Massachusetts doctors strongly support their state's three year old health reform initiative, according to a study appearing in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Seventy percent of practicing physicians in Massachusetts -- specialists and primary care doctors -- support health reform, and 75 percent want to continue the policies (although nearly half want some changes), according to the Harvard School of Public Health study funded the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation.  

Only 13 percent of physicians in the state oppose the health reforms created through the legislation, and just seven percent believe the policies should be repealed.

The findings suggest that it is possible to provide near-universal coverage of the population and have a resulting system that most physicians believe improves care for the uninsured without undermining their ability to provide care to their patients," said Harvard professor Robert Blendon, one of the study's authors, (and as our regular readers know, a favorite go-to guy for insights into to the politics of health reform.)

More than half the doctors surveyed said reforms had no impact on their practices, and 22 percent said reform made it better. Half reported an overall worsening of their practice in recent years -- but not because of the Massachusetts health reforms. Most rated the Massachusetts health care system as better than the overall national system.

 "What is particularly impressive is that on almost every question in which physicians were asked about the impacts of the law on their own practice and patients, a majority reported that it is having either no impact or a positive one," said Gillian SteelFisher, Ph.D., M.Sc., co-author of the study and research scientist at Harvard School of Public Health.

While we're at it ... the RWJF's health reform blog, Users' Guide to the Health Reform Galaxy, has had several good posts recently on Massachusetts, that we have had on our "write about when we have time" list so now is as good a time as any to give you at least a brief rundown.

Derek LeLia and Joel Cantor of Rutgers have been looking at how health reform might affect emergency room use. Massachusetts has not found expanded coverage to be a magic wand for ER utilization, but the second phase of the state's health reform effort (focused on cost and delivery system changes) is taking a closer look at where and how ERs fit in, particularly for people with chronic disease who end up in ERs (often appropriately) when they have serious flare-ups.

Sharon Long of the Urban Institute offers this observation about fears -- in the national debate -- that reform could undermine our current employer-sponsored insurance system:

The bottom line? ESI was not weakened once health care reform took hold in Massachusetts, which now enjoys the country's lowest rate of uninsurance. Indeed, ample evidence suggests that the 2006 health care reform law significantly boosted ESI coverage, countering the trend toward lower ESI coverage in the rest of country

And speaking of employer sponsorship -- our own employer has someplace we're supposed to be right now...