Insiders investigate the cause of Massachusetts’ health care costs – The Boston Globe

An emergency sign at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston in 2024.

“We’re seeing a shift to more expensive prescription drugs, a shift to more expensive imaging modalities, and a shift to more expensive treatment settings for routine screening colonoscopies,” Auerbach said. “We’ve been reporting on rising rates of caesarean sections in low-risk births, and finally, some very expensive surgeries are increasing rapidly.” The average cost for … Read more

Wait times for mental health care in emergency departments remain too long – The Boston Globe

Behavioral health patients with unique needs often can’t obtain timely treatment.

As of 2024, there will be fewer mentally ill patients waiting in hospital emergency departments than in 2022. However, Massachusetts still has some of the longest wait times in the nation, and behavioral health patients with unique needs, such as the elderly, pregnant women, and children with autism, are too often unable to receive timely … Read more