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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 Launches Initiative to Create Statewide System for Measuring Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Patient Experience
(August 2022)
MHQP has launched a major initiative to create a consistent and effective approach to measuring racial and ethnic disparities in patient experiences in Massachusetts. We are currently seeking to recruit provider organizations and health plans to participate in a statewide effort to address this critical issue.
Our aim is to
MHQP and GBSCDA Seek New Research Directions for Sickle Cell Disease Pain Self-Management
(August 2022)
Sickle cell disease (SCD) is an illness that predominantly affects people of color and is characterized by debilitating pain. As with other chronic diseases, self-care is a key strategy for people with SCD to manage the disease and avoid or mitigate pain episodes. Yet, to date, there has
Tackling Inequities in Pain Assessment and Management
(August 2022)
Historically marginalized communities are systematically undertreated for pain, and this issue disproportionately impacts Black women. While this fact is well established by research (1), we know very little about the specific barriers that Black women experience when they seek pain care.
To help identify opportunities to close this research gap
It’s Time to Better Understand and Address Disparities in Patient Experiences
By Barbra G. Rabson
(July 2022)
The pandemic has shown us that we are not doing enough to equally promote health for people of all races and ethnicities. Given that there are well-known and researched disparities across all aspects of care, it may not surprise you to learn that Black, Hispanic and Asian
MHQP Confirms Significant Drop-Off in Key Preventive Care Measures During the Pandemic
(May 2022) Alarming declines in cancer screening procedures, routine tests for patients with diabetes, and childhood immunizations recorded
Data released today by MHQP confirm what many providers and policymakers feared – that preventive care declined during the pandemic, especially for procedures that required patients to visit a clinical setting in person.
MHQP Releases Updated Clinical Guidelines with Renewed Focus on Health Equity
(February 2022)
MHQP has released its updated Clinical Guidelines for 2022. This year, the Guidelines are once again highlighting opportunities for clinicians to reduce inequities in care by improving screening for high-risk populations.
At a time when the pandemic has caused a sharp decrease in routine cancer screenings, and policies that aim to ensure equitable access to appropriate care
Backlash Must Fuel Renewed Commitment to Health Equity
By Barbra G. Rabson
(February 2022)
Since the summer of 2020, when the murder of George Floyd and the COVID pandemic spawned a reawakening about racial injustice in this country, I have been impressed and proud of the commitment to health equity at so many levels in the Massachusetts healthcare system. Company CEOs,
We Need Better Data to Tackle Health Disparities, Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation Study Finds
~MHQP Serves as Critical Source of Information for this Important Report~
(January 2022)
To truly advance its equity goals, Massachusetts must take a leadership role in collecting and analyzing racial and ethnic health disparities, a new Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation (MTF) report suggests. The report underlines how Massachusetts must improve data collection and reporting requirements across health agencies to ensure
Patients Really Like Telehealth. Let’s Resolve to Make It Work.
By Barbra G. Rabson
(January 2022)
At the beginning of the pandemic, I penned a post I called “Now Is the Time to Get Telehealth Right” in which I suggested that something good might emerge from what I called our “grand telehealth experiment.” Well, my friends, the pandemic may not be over
It’s Time We Started Collecting Data on People with Disabilities
By Barbra G. Rabson
(December 2021)
As a measurement organization, MHQP has a long track record for reporting comparative performance information to drive improvements in Massachusetts healthcare. We are now focused on reporting performance on health equity and are working to generate the data to enable us to do so. MHQP and our