The Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation has launched a new online resource dedicated to Massachusetts health reform: bluecrossfoundation.org/health-reform.

The website aims to be the comprehensive clearinghouse of resources on Massachusetts health reform. From the Foundation’s release:

[The site] captures the unique accomplishments of the law, the work of stakeholders across the state to realize and sustain reform, and the implications of the Massachusetts experience for national health reform.

The website includes links to scores of documents, reports, data sources and analyses. Users can navigate through sections devoted to the following topics:

• The Massachusetts Law and its History
• Health Reform Implementation
• Health Reform Results
• Financing Massachusetts Reform
• Health Reform 2.0: Cost and Quality
• Lessons from the Massachusetts Experience
• How National Reform Affects Massachusetts
• Other Resources

The site also offers new tools for understanding the Massachusetts law and its impact, such as an interactive guide to the most up-to-date version of Chapter 58, with links to regulations, reports, commissions and other results of the law’s provisions, and video clips from the Foundation’s June 2010 national health reform event, including a tribute to Senator Kennedy. The website will be updated frequently to reflect new research, progress in reaching the goals of access, affordability and effectiveness, and changes in laws or regulations.

For me, the coolest part is the “Annotated Chapter 58″ section, chapter58.bluecrossfoundation.org. (Full Disclosure: the section is based on HCFA work going back to 2006, and I helped the Foundation update and prepare the materials.) This section allows one to read a summary and the updated, current text of the Massachusetts health reform law, and see links to web documents concerning implementation of that section. A table of contents and search capability adds to the usefulness.

Congratulations to the Foundation for this groundbreaking step.
-Brian Rosman