Massachusetts Medical Society’s State of the State’s Health Care Forum outlines the many challenges facing health care in the Commonwealth

Waltham, Mass. – Oct. 22 – Health care experts presented some good news and lots of challenges ahead for health care in the Commonwealth at the Massachusetts Medical Society’s 4th Annual State of the State’s Health Care Forum before 200 physicians, health care professionals and public officials on Tuesday morning, Oct. 21 at the Society’s headquarters in Waltham.
   
The Forum drew local and national experts who presented findings on such areas as the physician workforce, hospital capacity, health insurance, and trends in health care nationally and in the Bay State.

Included in this year’s Forum was the release of the Fall 2003 Boston Community Report, an analysis of the Boston health care market by the Center for Studying Health System Change in Washington, D.C. Boston is one of 12 markets in the U.S. tracked every two years by the Center. The 2003 report is based on interviews and surveys with some 90 leaders in health care and takes into account the City of Boston and six Massachusetts counties: Bristol, Es, Middle, Norfolk, Plymouth, and Suffolk.

Presenters included:
·Nancy Turnbull, director of educational programs at the Harvard School of Public Health, who offered an examination of health care in Massachusetts over the last 12 months;
·Paul Dreyer, Ph.D., deputy director of the Bureau of Health Quality Management at the Mass. Department of Public Health, who presented the results of Phase One of the Massachusetts Acute Hospital Inpatient Capacity Study;
·Paul B. Ginsburg, Ph.D., president of the Center for Studying Health System Change, who released the Fall 2003 Boston Community Report with comparisons to the U.S.;
·Diane Rowland, Sc.D., executive vice president of the Kaiser Family Foundation, whose presentation focused on health insurance and its prospects for the future.

Thomas E. Sullivan, M.D., president of the Massachusetts Medical Society, opened the forum by saying “there is much to celebrate in health care, and much that concerns us.” Sullivan acknowledged that the Massachusetts health care system delivers excellent care, with people coming here from around the world for care and treatment. At the same time, he noted that “health care costs are rising faster than people’s ability to pay, physician practices are under enormous stress, we operate under a dysfunctional professional liability insurance system and the excellent care that our patients have come to expect and deserve is at risk.”

Areas of current strength include the profitability of the health care plans and the stabilization of the Boston health care market, with Boston being a leader in patient safety and quality, electronic medical records, efforts to expand insurance coverage, and offering a strong safety net for those who need care. Weak areas are growing problems with recruitment and retention of physicians and other health care professionals, hospital capacity, state budget cuts, the state of community health centers, and the rising number of uninsured. One major concern is that of health insurance, where costs and premiums will continue to rise, employer erosion will continue, and public resources will become more and more limited.    

Copies of the presentations may be obtained from the Medical Society’s media relations office at 781-434-7101 or write rgulla@mms.org




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