Latest Payment Reform News

Saying that "we have to advocate for physicians and patients with tenacity and determination," Massachusetts Medical Society President Alice Coombs, M.D., in delivering her President’s Report to the MMS House of Delegates at the Society’s Interim Meeting December 3 in Waltham, addressed two of the...

November 11, 2010 Passed the AMA House of Delegates, Nov. 9, 2010 1.  Guiding Principle - The goal of an Accountable Care Organization (ACO) is to increase access to care, improve the quality of care and ensure the efficient delivery of care. Within an ACO, a physician's primary ethical and...

December 30, 2009 Three physician executives in Massachusetts discuss how practices can succeed under a global payment system. Mount Auburn Cambridge IPA Atrius Health Beth Israel Deaconess Physician Organization Barbara Spivak, MD President, Mount Auburn Cambridge IPA, Cambridge...

Health Reform 2009: The Massachusetts Experiment

Health Reform 2009: The Massachusetts Experiment

October 8, 2009 Massachusetts Medical Society physicians joined several health care providers Thursday in urging the State Legislature to move carefully in adopting a new payment model for physicians and hospitals. MMS President Mario Motta, MD, said, "If we move too quickly and rattle the...

Mario Motta, MD, MMS president, testifies about the need for a cautious approach to payment reform before the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing.

MMS President-Elect Alice Coombs testifies about physicians' concerns about payment reform to the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing.

July 17, 2009 Commission co-chairs Leslie Kirwan and Sarah Iselin opened the meeting noting the significance of what the commission was about to endorse. They briefly discussed the context of the commission's work, namely the unsustainable rise in health care costs. They also asserted, "the...

May 9, 2009 A framework for making an effective and orderly transition to global payment was the main topic at today's next-to-last meeting of the Special Commission on the Health Care Payment System. The commission's transition framework relies heavily on the creation of Accountable Care...

April 10, 2009 A week after seeming to reach consensus that a global payment system is the ultimate payment model of choice, the state Payment Reform Commission today turned to transitional issues. The key question was how should the state move from a system based largely on fee for service,...

April 6, 2009 Under strong prodding from Co-Chair Leslie Kirwan to act with urgency, members of the state Payment Reform Commission last week started leaning to global payments as its preferred, long-term solution to controlling health care costs. Kirwan's position offered little comfort to...

March 13, 2009 The state Payment Reform Commission met for the fifth time today to listen to several presentations on global budgets, another alternative payment model. At the start of the meeting, commission consultant Michael Bailit said he is preparing another amended version of commission...

An overview of blended capitation, episodes of care payments, medical homes, global budgets, pay for performance, physician tiering, and evidence-based purchasing strategies.

February 13, 2009 The nine members of the state Payment Reform Commission spent most of their third public meeting today learning about more two alternative physician and hospital payment models. But for many observers (including the MMS), there was more interest in the commission's brief...

February 6, 2009 The state's new Payment Reform Commission met for the first time Friday afternoon and laid out an aggressive agenda for its work. MMS Vice President Alice T. Coombs, MD, was named to the commission late last week. commissioners started quickly Friday and discussed a proposed...

January 16, 2009 MMS White Paper: Overview of Alternative Physician Payment Reform Models . Updated March 2009. (.pdf, 15 pages, 62 kb) Barr M, Ginsberg, J. The advanced medical home: A patient-centered, physician-guided model of health care. A Policy Monograph. American College of...

January 11, 2009 Governor Patrick has named MMS Vice President Alice T. Coombs, MD, to the new Payment Reform Advisory Commission. Dr. Coombs is a critical care specialist at South Shore Hospital and an anesthesiologist with South Shore Anesthesia Associates. The commission was a creation of...