privately run CommonCare plans into Medicaid. However, the double hit of enrollment increases are not the only issue: “The state is also being pushed by Washington, which is cutting back its support. The federal government, which had been paying 62 percent of the state’s Medicaid costs as part of the stimulus program, will pay […]