Consumer Health Advocacy & Information Network

Consumer Health Advocacy & Information Network Our mission is to link the best ideas on stemming the rising cost of health care with people passion

The Colorado Health Advocacy and Information Network (CHAIN) is a start-up non-profit organization focused on advancing bio-science innovation and market-based ideas for improving access and affordability of health care.

08/20/2026

Massachusetts healthcare spending reached $83.3 billion in 2024, growing far faster than the state's cost-control benchmark.

At the same time, compensation increased for many of the state's highest-paid hospital executives:
• Mass General Brigham CEO: $9.2 million — up ~9%
• Tufts Medicine CEO: $2.7 million — up ~28%
• Boston Children's CEO: $3.5 million — up 9%
• Boston Medical Center Health System CEO: $2.2 million — up nearly 13%
• UMass Memorial Health CEO: $4.1 million — up nearly 6%

These are some of Massachusetts' largest nonprofit healthcare institutions.

Healthcare systems are complex organizations, and their leaders have significant responsibilities. But as healthcare costs continue to rise, patients deserve transparency about where healthcare dollars are going — and whether enough is making its way back to the patients and communities these institutions exist to serve.

At CHAIN, we believe nonprofit status should come with meaningful accountability and a clear commitment to patients.

Healthcare dollars should put patients first.

Read more: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/08/17/business/hospital-ceo-pay-massachusetts/

08/15/2026

💡 Healthcare Question of the Week 💡

If a nonprofit hospital purchases prescription drugs at steep discounts... should patients automatically receive those savings?

👍 Yes
🎈 It depends
🤔 I didn't know that's how 340B works

At CHAIN, we believe healthcare policies should be measured by one simple question: Are patients actually benefiting?

You get sick. You seek care. Then your healthcare provider sues you.A new Connecticut Mirror investigation found that ph...
08/12/2026

You get sick. You seek care. Then your healthcare provider sues you.

A new Connecticut Mirror investigation found that physicians, dentists and other non-hospital providers accounted for more than 80% of healthcare debt collection cases filed against Connecticut patients and families in 2024.

Connecticut has made important progress protecting consumers from medical debt, but this investigation exposes a major gap: many of those protections focus on hospitals while other healthcare providers operate under different rules.

At CHAIN, we believe the principle should be simple: getting sick shouldn't put your financial future at risk.

Patients deserve transparency, fair billing practices and meaningful protections from medical debt — no matter who provides their care.

https://ctmirror.org/2026/04/19/ct-medical-debt-case-lawsuits/

Here's a question worth asking: If the 340B program was created to help vulnerable patients... why are so many patients ...
08/06/2026

Here's a question worth asking: If the 340B program was created to help vulnerable patients... why are so many patients still ending up in bankruptcy over medical debt?

A new report from Patients Rising found that nearly half of the consumer bankruptcy cases reviewed involved debt owed to nonprofit hospitals participating in the 340B program.

Programs designed to help patients should produce better outcomes for patients.

That's why CHAIN continues to advocate for greater transparency and accountability so healthcare savings actually reach the people they were intended to serve.

https://www.patientsrising.org/advocacy-updates/340b-hospitals-as-creditors-in-medical-bankruptcies

No company is above the law - and no part of our healthcare system should be beyond accountability.Massachusetts Attorne...
07/23/2026

No company is above the law - and no part of our healthcare system should be beyond accountability.

Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell is suing UnitedHealthcare, alleging the company manipulated patient health information to fraudulently obtain more than $100 million from MassHealth.

The case raises a broader question: Are all powerful healthcare institutions being held to the same standard?

Whether it is an insurer, hospital system, PBM, or another healthcare middleman, CHAIN believes accountability must come first. Public dollars and tax benefits should serve patients - not increase corporate profits at their expense.

https://www.bostonherald.com/2026/05/30/unitedhealthcare-defrauded-masshealth-of-100m-ag-andrea-campbell-says/

The numbers are staggering.As Stephanie Henley from Massachusetts Osteopathic Society writes, the program's incentives a...
07/16/2026

The numbers are staggering.

As Stephanie Henley from Massachusetts Osteopathic Society writes, the program's incentives are driving the acquisition of independent physician practices and accelerating healthcare consolidation - often with little evidence that patients are seeing the savings.

When independent practices disappear, patients can face fewer choices, higher costs, and reduced access to care in their communities.

The 340B program was created to help low-income and vulnerable patients access affordable medications - not to fuel consolidation and generate profits for large health systems and middlemen.

It's time for reforms that ensure 340B savings actually reach the patients the program was intended to serve.

https://www.masslive.com/opinion/2026/05/drug-pricing-program-undermines-independent-medical-practices-in-mass-stephanie-henley.html?outputType=amp

07/13/2026

Rep. Jake Auchincloss (MA) said it plainly: 340B is the “least transparent” part of our drug pricing system.

Patients deserve answers about where the savings are going — and why they are not reaching the people this program was meant to help.

Getting sick should never ruin your financial future.Massachusetts is taking an important step to protect patients by ad...
07/10/2026

Getting sick should never ruin your financial future.

Massachusetts is taking an important step to protect patients by advancing regulations that would ban medical debt from consumer credit reports.

Medical debt often results from illness, emergencies, high healthcare costs, or insurance gaps - not financial irresponsibility. Yet millions of Americans see their credit damaged simply because they needed care.

No one should be denied a home, a job, or financial opportunity because they got sick.

At CHAIN, we believe healthcare should heal - not leave patients and families trapped in debt. Policies that protect patients from the long-term consequences of medical debt are an important step toward a more affordable, equitable healthcare system.

Thank you Maura Healey & MA Health & Human Services Secretary Kiame Mahaniah for stepping up for patients in MA.

https://www.wbur.org/news/2026/06/30/gov-healey-medical-debt-credit-proposal

5 years. Millions of dollars in taxpayer money. Zero prescription drug price caps delivered to Colorado patients.The lat...
07/08/2026

5 years. Millions of dollars in taxpayer money. Zero prescription drug price caps delivered to Colorado patients.

The latest court ruling blocking the PDAB's Enbrel cap is another reminder that Colorado's Prescription Drug Affordability Board has failed to deliver on its promises.

Patients deserve real solutions that lower costs at the pharmacy counter — not expensive bureaucracies that produce headlines but no results.

https://coloradosun.com/2026/07/02/pdab-enbrel-price-cap-injunction/

06/18/2026

Massachusetts Moms & Families Deserve Care - Not Hospital Loopholes.

Across MA, hospitals are profiting off of monies that are supposed to be passed along to vulnerable patients.

Tell MA lawmakers:
→ Put patients before hospital profits.
→ Stop the 340b hospital scam.

Sign the petition: unbreakhealthcare.org/massachusetts

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