Other Topics
Get the Latest News and Insights From MHQP
Sign up for our emails for access to our initiative announcements, insights, and informative data.
A high-functioning primary care system has been shown to lead to better patient outcomes, lower costs, and more equitable care, and is key to keeping patients well and out of hospitals and emergency departments. That’s why the National Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine asserted that “primary care is a common good, which makes the strength and quality of the country’s primary care services a public concern.” Many healthcare leaders have expressed worry about the health and sustainability of primary care in Massachusetts, especially in the wake of the pandemic which caused unprecedented disruptions across all health care settings.
MHQP is uniquely positioned to help advance the future of primary care through collective action. For example, we recently collaborated with the Center for Health Information and Analysis (CHIA) to release the first-ever dashboard of metrics to monitor the health of primary care in Massachusetts. We believe the pandemic has created a unique opportunity for innovative thinking and clear-headed vision to ensure the sustainability of primary care as the foundation of our healthcare system.
Here is a list of the posts on this site related to MHQP’s activities on the future of primary care:
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.
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
Award Winning Primary Care Practice Increasingly Challenged to Survive in Today’s Environment
(March 2024)
“The joy I get from caring for patients, there’s not a more rewarding experience. That’s the one piece that really keeps me going back to work.”
That’s how David Weinstock, DO, of Grove Medical Associates in Auburn, Massachusetts, describes why he loves being a primary care physician. He shares these
MHQP Announces Winners of 2023 Patient Experience Awards
(February 2024)
MHQP is pleased to announce the winners of the 2023 “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 Commercial Patient Experience Survey, the only statewide survey of patient experience in primary care in Massachusetts.
In 2023, MHQP received more than
Patient Experience Scores for Adults Improve Since Before the Pandemic, Except in One Key Area: Access
MHQP’s statewide Patient Experience Survey confirms that patients are struggling to access primary care.
Scores for pediatric care declined in other critical areas as well.
(February 2024)
The results of MHQP’s annual statewide Patient Experience Survey, which were released today, offer an important indication of how patients’ experiences have shifted during and after the pandemic.
First
Lessons from US and Global Scorecards to Help Improve How We Measure the Health of Primary Care
(February 2024)
In an article published in Health Affairs Forefront, MHQP’s CEO Barbra Rabson and her colleagues, Christopher Koller from the Milbank Memorial Fund, and Joseph Ross, Asaf Bitton and June-Ho Kim from Ariadne Labs, review the lessons we’ve learned from scorecards designed to measure and strengthen primary care in
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
We Need Bolder Actions to Take On Our Primary Care Crisis
(December 2023)
By Barbra G. Rabson
In a post earlier this year, I noted the threat to the sustainability of our state’s health care system if it continues to prioritize spending on hospital care and underspend in primary care. Since then, I have been encouraged by some welcome
Employers Value Telehealth’s Convenience But Are Skeptical About Its Impact on Cost, MHQP/AIM Study Shows
(October 2023)
When telehealth usage surged during the pandemic as a safe way for patients and providers to interact, MHQP conducted a series of surveys among providers and patients to provide real-time feedback to the field about this rapidly evolving tool. The input we received was extremely valuable in helping
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
Unsustainable: An Honest Assessment of Massachusetts’ Healthcare Performance
By Barbra G. Rabson
(July 2023)
Last month, the Commonwealth Fund published its annual scorecard on state health performance and gave Massachusetts the top overall ranking. The ranking was based on several metrics collected in 2019, 2020 and 2021 covering seven categories ― Reproductive and Women’s Health, Access and
MHQP Data Spotlights the Troubling State of Pediatric Care in Boston Globe Article
(June 2023)
An article by Jessica Bartlett in this past Sunday’s Boston Globe asserts that “independent pediatric practices are struggling to survive.” MHQP is pleased to have helped bring attention to this critical issue by providing data cited by the author.
The article focuses on Middleboro Pediatrics, an independent practice located in
“The Failing Health of Primary Care in the US,” a Podcast Hosted by Zeev Neuwirth and Featuring Barbra Rabson and Katherine Gergen Barnett
(June 2023)
Barbra Rabson, MPH and Katherine Gergen Barnett, MD have teamed up again to raise concerns about the state of primary care in Massachusetts and across the country, this time on a podcast hosted by Zeev Neuwirth, MD.
As Dr. Neuwirth’s guests for episode #152 of his award-winning podcast series,
Boston Globe Articles Address Future of Telehealth; Prominently Feature MHQP
(March 2023)
Boston Globe reporter Felice Freyer has published two important articles focused on the future of telehealth in Massachusetts that prominently feature MHQP and its stakeholders.
The first article (“State’s largest insurer extends full telehealth coverage indefinitely” from February 19) spotlights Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts’ decision to continue paying
Winners of MHQP’s 2022 Patient Experience Awards Provide Best-In-Class Experiences Despite Growing Challenges for Primary Care
(February 2023)
Primary care practices are facing unprecedented challenges in the wake of the pandemic due to staffing shortages, inadequate reimbursement policies, changing patterns of well visits, practice consolidation, increased competition from new sources, and many other factors. Despite these challenges, the winners of the 2022 MHQP “Patient Experience Awards” found a