With the COVID-19 public health emergency over, state officials and organizations are struggling to restore a Massachusetts healthcare industry experiencing staff shortages and high levels of worker burnout factors that prevent some residents from accessing the necessary health care.
Healthcare professionals say it’s time for the industry to change.
All sectors are hurting,[but]I don’t think we should give healthcare a lift to continue to see increases greater than those experienced by the broad economy, said Don Berwick, president emeritus and senior fellow at the Institute for Healthcare. , during a recent meeting of the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission. I think something has to change the dynamics of this healthcare market.
Historically, Massachusetts continues to be an outlier in health care costs compared to other states. According to the Center for Health Information and Analysis, the state’s total health care spending was nearly $69 billion in 2021, up 3.2 percent from a year earlier.
To counter the increase, the Health Policy Commission met to set a new benchmark for cost growth in April. Taking into account all spending from both public and private sources, the benchmark represents a measurable goal for annual spending moderation.
‘There is not enough:State continues to meet the demand for pediatric care
The new target of 3.6% for 2024 reflects inflation while aiming to limit excessive increases in health costs and make services more affordable.
Having a clear target to limit spending growth is critical in this time of uncertainty and gives the whole system a clear target to work towards, David Seltz, executive director of the commission, said during a public hearing in March. However, the unique pressures facing residents and small businesses right now underscore the importance of additional policy action to expand the state’s cost-containment approach to address the new challenges facing our healthcare system.
These high costs have made it more difficult for the state to invest in the public and private sectors. Controlling the rate at which costs rise would ease the financial pressures facing families and individuals who have been impacted by the pandemic, something Berwick says could positively affect the state’s economy as a whole.
There are people who are being hurt by these cost increases, and it has to stop, Berwick said. For the hospital workers who have been affected by this, I sympathize with them. But this is their job to set the right healthcare costs that are out of control.
Health problems more acute in Western Mass.
For Berkshire County, health problems are even more worrying. Rates of premature death, obesity, mental illness and chronic disease are much higher in the western part of the state than in the rest, according to a community assessment released by Berkshire Health Systems in 2021.
Additionally, over 20% of the population is over the age of 65, making the community more vulnerable to the health problems that normally accompany aging. However, unique staffing challenges in rural areas have made it difficult to provide widespread access to health care.
‘I love public health’:Framingham Borough Council hires new Head of Health Department
Nearly 10 years ago, North Adams Regional Hospital closed its doors and officially closed, leaving North County residents wondering how they were going to get much-needed medical care and treatment. Since then, county hospitals have had to expand their coverage to serve more residents.
Anyone above Pittsfield has to move down or out of state to get local assistance, said Gena DiSimoni Johnson, executive director of the Berkshire AHEC. Being a rural area, it can take over an hour to get to the top of Berkshire county, and when you only have two hospitals in that bracket, it can take a long time to get to emergency care.
In addition to the challenge of having limited hospitals in some regions, maintaining an adequate workforce is also an issue. throughout Massachusetts.
The one thing that’s challenging, especially in Berkshire County, is staffing, Ragali said in an interview. It is in a remote location so appears to be an ongoing issue where we are always looking to recruit staff.
In addition to staffing challenges, the geographic layout of the county also presents its own set of transportation issues, particularly for people in need of primary care or home services. However, state officials are confident in the revitalization of the health care sector in the county.
Some see expanded telehealth services as part of the solution
State Representative Tricia Farley-Bouvier, D-Pittsfield, said the pandemic has opened up new ways of thinking about how the industry can respond to the ongoing issues facing residents. Among these solutions, the telehealth sector was growing.
Telehealth refers to the delivery of health care services via technological or electronic communication, according to the Center for Connected Health Policy. Something that can be done via a tablet or smartphone, telehealth has opened up a variety of options for patients to connect to their healthcare providers via video chat, messaging, or remote monitoring.
The 2023 CHIA report found that telehealth spending was crucial during the pandemic and influenced policy making in Massachusetts. While overall spending in this area has declined slightly since the pandemic, spending on services provided by nurses, physical and occupational therapists, and other non-physical professionals accounted for more than half of all telehealth spending in the state.
Telehealth was something that was talked about in Berkshire County long before the pandemic but there was a snag mainly with health insurers (companies) saying they didn’t know if it was safe enough or if the level of care would be good , Farley-Bouvier said in an interview. And then with the pandemic, suddenly a lot of things became possible, and we’ve found that telehealth in a large number of cases is a perfectly acceptable way to deliver healthcare.
By creating a wider access network for the community, telehealth has been able to reduce the transportation barrier for rural areas and create equitable solutions for more residents across the county. In addition, CHP Berkshires has made greater investments in expanding community health plans to enable the 30,000 Berkshire residents they serve each year access to increased federal funding to support themselves.
Facing some care center closures or high levels of worker burnout, Farley-Bouvier said flexible services and health care options like these have made a difference in how Berkshires respond to the crisis presented by the pandemic.
Until we as a Commonwealth and truly as a nation decide to prioritize health care with our Medicare and MassHealth reimbursement rates, we will continue to fall behind, he said. We need to find a way to increase reimbursement rates so that Mental Health, Dentistry and Physical Health can truly meet the needs of their patients.
#health #officials #propose #ways #treat #patients
Image Source : www.metrowestdailynews.com