The Division of Health Care Finance and Policy kicks off its cost containment hearings tomorrow morning (DHCFP press release; Commissioner Morales blog post).
The morning starts with public officials – Secretary Bigby and several legislators will be speaking – and then a review of the findings by the DHCFP and Attorney General on cost drivers for Massachusetts health care. At noon, Len Nichols, Professor of Health Policy at George Mason University will lead a discussion of the cost of inaction. Attorney General Coakley testifies at 1:15, followed by an employer panel.
At 3:30, the consumer panel goes on (see HCFA release), which includes Amy Whitcomb Slemmer, Executive Director, Health Care for All; Deborah Banda, Massachusetts State Director, AARP; Matt Selig, Executive Director, Health Law Advocates; Robert Restuccia, Executive Director, Community Catalyst; Nancy Turnbull, Senior Lecturer on Health Policy, Harvard School of Public Health and Cheri Andes, Lead Organizer, Greater Boston Interfaith Organization.
The hearings continue on Thursday and Friday with a mix of experts and health industry representatives.
A detailed agenda, preliminary reports, and submitted written testimony are available at www.mass.gov/dhcfp/costtrends. The Division will also be live-streaming the proceedings; click here to access. We’ll tweet (twitter.com/hcfa) some tidbidts during the day, you may be able to also follow along on the DHCFP twitterstream, www.twitter.com/masshealthcare.
