MBTAAnalysis: A look inside the MBTA

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The MBTA shuttles over a million passengers a day around Greater…

The Clock is Ticking…….

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The clock is ticking towards December 30, 2017.  As part of…

Pioneer Institute: 340B Hospitals Does Not Necessarily Translate to Charity Care

Review of Becker’s List of Health Systems with Strong Finances…

New Online Tool Tracks MA Hospital Revenue from Commercial Sources

A new online tool from Pioneer Institute shows a gradual increase in non-commercial (public payer) revenue at Massachusetts hospitals and also reveals a strong relationship between the hospitals with the highest commercial revenue and those with the highest relative prices.

Study: Massachusetts Should Join 45 States and Allow Prescribers to Dispense Medications

A Pioneer Institute study shows that middlemen—commercial pharmacies and pharmacy benefit managers—add substantial costs over wholesale prices. Allowing prescribers to dispense routine drugs would save consumers money without compromising safety.

Survey Finds Spotty Compliance Among Hospitals with Federal Price Transparency Law

A 2019 federal law requires hospitals to make prices for 300 shoppable services available online in a “consumer-friendly format,” but a Pioneer Institute survey of 19 hospitals finds that information on discounted cash prices—the price most likely to be charged to consumers paying out of pocket—was unavailable at seven of those hospitals.

Pioneer Institute Statement on the Commonwealth’s Discontinuance of the COVID-19 Weekly Public Health Report

Useful information about COVID cases or deaths at individual homes has become less available at a time when cases are increasing again, even among vaccinated residents. Pioneer urges Massachusetts to immediately reinstate the so-called Weekly Report, which contains cases and deaths inside individual nursing homes.

Study Calls for Better Reporting on Impact of COVID-19 in Eldercare Facilities

Over time, the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services and Department of Public Health (DPH) have improved reporting about cases and deaths from COVID-19 in state-regulated eldercare facilities, but flaws and omissions remain and should be corrected, according to a new study published by Pioneer Institute.

Survey: Consumers Want Healthcare Price Information, But Few Realize It’s Available

Great strides have been made to increase healthcare price transparency through online cost estimator tools and a state law that requires providers to give out price information. Yet despite the eagerness of consumers to access prices and out-of-pocket costs, many are unaware that such information is available and don’t know how to access it, according to survey results published by Pioneer Institute.

Study: Shift from Highest-Priced Healthcare Providers Would Generate Tremendous Savings

Consumers in just one Massachusetts county could have saved nearly $22 million in a single year and $116.6 million adjusted for inflation over four years if they switched from using the most expensive providers for 16 shoppable healthcare services to those whose prices were closer to average, according to a new study published by Pioneer Institute.

Pioneer Urges Future COVID-19 Study and Recommendations Task Force to Consider Impact on Nursing Home Residents

After over 5,000 people have died of COVID-19 in Massachusetts nursing homes, Pioneer Institute is issuing an open letter to the state’s future COVID-19 health equity task force that outlines an extensive list of recommendations on infection control and preparedness in eldercare facilities.

Open Letter: COVID-19 Study and Recommendations Task Force Established Pursuant to Massachusetts Bill H.4672

Pioneer hopes the members of this important task force will be appointed as soon as possible and that they will look into recommendations to address Covid-19 among the aged and in the state’s nursing homes. Read our Open Letter.

National Study Finds Most States Lack Healthcare Price Transparency Laws

At a time when the coronavirus pandemic has caused massive shifts in state policies on telehealth and scope of practice in healthcare, a new Pioneer Institute study underscores that most of the 50 states continue to suffer from weak laws regarding price transparency.  The study identified states that have laws that require carriers, providers or both to provide personalized cost information to consumers before obtaining healthcare services.  Fully 33 states placed in the lowest of the three broad analytic tiers on the strength of their state healthcare transparency laws. 

New Study Calls for Re-thinking Massachusetts’ COVID-19 Care Standards

Pioneer's new study raises concerns about the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s (DPH’s) Crises Standards of Care (CSC) issued earlier this month, which bear the earmarks of a state bureaucratic effort and should be rethought under a process that includes a thorough vetting by Massachusetts citizens.

Pioneer Poll: MA Healthcare Consumers Overwhelmingly Want Price Information on Services, but Few Know How to Get It

A new Pioneer poll shows seven out of ten Massachusetts workers who get their health insurance through their employers want to know the price of a healthcare procedure before they obtain it, but most of them do not how to obtain such information, even though information is already available through their insurers’ cost estimator tools.

Pioneer Institute to Present Results of New Consumer Poll Monday at State House Healthcare Price Transparency Event

BOSTON – Pioneer Institute will present the results of a new…

Making Healthcare Prices Accessible

Today, Pioneer Institute filed a Public Comment with the federal…

Study Finds Patient Cost for MRI Largely Unrelated to Overall Price or Insurer Contribution at 14 MA Hospitals

Read coverage of this report in WCVB-TV, Boston Herald, the Boston…

Kudos To CHIA On Major Step Toward Greater Healthcare Price Transparency

Pioneer applauds the Center for Health Information and Analysis…

Report Recommends Alternatives to Drug Pricing Transparency Legislation

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Value-based reimbursement, focus on middlemen in drug distribution…

MA Health Insurers Have Made Good Progress in Price Transparency, But Significant Work Remains

Read press coverage of this report in the Boston Business Journal and…

Study Applauds State Decision To Let Healthcare Spending Benchmark Decrease

Calls on policy makers to continue pursuing efforts to trim healthcare…

Follow-Up Survey Finds Hospitals Still Fall Short On Price Transparency

Estimated price of routine procedure at 21 Massachusetts hospitals…

Public Statement on the Recommendations of the Legislature’s Healthcare Provider Price Variation Commission

Commission Misses Great Opportunity to Advance Healthcare Price…

Putting Healthcare Consumers First

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Last week, Massachusetts' Health Policy Commission convened for…

Survey Finds Prescription Drug Prices Easy To Access, But Not Always Accurate

Wide variation found in price of generics, less for brand-name…

Pioneer Forming Transparency Working Group to Help Curb Healthcare Costs

Contact Josh Archambault (617) 645-7679 (josh@pioneerinstitute.org)…

Study: Are Drug Prices Driving Healthcare Cost Growth?

Study: Requiring Drug Companies to Disclose Price Methodologies,…

Mass. Healthcare Price Transparency Law Still Not a Reality

State Healthcare Price Transparency Law Still Not a Reality for…

Survey: Price Information Difficult to Obtain From Massachusetts Hospitals

View media coverage of this report on WCVB-TV 5 Investigates:…