By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
  • Health
    • Mental Health
    Health
    Healthcare organizations are operating on slimmer profit margins than ever. One report in August showed that they are even lower than the beginning of the…
    Show More
    Top News
    benefits of using protein powder to build muscles
    Protein Powder for Muscle Mass: Everything You Need to Know
    December 12, 2021
    changes brought on by blockchain in healthcare
    Technology In The Healthcare Industry
    March 28, 2022
    What Does Core Body Temperature Say About Health?
    August 17, 2022
    Latest News
    Grounded Healing: A Natural Ally for Sustainable Healthcare Systems
    May 16, 2025
    Learn how to Renew your Medical Card in West Virginia
    May 16, 2025
    Choosing the Right Supplement Manufacturer for Your Brand
    May 1, 2025
    Engineering Temporary Hospitals for Extreme Weather
    April 24, 2025
  • Policy and Law
    • Global Healthcare
    • Medical Ethics
    Policy and Law
    Get the latest updates about Insurance policies and Laws in the Healthcare industry for different geographical locations.
    Show More
    Top News
    FDA Approves Diabetes Pill
    May 2, 2011
    Patient Gets Drunk on Hand Sanitizer
    June 20, 2011
    Cultivating Health Improvement
    July 20, 2011
    Latest News
    Building Smarter Care Teams: Aligning Roles, Structure, and Clinical Expertise
    May 18, 2025
    The Critical Role of Healthcare in Personal Injury Recovery: A Comprehensive Guide for Victims
    May 14, 2025
    The Backbone of Successful Trials: Clinical Data Management
    April 28, 2025
    Advancing Your Healthcare Career through Education and Specialization
    April 16, 2025
  • Medical Innovations
  • News
  • Wellness
  • Tech
Search
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Healthcare Backgrounds of Candidates for Governor of Massachusetts
Share
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Health Works Collective > Policy & Law > Public Health > Healthcare Backgrounds of Candidates for Governor of Massachusetts
Policy & LawPublic Health

Healthcare Backgrounds of Candidates for Governor of Massachusetts

DavidEWilliams
Last updated: March 20, 2014 8:00 am
DavidEWilliams
Share
8 Min Read
MA governor health views
SHARE

MA governor health views

I’ve learned a lot about the candidates for Governor of Massachusetts by interviewing all nine of them about healthcare policy. Starting today I’ll be summarizing the results from those discussions so readers can compare the candidates on specific issues.

MA governor health views

I’ve learned a lot about the candidates for Governor of Massachusetts by interviewing all nine of them about healthcare policy. Starting today I’ll be summarizing the results from those discussions so readers can compare the candidates on specific issues.

More Read

claim a disability benefit
Are You Eligible To Claim A Disability Benefit? Why To Talk To A Lawyer
Are You Engaged Yet?
OMB: Growth in Medicare, Medicaid Spending to Decrease over Next Decade
Smooth Transition: Reducing Senior Readmissions to Hospitals
Patient Non-Adherence Is A Physician-Patient Communication Challenge

The candidates have diverse backgrounds: from head of Medicare to surgeon to small business owner to Homeland Security official. Of the nine, five have significant healthcare experience. Even those that don’t come from healthcare have taken the time to study the issues and develop deep perspectives.

I asked everyone to describe how their backgrounds, especially in healthcare, prepared them for the job of Governor. Here are higlights of those answers.

Don Berwick has an international and national reputation in healthcare. He’s a pediatrician who founded the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and more recently ran the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), an $800 billion federal agency.  To put things in perspective, that budget is about 20x the size of the entire Massachusetts state budget. He pointed to his experience motivating the 5500 CMS employees and his conviction that government employees “are just as eager to be proud of their work, and just as amenable to learning about modern approaches to improvement as any workforce” if they have the right leadership. He wants to bring that approach to the Massachusetts government workforce.

Joe Avellone reflected on two major themes from his long career as a surgeon and healthcare executive. He understands the “absolute sanctity of the doctor-patient relationships” and the importance of preventive medicine. He pledges to keep in mind the individual, “inviolate” relationship between doctor and patient even when thinking systemically about big picture solutions. And he asserts that the state is the right agent to invest in preventive health because of the distant time horizon for a payoff. This means taking the long view on public health threats like childhood obesity, smoking, and Hepatitis C.

Charlie Baker’s experience as CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and as a senior official in the Weld and Celluci administrations is highly pragmatic. He pledges to create a culture of accountability by setting a high bar, recruiting top people, and measuring their performance. “One of the things I bring is a tremendous appreciation about how important it is to follow through and execute your plans.” He also wants to bring a “maniacal” approach to service delivery on behalf of the people, which will translate into a great experience for everyone doing business with the government.

Unlike some of the other candidates, Martha Coakley does not have a career in healthcare to fall back on when answering my wonky queries. But she points to her eight years as Attorney General and the various learning curves she’s traveled down including in healthcare. She’s learned to appreciate the bipartisan agreement on assuring universal insurance coverage and wants to leverage that consensus in order to cut costs, provide better prevention and address underlying cost drivers such as the prevalence of diabetes and asthma. She suggests that her experience working closely on healthcare issues as AG will translate into rapid progress as Governor and enable Massachusetts to act as a national leader on health reform.

Evan Falchuk was president of Best Doctors, a company that focuses on helping patients get the correct diagnosis. Once a disease is diagnosed properly the patient can get the right treatment. But with wrong diagnosis comes incorrect treatment, extra costs and poor results. Evan applies the analogy of diagnosis and treatment to the public realm. “It’s easy to treat the symptoms rather than the disease and to miss the underlying causes in an effort to take quick action.” He’s learned how hard it is to make complex decisions. “You have to be able to confront reality. You have to take action that is decisive and that reflects the best understanding of what will address the problem you’ve identified.”

Mark Fisher, a Tea Party Member running as a Republican, displays an interesting mix of libertarianism, paternalism and suspicion of big business. His main exposure to healthcare comes as owner of a small business providing health insurance benefits for employees. Health plans refused to provide coverage because he paid 100 percent of his employees’ out-of-pocket costs, thereby neutralizing the intended impact of member cost sharing and potentially driving up costs. “What I learned is that [health plans] are more concerned about making big profits than they are about providing care for those who are paying the premiums.” He intends to bring a “healthy dose of common sense” and skepticism of big healthcare players to Beacon Hill.

Steve Grossman says he’s learned from his private sector and government career (he’s State Treasurer)  that job creation is about investing wisely and creating proper incentives. He cites his experience running a unionized shop that offered earned sick time for more than 25 years. “People who believe that you are willing to invest in them are going to invest in you.” He pledges to “level the playing field” to make sure no one in Massachusetts is left behind on access to quality healthcare even as we grapple with cost containment.

Jeff McCormick has 25 years of experience financing growth companies, including several in healthcare and biotech. He studied biology and molecular genetics in school and so is well versed in the fundamentals of health and medicine. He’s learned the value of a relentless focus on lowering costs and improving outcomes and plans to apply that philosophy to his work on healthcare and other issues as Governor. He vows to bring “a new set of eyes to identify these problems and solutions and not do more of the same old, same old.”

Juliette Kayyem has a background in homeland security in both the federal and state government.  She looks at healthcare through the lens of harm reduction and public health preparedness.  ”Homeland Security… is really about buttressing preparedness through various systems that protect people.” As a result she says she wants to focus on public health and community health centers, and to strengthen relationships between elite hospitals and health centers.

Over the coming days I’ll be comparing the candidates’ answers on other key questions.

(State House in Boston / shutterstock)

Share This Article
Facebook Copy Link Print
Share

Stay Connected

1.5kFollowersLike
4.5kFollowersFollow
2.8kFollowersPin
136kSubscribersSubscribe

Latest News

Do You Grind Your Teeth at Night? Here’s How Night Guards and TMJ Treatments Can Help
Do You Grind Your Teeth at Night? Here’s How Night Guards and TMJ Treatments Can Help
Dental health
May 21, 2025
The Secret To A Confident Smile: Top Tips For Better Teeth
The Secret To A Confident Smile: Top Tips For Better Teeth
Dental health
May 21, 2025
Clinical Expertise
Building Smarter Care Teams: Aligning Roles, Structure, and Clinical Expertise
Health care
May 18, 2025
Grounded Healing: A Natural Ally for Sustainable Healthcare Systems
Grounded Healing: A Natural Ally for Sustainable Healthcare Systems
Health
May 15, 2025

You Might also Like

Wikipedia: Study Confirms It Is a Reliable Source of Online Health Information

December 20, 2012
Wellness Beyond Life: Integrating Health Decisions into Estate Planning
Health care

Wellness Beyond Life: Integrating Health Decisions into Estate Planning

February 12, 2025
GMO
Policy & LawWellness

GMO: Proteins and Frankenfoods

May 17, 2013

Drug Company to Congress: The ‘Dog Ate My Homework’

September 9, 2011
Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!
Follow US
© 2008-2025 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?