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The Primary Care Dashboard Paints a Troubling Picture for Massachusetts Healthcare
By Barbra G. Rabson
(June 2025)
“We’re beyond a crisis.”
That is how State Senator Cindy Friedman chose to characterize the current state of primary care in the Commonwealth in her opening remarks to Massachusetts’ newly established Primary Care Access, Delivery, and Payment Task Force in April.
The updated data in the Primary Care Dashboard released last week by the Center
Barbra Rabson Receives Primary Care Community Leadership Award from Primary Care Collaborative
(June 2025)
MHQP is pleased to announce that Barbra Rabson, MHQP’s President and CEO, was honored with the Primary Care Community Leadership Award by the Primary Care Collaborative (PCC) at its Barbara Starfield Awards Dinner on June 4, 2025, in Washington, DC.
“Under her leadership, MHQP has become a national leader in the
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
A Roadmap to Reduce Medical Mistrust with Black Patients in Primary Care
(May 2025)
Trust is central to quality healthcare, yet it is a major concern for many Black patients.1 According to data compiled over the past four years through MHQP’s annual statewide Patient Experience Survey, there is a significant disparity in trust between Black and White patients in primary care in Massachusetts.
MHQP Releases Updated Clinical Quality Data for Primary Care Practices
(May 2025)
Reinforcing its ongoing commitment to health care transparency, MHQP is pleased to once again release clinical quality performance data for primary care practices across Massachusetts. These data document practice-by-practice level results for 2023 across a wide range of clinical practices, including recommended preventative screenings, and offer patients a way
MHQP Pleased to Contribute to Senior Medicare Patrol Conference
(May 2025)
MHQP was pleased to make a major contribution to the Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP) program’s 11th statewide conference on May 6, 2025. The theme of this year’s event was “Primary Care at a Crossroads,” one of MHQP’s key areas of focus.
Lucilia Prates-Ramos, SMP’s Statewide Director and the former Chair
MHQP Welcomes Lisa Gualtieri to its Board of Directors
(April 2025)
MHQP is thrilled to announce that Lisa Gualtieri, PhD, ScM, has agreed to join its Board of Directors.
Lisa is an Instructor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, where she teaches Digital Health. She is also Adjunct Faculty in the Master of Science in Health Systems (MSHS)
MHQP Honored To Serve on State’s New Primary Care Task Force
(April 2025)
In January 2025, Governor Maura Healey signed Chapter 343 of the Acts of 2024, An Act Enhancing the Market Review Process. Section 80 of this Act established a new 25-member Task Force on primary care access, delivery, and payment in the Commonwealth. The Task Force held its
MHQP’s Natalya Martins Discusses Project to Advance Equity in Endometriosis Care on WGBH’s “All Things Considered”
(March 2025)
Black women with endometriosis are often dismissed, misdiagnosed, and denied high quality and equitable care. Their experiences, shared in a recent segment on WBGH’s All Things Considered, underscore the urgent need for systemic change.
The conversation between host Arun Rath and Natalya Martins, MHQP’s Vice President of Programs, sheds
MHQP Announces Winners of 2024 Patient Experience Awards
(February 2025)
MHQP is pleased to announce the winners of the 2024 “MHQP Patient Experience Awards.” MHQP introduced this award program in 2018 as a way to recognize the primary care practices that perform highest on our annual Patient Experience Survey, the only statewide survey of patient experience in primary care in Massachusetts.
First conducted in 2005, MHQP’s statewide survey,
Black, Asian and Hispanic Patients Report Lower Levels of Trust in Their Healthcare Providers Compared to White Patients
(January 2025)
MHQP’s Annual Statewide Patient Experience Survey Documents Disparities for Fourth Year in a Row
Patient-provider trust is widely viewed as a foundational element of quality patient care. Research shows that higher levels of trust are associated with patients’ willingness to seek treatment,1,2 adherence to treatment recommendations,3,4 and improved health outcomes.5 This dynamic
MHQP’s Statewide Patient Experience Survey Shows Patients Struggling to Access Primary Care Clinicians for Fourth Year in a Row
(February 2025)
While Primary Care Experience Scores Have Improved, Access Remains Below Pre-Pandemic Levels
Against the backdrop of some important policy steps to begin addressing the fragile state of primary care in Massachusetts, MHQP is releasing data from its 2024 Statewide Patient Experience Survey which reconfirms that access to primary care is a persistent
Expanding MHQP’s Impact: Insights and Opportunities in Behavioral Health
(January 2025)
MHQP’s Board of Directors has recommended an expansion in MHQP’s work scope to include primary care-adjacent clinical areas, particularly behavioral health. The Board sees a critical need for MHQP’s measurement expertise and sense-making capabilities in this space, given behavioral health’s significant impact on physical health and overall healthcare costs. This need has become even more urgent given
Multistakeholder Convenings Reveal Systemic Neglect and Unheard Pain in Endometriosis Care for Black Women, Leading to Research Roadmap
(February 2025)
Our healthcare system is failing Black women living with endometriosis. This chronic inflammatory disease, which often leads to severe pelvic pain, painful periods, and infertility, disproportionately impacts Black women, who experience longer delays to diagnosis,
MHQP Welcomes Three New Board Members
(January 2025)
MHQP is pleased to welcome three accomplished individuals to its Board of Directors — Pam Ressler, Jeff Levin-Scherz and Tak Tang.
“We are absolutely thrilled to have Pam, Jeff and Tak on the board to help guide the organization into its future,” said Julita Mir, Chair of the MHQP Board of Directors. “Their unique perspectives and valued expertise will
Looking Back at 2024: Shedding Light on Inequities in Care and Primary Care Instability
(January 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
MHQP Receives PCORI Award to Help Address Mistrust in Healthcare within the Black Community
(August 2024)
MHQP is pleased to announce that we have received a funding award through the Eugene Washington PCORI Engagement Award Program, an initiative of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, to identify new research directions to address mistrust in healthcare within the Black community. This work will be conducted in collaboration with team members from Boston Medical Center’s implementation
MHQP Helps Push for Primary Care Task Force Legislation
(July 2024)
In July, as the Massachusetts Legislature neared the end of its session, MHQP leaders helped push for draft legislation that would establish a Primary Care Task Force in Massachusetts. This Task Force would help lead the Commonwealth out of its current primary care crisis by studying primary care
MHQP Releases Biennial Clinical Quality Data for Primary Care Practices
(July 2024)
While some preventive care measures have rebounded, several have not returned to pre-pandemic levels.
Every two years, in partnership with the Center for Health Information Analysis (CHIA), MHQP collects clinical quality performance data from the state’s health plans for commercially insured patients in primary care practices across the Commonwealth.
MHQP Welcomes Molly Totman, MPH, as Senior Director of Quality Initiatives
(June 2024)
“When you’re in healthcare, data is what moves the needle. Having quantitative or qualitative patient experience data as someone on the ground in healthcare and being able to go to your leadership and say, ‘Look how we’re performing,’ or ‘Look what this patient said about this experience,’ that kind
Boston Globe Editorial Calls for Action on the Primary Care Crisis in Massachusetts
(May 20, 2024)
MHQP is pleased to have made a significant contribution over the past few years to the growing awareness of the fragile state of primary care in Massachusetts. Last week, in collaboration with MHQP, the Center for Health Information and Analysis (CHIA) released an updated dashboard to measure the health of primary care
CHIA Releases Updated Dashboard to Measure the Health of the Primary Care System in Massachusetts
(May 2024)
The Center for Health Information and Analysis (CHIA), in collaboration with MHQP, today released the latest primary care dashboard to monitor the health of the primary care system in the Commonwealth.
A high-functioning primary care system can lead to better patient outcomes, lower costs, and more
Lessons from Steward and the Need for Primary Care Reform in Massachusetts
(May 2024)
Barbra Rabson and Katherine Gergen Barnett have collaborated again, this time on a commentary in Perspectives in Primary Care, published by the Harvard Medical School Center for Primary Care. The opinion piece, entitled “Lessons from Steward and the Need for Primary Care Reform in Massachusetts,” traces the roots of
Media Coverage Spotlights Primary Care Access Problems Based on MHQP Data and Insights
(April 2024)
MHQP is pleased to have played a key role in providing data, insights and connections to help create several recently published prominent stories about the critical issue of primary care access in Massachusetts.
Please note that the Boston Globe articles are behind a paywall.
Boston
MHQP and MSCA Seek New Research Directions for Sickle Cell Disease Pain Crisis Care
(April 2024)
MHQP and the Massachusetts Sickle Cell Association (MSCA) have joined forces again to identify new research directions aimed at improving pain crisis care for people with sickle cell disease (SCD), a life-threatening, inherited blood disease. This project builds on a prior collaboration between the two organizations focused on SCD