Last week the Massachusetts legislature passed comprehensive healthcare reform legislation almost a year after Governor Romney firstproposed the key elements of a reform strategy. News reports andmost commentary have focused on two small but controversialprovisions in the final bill: requirements that Massachusettsresidents purchase health insurance and that businesses with morethan 10 workers who don't offer their employees health insurancepay a per-worker contribution to the state's uncompensated carepool. But in focusing on those items, most reporters andcommentators have missed the truly significant and transformativehealth system changes that the legislation would set in motion.
In the fall of 2020, a patient in Augusta, Georgia, went to the local Veterans Affairs medical center for a minimally invasive urologic surgery, according to a new report from