Implementing the ACA's health insurance mandate will require states to reach, educate, and successfully enroll individuals and families who have had little experience with health coverage. As states prepare to enroll millions of low-income uninsured Americans, the experience of Community Health Workers in Massachusetts can inform efforts across the country.

The Disability, Health and Employment Policy Unit at UMass Medical School conducted an assessment of the health needs of people with disabilities on behalf of the Health and Disability Program (HDP), Office of Health Equity, Massachusetts Department of Public Health. The assessment was conducted to meet Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) funding requirements.

This article highlights the positive aspects of the Basic Health Program by discussing the opportunity, how the program works, and challenge to implementation in Connecticut. The pogram, an Affordable Care Act (ACA) option, gives states the opportunity to make health care more affordable to lower income people who do not qualify for Medicaid.

Clinical care management (CCM) of the highest risk, most complex, and costly patients is an integral component of the patient-centered medical home (PCMH) but a new service for many primary care practices.

This poster details a study that examined satisfaction with finances, worries about meeting monthly expenses, and overall life satisfaction among working and non-working adults with disabilities using a 2010 Massachusetts Behavioral Risk Factors Surveillance System follow-up survey. The results indicate that employment contributes to enhanced economic well-being and decreased financial worries among people with disabilities.

This article describes the work mental health peer specialists play in improving the way mental health services are approached.

This presentation discusses the impact of prior authorization on Buprenorphine dose, relapse, and cost for opioid addiction treatment for Massachusetts Medicaid members.  

This report summarizes recent efforts by the Massachusetts Medicaid program, MassHealth, to address enrollment volatility and provides recommendations to mitigate remaining challenges by leveraging the opportunities presented with the transition to ACA-compliant eligibility systems and programs.

This report explains that Vermont must develop new financing mechanisms that raise $1.6 billion to fund single-payer. However, on December 17, 2014, Gov. Peter Shumlin announced that "now is not the right time" to overhaul health care financing and delivery in Vermont.