Tagged: healthcare

BOSTON (AP) — Gov. Deval Patrick plans to recommend sweeping reforms in health care benefits for retired state and municipal employees, changes that are estimated to save up to $20 billion over the next 30 years.

The recommendations stem from a report due to be released Friday by a special commission that studied the soaring costs of retiree health care.

A new $45 million dollar emergency and trauma center opened at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield this morning.  The state of the art facility will treat critically injured and ill people from throughout western Massachusetts.  WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill reports.

The new emergency department at Baystate Medical Center’s main campus in Springfield’s North End was opened to receive patients beginning at 7:30  Monday morning. The new facility is 72,000 square feet, 55,000 square feet larger than the old emergency room.

A Purple Heart recipient from Connecticut who was wounded in the Vietnam War is suing the Army, claiming he's wrongly being denied health care benefits.

William Dolphin of West Haven filed the federal lawsuit Thursday in New Haven in an attempt to upgrade his discharge status and get benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The lawsuit says Dolphin suffered head, knee and back injuries in an explosion during combat in 1968 and was left with post-traumatic stress disorder and chronic pain.

A recent audit of the MassHealth system has found the system open to fraud with thousands ineligible individuals receiving healthcare benefits from Massachusetts. WAMC’s Berkshire Bureau Chief Lucas Willard reports…

Massachusetts State Auditor Suzanne Bump released a report yesterday that pointed out shortcomings in the MassHealth system, which included failures of the state office of Medicaid to verify the incomes and residency of individuals who received tax-payer funded health care benefits.

A recent report released by the Massachusetts Medical Society highlights the strengths and weaknesses of the physician workforce in the Commonwealth, which includes a lack of trained specialists and primary care physicians.

The Massachusetts Medical Society’s annual Physician Workforce Study takes a comprehensive look at the working doctors in the state, physician recruitment rates, profession satisfaction, and more. One of the key observations in the report is a lack of primary care doctors and specialists across Massachusetts.