The Boston Business Journal interviewed Manatt's Patricia Boozang, a managing director with Manatt Health, about the report that she coauthored with the Massachusetts Medicaid Policy Institute, which urges the incoming administration to change how the state's health insurance operates.
The Boston Business Journal reports that the organization, which was created out of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, is intended to get data on MassHealth and to influence policy surrounding it. The goals are big for the group's second foray into directing policy, compiled through a discussion with stakeholders and a subsequent report.
"We took a fresh look at MassHealth ... to make sure it brings value to the state," said Boozang.
Improvement plans were directed at Gov.-elect Charlie Baker, and include reorganizing the leadership at MassHealth, the state's Medicaid program.
The state's second-largest insurer in membership, and the biggest in terms of cost, Massachusetts' Medicaid is currently spread out in a number of divisions that Boozang said creates fragmentation behind initiatives. She and the Massachusetts Medicaid Policy Institute advocated for strengthening the Medicaid director role, elevating the role to a position commensurate with that of the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and reestablishing the agency under a single branch of EOHHS.
Read the article here.