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The Need to Measure Patient Experience of Oral Health Care: A Call to Action
(November 2022)
MHQP’s Amy Stern, Andrew D’Amour, Jim Courtemanche, and Barbra Rabson have co-authored an important article in collaboration with Nadeem Karimbux, Dean of the Tufts School of Dental Medicine, and Dr. Mike John, Associate Professor at the Minnesota School of Dentistry. The article, which was recently published in
Employee Spotlight: Raji Rajan
(November 2022)
Raji Rajan, MBA, MS, and her husband, Raj, both decided to shift their careers to work in healthcare after the medical procedure that saved Raj’s life. This was back in 2008. Raji was spending her days working as a Senior Software Engineer at Fidelity and her evenings helping Raj
Telehealth Satisfaction: Up for Clinicians, Down for Patients
(October 2022)
Two-and-a-half years since the beginning of the pandemic, what have we learned about telehealth and how can we make it better for everyone? MHQP has endeavored to answer this question throughout the pandemic in multiple ways.
First, we launched “Together for Better Telehealth” in the summer of 2020, a
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
Evaluating Patient Experiences of Primary Care by Visit Mode and Visit Reason During the Pandemic
(September 2022)
MHQP’s Jim Courtemanche, Nathalie McIntosh, Raji Rajan and Barbra Rabson co-authored, along with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts’ Mark Friedberg, an important study investigating adult patient experiences of, and satisfaction with, in-person, video, and telephone visits in primary care during the COVID-19
MHQP to Produce State’s First-Ever Primary Care Dashboard for CHIA
(September 2022)
MHQP is pleased to announce that we have been selected by the state’s Center for Health Information and Analysis (CHIA) to produce Massachusetts’ first-ever dashboard of metrics to monitor the health of primary care in the state.
Leaders in both the healthcare and policymaking arenas have become increasingly concerned about
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
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
MHQP’s Rabson and McIntosh Co-Author Award-Winning Study on Telehealth
(August 2022)
MHQP’s Barbra Rabson and Nathalie McIntosh are co-authors of an important article which has earned the Telehealth and Medicine Today journal 2021 Annual Editors Best Article Award, exhibiting the most views, downloads, and citations.
The independent academic healthcare publisher, Partners in Digital Health (PDH), published findings from the three-part
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.
Community-Wide Care Coordination Program Better Supports Kids with Behavioral Health Needs
(March 2022) MHQP Patient Experience Award Winner, MACONY Pediatrics, Leads the Effort.
It started back in 2015, well before anyone at MACONY Pediatrics had ever heard of the MHQP Patient Experience Awards. Healthcare and social service providers in and around Great Barrington, Massachusetts, were seeing a steady rise in behavioral health issues among
Despite Expected Setbacks from the Pandemic, Massachusetts Primary Care Practices Still Improved Patient Experiences in 2021
(March 2022) MHQP’s Statewide Patient Experience Survey Shows Unsurprising Losses Paired with Impressive Gains During the Pandemic
Despite the enormous challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, Massachusetts primary care practices were able to collectively improve experiences for their patients on several key metrics in 2021 as compared to 2019, based on the results
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,
MHQP Announces Winners of 2021 Patient Experience Awards
(January 2022)
MHQP has announced the winners of the 2021 “MHQP Patient Experience Awards.” MHQP introduced this award program in 2018 as a way to recognize the primary care practices that perform highest on its annual Commercial Patient Experience Survey, the only statewide survey of patient experience in primary care in Massachusetts.
The
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
MHQP Using Artificial Intelligence to Make Patient Comments More Actionable
(December 2021)
Patient narratives – hearing feedback directly from patients in their own words – is perhaps the most powerful tool for healthcare practices to improve patient experiences. Qualitative feedback can provide personal insights and perspectives that no quantitative data can offer.
Recognizing this fact, MHQP took action a few years ago to
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
MHQP Adds New Board Members, New Perspectives
(December 2021)
MHQP is pleased to welcome two new members to its Board of Directors. Jim Huffman, Head of Benefits at Fidelity, and Ben Kruskal, Senior Medical Director at Wellforce Clinically Integrated Network (formerly the New England Quality Care Alliance, or NEQCA), were both confirmed by the Board at its October meeting. Mr. Huffman will be filling the “employer seat”
MHQP Receives PCORI Award to Help Improve Pain Self-Management for People with Sickle Cell Disease
(November 2021)
MHQP is pleased to announce that, in partnership with the Greater Boston Sickle Cell Disease Association (GBSCDA), we have received an award from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute’s (PCORI) Eugene Washington Engagement Awards program to identify new directions for research into patient-centered approaches to help people with sickle cell
MHQP Pays Tribute to Harris Berman, MD, Former MHQP Board Chair
(November 2021)
We at MHQP are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Harris Berman, MD. Harris was an important leader in the early years of MHQP, serving as MHQP’s Board Chair when he was Dean of Public Health at the Tufts University School of Medicine.
“Harris was extremely committed to MHQP’s