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The COVID-19 pandemic shined a harsh spotlight on the racial and ethnic disparities in our healthcare system. While researchers have long been aware of health disparities affecting historically underserved communities for many noncommunicable diseases such as breast cancer, diabetes and asthma, the pandemic brought inequities of all kinds into mainstream consciousness.
MHQP is uniquely positioned to help advance all aspects of the health equity agenda through shared measurement and collective action. While we understand that this issue is deeply-rooted in longstanding and systemic biases, we are determined to help eradicate inequities in patient experiences and outcomes, so that all patients have an equal opportunity to be as healthy as possible.
Here is a list of the posts on this site related to MHQP’s health equity activities:
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
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
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,
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 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
MHQP’s Statewide Survey Shows Patients Continue to Experience Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Massachusetts
(February 2024)
Black and Asian patients reported worse experiences in primary care than White patients across many categories in MHQP’s 2023 statewide Patient Experience Survey, the results of which were released today. The same was true of Hispanic/Latino patients when compared to non-Hispanic/Latino patients.
Evidence has shown that positive patient experiences are associated with better health
MHQP Receives RWJF Evidence for Action Grant to Advance Health Equity Through Social Risk Adjustment Methods
(February 2024)
MHQP is honored to announce that we have received a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Evidence for Action program, in partnership with the Cambridge Health Alliance Health Equity Research Lab. This project will facilitate an exploration of social risk factors in adjustment models,
2023: A Year of Expanding Our Impact
(January 2024)
2023 was an eventful year for MHQP, a year in which we continued expanding beyond our historical focus on measuring patient experience and took important steps to help strengthen primary care and advance health equity in Massachusetts. These efforts culminated in the launch of two major initiatives — the
MHQP Receives PCORI Award to Help Advance Equity in Endometriosis Care for Black Women
(January 2024)
MHQP is pleased to announce that, in partnership with the Endometriosis Association, 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 reduce disparities in endometriosis care for Black women, as
MHQP Introduces Measured Equity, a Statewide Initiative to Measure Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Patient Experiences
(September 2023)
We can no longer ignore the systemic racial and ethnic disparities in patient experiences that plague our healthcare system. Organizations across the state are taking action to address these disparities, but these complex issues can only be effectively addressed by working collaboratively across organizational lines, not in organizational siloes. At the Health Equity Trends Summit assembled by
MHQP Begins Annual Process to Update Clinical Guidelines with a Health Equity Focus
(September 2023)
It’s a valued resource for some, but not known by many ― MHQP’s Clinical Guidelines. Since 2001, MHQP has been helping to ensure all patients receive the same high standard of care through the annual publication of consistent, evidence-based, best practices guidelines for Adult Preventive Care, Pediatric Preventive Care
MHQP Receives Second PCORI Award to Help Improve Care for Patients with Sickle Cell Disease
(May 2023)
In the summer of 2022, MHQP partnered with the Massachusetts Sickle Cell Association (MSCA) to lead a set of convenings to explore new directions for research into patient-centered approaches to help people with sickle cell disease (SCD) self-manage their pain. This effort was made possible through an award from
2023 MHQP Clinical Guidelines Highlight the Impact of Systemic Racism on Health Outcomes
(April 2023)
“Patients may be more likely to develop type 2 diabetes if they are Black, Alaska Native, American Indian, Asian, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, or Hispanic/Latino.”
This was one of the “Risk Factors for Type 2 Diabetes” identified in the Diabetes section of last year’s version of MHQP’s Clinical Guidelines. MHQP
MHQP Receives BCBSMA Foundation Grant to Explore Asian Patient Experiences
(March 2023)
Through a Special Initiatives grant from the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation (BCBSMAF), MHQP has launched a new project designed to help better understand why Asian patients report worse experiences with primary care than other racial populations. A deeper understanding requires a more nuanced consideration of the
Black, Hispanic and Asian Patients Report Worse Patient Experiences than White Patients in Massachusetts
(February 2023)
MHQP Convening Stakeholders to Explore Drivers of These Disparities and How to Reduce Them
Black, Asian and Hispanic patients report worse experiences than White, non-Hispanic patients in Massachusetts. This is the key finding of an analysis of data collected in MHQP’s annual statewide Patient Experience Survey of commercially-insured patients,
MHQP Welcomes Partners on Statewide Initiative to Measure Disparities in Patient Experience
(November 2022)
MHQP is excited to launch an initiative to measure racial and ethnic disparities in patient experiences across Massachusetts by utilizing the same instrument and methodology we have used to measure patient experience in the state since 2006.
Our aim is to broker consistency in health equity measurement throughout the state
Study Finds Disparities in Telehealth Usage Since the Onset of the Pandemic
(November 2022)
The Department of Population Medicine at the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, a Harvard Medical School affiliate, has released the results of a research study on telehealth use in the Commonwealth since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. MHQP supported the effort by collecting and analyzing qualitative interview data
Stepping Out of Silos to Tackle Disparities
(September 2022)
Nearly 30 years ago, a Boston Globe Spotlight article highlighted “the worst hospitals” in Massachusetts based on high mortality rates. In the wake of that article, well before the measurement of healthcare quality was widely practiced and accepted, a forward-thinking group of healthcare, business and community leaders
Employee Spotlight: Natalya Martins
(August 2022)
Natalya Martins, MPH, has a placard with a quote from Indigenous Australian and activist Lilla Wilson hanging in her office:
“If you have come here to help me you are wasting your time, but if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work