How mapping and visualization tools can enhance the use of data to characterize a population’s health and social services needs, target interventions and compare outcomes across population subgroups. These tools are used to manage Massachusetts 1915c Medicaid Waiver programs, track operations, improve efficiency, report quality measures, monitor program integrity and plan for  service needs.

Integration strategies and coordination benchmarks within the Massachusetts Medicaid Management Information System (MMMIS) are used to ensure accurate Medicaid and Medicare enrollment; fully engage service delivery options (including managed care and integrated care programs); and effectively cost-avoid, reprice, or cost-share to ensure the state’s lowest payment liability.

This report describes the process of providing integrated care for patients with substance use disorders at three sites in central Massachusetts: Edward M. Kennedy Community Health Center, Family Health Center of Worcester, and Community Healthlink. It identifies common practices that improve care coordination and presents key findings.

Twenty-five women with physical disabilities across the U.S. who had had a baby in the past 10 years were interviewed for this study. The results shed light on the unmet needs and barriers to the care of women with mobility disabilities during pregnancy and childbirth. The study findings highlight the need for policy and practice recommendations for perinatal care of women with mobility disabilities.

A summary of the way the Worcester Division of Public Health was able to improve care for its patients after being awarded a Prevention and Welllness Trust Fund grant from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. 

A comprehensive look at The Southern New England Practice Transformation Network (SNE-PTN), which supports implementation of person-centered, high quality, efficient, and coordinated care. SNE-PTN is funded under the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Transforming Clinical Practices Initiative.

The study concludes that antiviral treatment with sofosbuvir and/or simeprevir was requested for a relatively small proportion of Hepatitis C-infected members of MassHealth, the Massachusetts Medicaid program, with nearly all approved. Prescriber prioritization or patient barriers to care, rather than prior authorization, determined access to treatment. Support may be needed to ensure patients with SUD benefit from advances in HCV treatment.

An overview of the Academic Consortium on Criminal Justice Health's 9th Annual Academic & Health Policy Conference on Correctional Health in CorrDocs, the newsletter of the American College of Correctional Physicians. The conference is supported by the University of Massachusetts Medical School and co-hosted this year by George Mason University.

Provides policy recommendations to address current barriers to employment for people with psychiatric disabilities, who can successfully obtain and maintain employment with supports that include increased access to career development, supported employment, and critical health services.