The Health Policy Commission is sworn in! The Health Policy Commission was created by Chapter 224, the payment reform bill that passed the legislature this summer. The Health Commission will set policy and direction for the health care industry with the hopes of lowering costs while improving patient care through prevention.

The Commission is made up of a diverse group of 11 members with 1199’s own Executive Vice President Veronica Turner representing the health care workforce on that Commission.

The Commission will be chaired by Stuart Altman of Brandeis University who is a former federal health care policy administrator.

The first task of the Commission is to get the organization staffed and running. They will soon be hiring an executive director and are setting up office at 2 Boylston Street, in the offices below the former Division of Health Care Finance and Policy (now called the Center for Health Information and Analysis). Starting in January, hospitals and provider organizations will have to register with the Commission and turn in governance and financial information. Additionally, a provider organization will have to start filing notice of a significant change to their governance structure, or if they intend to affiliate or merge with any other organization.

This Commission will oversee major changes to the health care industry that could have a national impact, just as our original heath care expansion legislation did. The pressures to cut costs, to rely less on treating people once they get sick, but to prevent the illnesses from happening in the first place, and the movement of services outside of hospitals and institutions and into community settings will have a major impact on our work, our jobs, and our futures.

It was the hard work and leadership of 1199SEIU members in the healthcare debate that lead to Veronica Turner being appointed to the Commission. And it will be the continuing work and lobbying of 1199 members that will keep the Commission on the best track.