Updated Dashboard Monitors the Health of Massachusetts’ Primary Care System

(June 2025)

The Center for Health Information and Analysis (CHIA) has released its latest Primary Care Dashboard to monitor the health of the primary care system in Massachusetts in collaboration with MHQP.

A high-functioning primary care system can lead to better patient outcomes, lower costs, and more equitable care. Access to these services improves overall population health and can reduce avoidable emergency department visits.

Since the dashboard’s initial launch in 2023, interest in primary care in Massachusetts has continued to grow, prompting broader attention and policy focus. CHIA and MHQP developed the dashboard to inform targeted policy solutions and investments, as well as to monitor the impact of such reforms. In addition, the dashboard provides a fact base to support the Commonwealth’s newly established Primary Care Access, Delivery, and Payment Task Force. This update tracks the performance of the primary care system across four key areas: finance, capacity, performance, and equity.

New measures presented in the access and care domains include resident visits to Federally Qualified Health Centers and chronic disease control monitoring. The databook accompanying the dashboard includes multi-year trends where available.

Key findings:

• The availability of primary care physicians in Massachusetts is slowly declining; in 2023, the proportion of PCPs leaving primary care increased while the proportion of medical school graduates entering primary care declined. Conversely, there are more physician assistants and nurse practitioners working in primary care in the state.
• Across all racial and ethnic groups, the proportion of Massachusetts residents who reported having difficulty obtaining necessary health care increased from 2021 to 2023.
• MassHealth investment in primary care grew substantially in 2023 and was the only insurance category to increase the proportion of primary care spending relative to total medical spending. Primary care’s share of total health care spending declined for commercial members and was unchanged for Medicare Advantage members.

“Primary care is a cornerstone of any health care system; timely access to high-quality primary care is the first step in ensuring that Massachusetts residents can get the care they need, at the right time, and in the right setting,” said Lauren Peters, Executive Director of CHIA. “Tracking the efficacy and performance of the Massachusetts primary care system supports evidence-based policies and reforms aimed at improving  primary care access and ultimately patient outcomes.”

“It is gratifying to see that the Primary Care Dashboard has become an important resource for the Commonwealth, especially with the formation of the Primary Care Access, Delivery, and Payment Task Force,” said Barbra Rabson, MHQP’s President and CEO. “MHQP has been sounding the alarm for some time that our state’s primary care system is in crisis, our patients lack access, and our frontline clinicians are stressed and overburdened. The dashboard continues to inform the policy changes needed to restore primary care as a strong foundation of our health care system.”

To see more findings from this year’s dashboard and to explore the accompanying interactive workbook with stratifications by geography, payer type, and sociodemographic dimensions, go to https://www.chiamass.gov/massachusetts-primary-care-dashboard.