Massachusetts health care reform and orthopaedic trauma: lessons learned

Massachusetts was the first state to implement its own version of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), when it passed the Massachusetts Health Care Reform (MHR) in 2006. Similar to the ACA, its explicit purpose was universal access to health care to all residents of Massachusetts. We believe that the influence of MHR on orthopaedic trauma in Massachusetts will have implications on trauma systems across the country, given the similarities between ACA and MHR. Therefore, in this article, we discuss our experiences as Orthopaedic trauma surgeons with regard to MHR. In this regard, we reviewed the effects of the implementation of MHR on the orthopaedic trauma services at 3 of the 4 level one trauma centers in Boston, MA. Our results demonstrate a dramatic reduction in the proportion of uncompensated care at these centers in addition to the number of uninsured patients with orthopaedic trauma injuries.