Pioneer's health care research is focused on:

Medicaid and Health Care Budget Busters

Across the country, state and local healthcare expenditures have gone from $121 billion in 1993 to more than $285 billion in 2007. The number is expected to reach $565 billion by 2016 - a five-fold increase in 23 years. Building on its research into Massachusetts' $13 billion liability for employee healthcare benefits, Pioneer will focus on ways for cities and towns to manage their liabilites. At the state level, Pioneer will focus on the cost of Medicaid programs, specifically long-term care and insurance reforms.

Cost Containment

Health care costs loom as large for businesses as they do for state and local governments. Through case studies of successful programs that businesses have implemented to promote employee wellness and contain costs, Pioneer will provide ideas to help other businesses, large and small, compete by reducing their healthcare costs.

Massachusetts Health Care Reform

As the landmark healthcare legislation Massachusetts passed in 2006 becomes more broadly viewed as an experiment from which Massachusetts and other states can learn, Pioneer is uniquely positioned to track its implementation and progress. In 2010, Pioneer published a series of interim report cards assessing the program in the folowing areas: Increasing Access; Equitable and Sustainable Financing; Administrative Efficiency; and Cost-Effective Quality. In March 2011, Pioneer published Fixing the Massachusetts Health Exchange, an evaluation with recommendations.

Visit our Health Care Research page to access our reports and learn more.

Recent Projects and Events:

Event: Getting the Incentives Right.

The 2006 Colby Hewitt Healthcare Lecture, with Dr. Daniel H. Johnson, Jr., past President of the American and World Medical Associations.

Event and Report: The Massachusetts Healthcare Reform: A Blueprint for the Future.

Presentations and a panel discussion with John Goodman, President of the National Center for Policy Analysis, Regina Herzlinger of the Harvard Business School, and Tim Murphy, Secretary of the Commonwealth's Executive Office of Health and Human Services.

Report: The Elephant in the Room: Unfunded Public Employee Health Care Benefits & GASB 45.

Pioneer's groundbreaking review of public employee healthcare commitments outlined how to address the Commonwealth's $13 billion liability. The primary recommendations, including the creation of a separate, irrevocable trust and a down payment of $425 million, were adopted by Governor Patrick.

Event: Who Killed Health Care?

The 2007 Colby Hewitt Health Care Lecture, with Regina Herzlinger, Harvard Business School professor and author of "Who Killed Health Care?"