Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey has announced a series of recommendations aimed at making healthcare more affordable for residents. The proposals, which were developed by the Health Care Affordability Work Group, include expanding MassHealth’s investment in primary care, reducing prescription drug costs, and mitigating ‘low-value’ care.
Key Recommendations
The work group’s recommendations include requiring MassHealth to invest 12% of its total medical spending in primary care by 2028, establishing ‘default’ out-of-network payment rates to protect patients from surprise bills, and developing a coordinated strategy to lower drug costs and improve access to medications.
The governor’s office also announced plans to create an AI advisory work group to establish clear rules and transparency around the use of artificial intelligence in healthcare processes. Additionally, the state will explore actions to modernize surrogate decision-making and healthcare proxy laws to help patients move smoothly to the next step in their care.
The Health Care Affordability Work Group, which met confidentially for months, has advised shoring up the state’s health information exchange system and enabling more information to be shared privately across hospitals, doctors, and insurers.
Original reporting: NBC10 Boston — read the source article.
