Massachusetts Health Quality Partners (MHQP)

01/16/2025

MHQP has released data today which shows White patients in Massachusetts trust their healthcare providers more than Black, Asian and Hispanic patients do. This is the fourth year in a row that we have seen this result on our statewide Patient Experience Survey. These disparities are extremely concerning because trust is such a foundational element to quality clinical care.

Read more here:
https://www.mhqp.org/2025/01/15/black-asian-and-hispanic-patients-report-lower-levels-of-trust-in-their-healthcare-providers-compared-to-white-patients/

01/14/2025

We are thrilled that Governor Healey signed H5159, An Act Enhancing the Market Review Process, into law last week. The bill includes a provision that establishes a Primary Care Task Force to study primary care access, delivery and payment, and develop recommendations to stabilize and strengthen the primary care system, increase recruitment, and increase financial investment and patient access.

MHQP is honored to be included in the legislation as a member of the Task Force and pleased that the Primary Care Dashboard we manage with the Center for Health Information and Analysis (CHIA) will be the measurement instrument for this extremely important work.

Thank you, Senator Cindy Friedman for your leadership to bring us to this breakthrough moment. This is a critical first step toward repairing the state’s broken system.

New laws cap prescription drug copays at $25, improve access to primary care and close regulatory gaps exploited by Steward Health Care

01/06/2025

2024 was an unsettling year, as Massachusetts health care experienced unprecedented access challenges, widespread clinician burnout, and other unanticipated disruptions. Through all the uncertainty and turmoil, MHQP continued to be a reliable source of data to help us all better understand patient experiences, an innovative force for transparency and collaboration, and a steady voice for sense-making. 2024 was a year in which MHQP focused much of our energies and efforts on shedding a brighter light on the systemic inequities in our healthcare system. In addition, as a result of our work with the Center for Health Information and Analysis (CHIA) to monitor the primary care crisis through the Massachusetts Primary Care Dashboard, we inspired a range of high-profile media coverage calling for action to address the challenges in our state, contributing to legislation being passed to create a primary care task force.

We invite you to read all about these and other important activities in our 2024 Year In Review. Please click below to download:

https://www.mhqp.org/2025/01/06/looking-back-at-2024/

12/09/2024

Last week, MHQP had the honor of hosting our annual Joint Board and Councils meeting. MHQP’s CEO Barbra Rabson calls this meeting “The Essence of MHQP” because it brings together leaders from multiple stakeholder groups -- MHQP’s Board of Directors, Clinician Council, Health Plan Council and Consumer Health Council -- for a night of reflection and thoughtful discussion.

We reflected on MHQP’s many accomplishments in 2024 as a year in which we helped shed light on inequities in care and helped advance the public discourse around the fragile state of primary care. We then discussed the current challenges facing behavioral health in our state and what MHQP can do to help. More to come soon on some of the insights from the night.

Thanks to all who participated!

1st row, L to R: Susan Dargon-Hart, Julita Mir, Molly Totman, Barbra Rabson, Natalya Martins, Ann Naimie

2nd row, L to R: James Courtemanche, Rebecca Cunningham, Ryan Boxill, Jennifer Kohn Goldsmith, Lora Council, Debra Zalvan, Luis Ticona, Symone Woodham, Julia Banas, Lucilia Prates-Ramos, Janet Flaherty, Rachel Hitt, Mark Friedberg

3rd row, L to R: Carlos Cappas, Maggie Allard, Mark Mandell, Dan Slater, Lois Cornell, Mohammad Dar, Andrew D'Amour, Rick Siegrist, Cyrus Hopkins, Jonathan Small

12/05/2024

We agree with and appreciate MHQP Board Member David Morales' perspective that "enhancing access to primary care can improve whole health and lower the annual rate of growth in healthcare costs." Well done.

The rising cost of healthcare services in Massachusetts continues to be a challenge for many families with employer-sponsored or individual health insurance.

11/20/2024

The following is MHQP CEO Barbra Rabson's Letter to the Editor published in today's Boston Globe. This was written before today's announcement that ten Mass General Brigham primary care doctors will be switching to Beth Israel Lahey, adding further evidence that our fragile primary care system requires urgent attention.

Lack of Investment in the Field Sets Off a Downward Spiral in Care

We may have finally hit the tipping point for our primary care crisis. In the past week, the Globe published a one-two punch of articles, the first, by Kara Miller, documenting the rise in primary care physicians switching to concierge medicine (“How much would you pay to skip the line at your doctor’s office?” Business, Nov. 18), and the second, by Jonathan Saltzman, covering the drastic move by Mass General Brigham primary care physicians in seeking to unionize because of the “unprecedented volume and stress” they face (“Citing burnout, doctors seek union at MGB”).

The same week, at the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission cost trends hearing, Governor Maura Healey called for greater investment in primary care, noting that in this country we spend roughly half of what other developed countries spend on primary care and that our poor health outcomes and health inequities reflect that spending gap.

Massachusetts Health Quality Partners and the Center for Health Information and Analysis have published an annual dashboard documenting the failing health of primary care since the COVID-19 pandemic, focused on capacity, finance, performance, and equity. This dashboard, along with the myriad stories published in the Globe and other media outlets, details the depth of the primary care crisis in Massachusetts, which forces residents to seek care in high-cost settings or, worse, forgo care altogether. All of this is driving health care into a downward spiral.

It is past time for the governor, Legislature, health systems, health insurers, and employers to take action to make an impactful investment in primary care.

Barbra G. Rabson
President and CEO
Massachusetts Health Quality Partners
Brighton

It is time for current primary care doctors to assert that the current work expectations are untenable and unsafe. A union can help them make that case.

11/19/2024

The drastic move by Mass General Brigham primary care doctors to unionize because of the “unprecedented volume and stress” they face is glaring evidence that our state’s primary care system is in crisis. It's past time for the governor, legislature, health systems, health insurers and employers to take action to make an impactful investment in primary care.

The doctors comprise the vast majority of primary care physicians employed by Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

11/18/2024

"The American health care system needs a leader who upholds and builds upon the trusted reputation of government health agencies whose decades of work have saved millions of lives," said MMS President Dr. Hugh Taylor. "We must leverage this sizeable platform and role to embrace established science and champion medical and scientific advancement, debunk disproven conspiracy theories, and mitigate the spread of dangerous misinformation about such topics as the safety and efficacy of vaccines. Mr. Kennedy falls alarmingly short of these critical qualifications."

Full statement here: https://ow.ly/SOzi50U84PM

11/14/2024

In recognition of , we'd like to draw attention to the significant disparities in diabetes prevalence between racial and ethnic groups. Here are the most recent statistics from the CDC on the percentage of adults diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in the US (2018-2019):

American Indian or Alaska Native: 14.5%
Non-Hispanic Black: 12.1%
Hispanic: 11.8%
Non-Hispanic Asian: 9.5%
Non-Hispanic White: 7.4%

As stated in MHQP's Clinical Guidelines, these differences are likely due to complex interactions of social determinants of health, including access to healthy and affordable foods, access to safe, affordable, and accessible physical activity options, education about diet and exercise as prevention tools, socioeconomic status, and access to affordable and equitable medical care.

These data serve as a call to action to understand and address these social and structural barriers, aiming for better health equity in diabetes outcomes.

What are your thoughts?

11/04/2024

Managing diabetes presents significant challenges for both patients and providers. In recognition of , here are some important statistics from the American Diabetes Association:

✳️ Over half a million people in Massachusetts, 9% of the adult population, have diagnosed diabetes.
✳️ More than 1.5 million people in Massachusetts, 31% of the adult population, have prediabetes with blood glucose levels that are higher than normal but not yet high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes.
✳️ Diagnosed diabetes costs an estimated $7.6 billion in Massachusetts each year.
✳️ Every year, more than 33,000 people in Massachusetts are diagnosed with diabetes.

Primary care clinicians are likely to be the first and most frequent point of contact for individuals with type 2 diabetes. A healthy primary care system helps avoid the serious complications that can arise when diabetes is not managed well: heart disease, stroke, amputation, end-stage kidney disease, blindness—and death.

Good reasons to invest more resources to help bolster primary care in our state!

10/09/2024

MHQP is grateful for the wisdom and life experiences Denice Garrett has brought to our Consumer Health Council and Board of Directors for the past 10 years.

As the Billing and Data Coordinator for Action for Boston Community Development (ABCD) for 30 years, Denice is on the front line of patient engagement, helping to ensure insurance plans are correctly billed for services rendered.

Denice received her Bachelor of Arts at UMass Boston and has a certification from Suffolk University in Human Service Administration. She is also certified as a family planning counselor.

We can always count on Denice to represent the patient’s perspective and to speak up for the needs of underserved populations. We are honored to have her on our Board of Directors.