BOSTON - The Massachusetts Health Policy Forum (MHPF) today paid tribute to the organization’s founder, Philip W. Johnston, who died unexpectedly on April 5. Before an audience of 250 healthcare providers, policymakers, scholars, and legislators at the Omni Parker Hotel, MHPF Executive Director Michael Doonan announced that the organization will now be known as the Philip W. Johnston Massachusetts Health Policy Forum.
Johnston, who began his career as a social worker and evolved into a leading voice for social justice and universal health care, founded the MHPF in 1997. His longtime friend and the former President and CEO of Blue Cross Blue Shield of MA (BCBSMA), Bill Van Fassen, recalled his conversation with Phil that ended with a directive to create an organization that would convene public conversations among state health care leaders focused on the latest developments in health care policy.
“Phil and I hatched the idea of the MHPF over 25 years ago on a walk together along Summer Street,” Van Fassen recalled. “I was lamenting that the health care community had many interested and often opposing stakeholders and we needed a ‘safe space’ to talk about how to reconcile our individual interests and make progress on important public health issues. Phil suggested we start a forum. I said, ‘if you will lead, BCBSMA will fund it.’ He was the perfect person to collect everyone and marshal them forward around community health matters. Renaming the MHPF in Phil’s honor is an appropriate tribute to Phil and his outstanding leadership.”
The forum, which is run out of the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University, is made possible by sustaining funding from BCBSMA and Baystate Health.
Sarah Iselin, President and CEO of BCBSMA, noted that, “It’s hard to imagine another person who’s had a more profound impact on our health care system than Phil. He was a friend and mentor who inspired me with his passion, energy and commitment to helping the most vulnerable in our community. Phil served on our board with distinction for nearly two decades and was the founding chair of our Foundation. We’re incredibly proud to be a part of this effort to name the Forum in Phil’s honor, to both recognize his immeasurable contributions and to help ensure his life’s work continues.”
The Johnston family thanked Dr. Doonan and the MHPF board for their ongoing support for Phil’s passion for health care access and equity. “My father was so proud of this organization and the sterling reputation it has earned over 28 years, attracting the participation of the state's top health care professionals and policy makers,” Phil’s son, Robert M. Johnston, said. "I recall his enthusiasm as my dad and Mike Doonan prepared these deep discussions into health care policy affecting the state's most vulnerable populations. He considered the MA Health Policy Forum to be one of the greatest achievements of his long career and he would be incredibly proud that these informative and important conversations will continue into the future."
In addition to the tribute to Johnston, today’s event focused on a report by Michael Yuhas, MA, and Danna Mauch, PhD, on Primary and Behavioral Health Care Integration: Advancing the Collaborative Care Model in the Commonwealth, which addressed the escalating crisis in the availability of timely, affordable and effective treatment for mental health and substance use disorders (MHSUDs).
The report noted that patients often spend weeks or months trying to locate and schedule a timely appointment with a MHSUD provider accepting new patients. “We need to manage the delivery of MHSUD care the way we manage the delivery of specialty medical care, and our primary care system is an integral part of the solution,” according to authors Yuhas and Mauch. “We are proposing broadscale adoption of the Collaborative Care Model (CoCM) in primary care practices across the Commonwealth.”
The report emphasized that CoCM, with more than 100 randomized controlled trials proving its efficacy, offers an opportunity to increase access to timely, effective, and affordable MHSUD care for the greatest number of people in the shortest period of time. However, the authors also noted there is a need to ensure adequate reimbursement for all providers, including federally qualified health centers, to incentivize successful adoption of this model of care.