MARCH 2026

CHIA has already published 7 reports since the start of the year, including the Annual Report on the Performance of the Massachusetts Health Care System as well as the latest iteration of a report on total medical expenses across communities in the Commonwealth. See more details on total medical expenses in the “News You Can Use” section.

The “Data User Profile” highlights the work of a CHIA team with the fielding and analysis of the Massachusetts Health Care and Human Services Workforce (MHCW) Survey. See below for more details on the survey and how CHIA uses the data to inform its reporting on the state’s health care workforce.

We also held our first Oversight Council meeting of 2026 last week. Watch the livestream of the meeting on CHIA’s YouTube channel.

As always, we walk through CHIA’s recent reporting below in addition to highlighting health care-related events that may be of interest.

If you have questions or opinions you want to share, write to newsletter@chiamass.gov. We are always happy to receive feedback from our readers.

In February, CHIA published the second iteration of its reporting series exploring how medical spending varies across Massachusetts communities.

Improving population health outcomes requires understanding how community sociodemographic characteristics (such as race and ethnicity, age, and disability status, among other factors) impact an individual’s or family’s ability to access health care services. Data shows that spending on health care services varies across the Commonwealth’s cities and communities. Higher spending might not reflect better health outcomes but rather greater access to and utilization of care as well as higher costs of services.

The purpose of this report is to identify potential inequities in medical spending across Massachusetts communities and investigate how these trends might be influenced by community characteristics and issues of access. The report includes 2023 data on demographics by community as well as the relationship between these community characteristics and total medical expenses (TME) by insurance population and across TME service categories. Data is presented at the community level by municipality and ZIP Code Tabulation Area (ZCTA).

Key Findings:

• Average monthly medical spending per person—specifically the amount spent on services provided by primary care and specialty doctors—was higher in communities with higher median family incomes.
• The monthly per-person medical and physician spending tended to be lower in communities where there was a higher concentration of residents who:
• Do not speak English well
• Have less than a high school education
• Are between 18 and 64 years old
• Are not U.S. citizens
• Identify as Hispanic or Latino

To find more information on medical spending in Massachusetts, including this report’s executive summary and interactive dashboard, go to CHIA’s Community TME page.

We often highlight in the DataMatters newsletter a recent user of CHIA data and how it was utilized to inform health care-related research and reporting. This time, we are featuring CHIA’s Strategy and Research team to provide insight into the production and analysis of the Massachusetts Health Care and Human Services Workforce Survey (MHCW) results.

As highlighted below, this survey has only been fielded since 2023 and is a new source of data for CHIA researchers, providing valuable information on the Massachusetts health care workforce. 

Please briefly describe the Massachusetts Health Care and Human Services Workforce Survey (MHCW) report and what it examines. 

The MHCW is a biennial survey of health care and human services organizations in 13 key sectors to measure staffing capacity and demographics, recruitment and retention strategies and challenges, and impacts on patient access due to shortages. Data is collected from acute care and public hospitals, adult day health programs, ambulatory surgical centers, outpatient behavioral health providers, freestanding behavioral health hospitals, community health centers, dental practices, emergency medical services, home health care agencies, nursing homes, primary care providers, and private and public human services operators.

The MHCW was fielded for the first time in 2023 and provides a critical fact base by monitoring staff in key occupations to better inform state policies and programs.

What CHIA data did you use for your reporting? And how was it collected?

The MHCW is a demand-side survey, meaning we collect survey responses from health care and human services provider organizations about their employees and recruitment/retention practices. HR administrators complete the online survey, and CHIA and its vendors work to clean, weight, and impute data where needed before the survey data is analyzed. Data collection for the 2025 survey took place between February and July 2025 and includes information on more than 40 unique occupations across all sectors.

What do you look for when analyzing this data? What are some of the key metrics you use?

CHIA reports on the proportion of employees in select occupations, the racial and ethnic composition of staff in select occupations, vacancy and turnover rates, challenges to recruitment and retention of employees faced by organizations, strategies used by organizations to mitigate recruitment and retention challenges, and the impact on patient access due to workforce staffing shortages. Additionally, we conduct a statewide analysis to facilitate cross-sector comparisons for these same metrics with a focus on 5 key occupations: physicians, registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, direct care workers, and social workers.

How do you envision stakeholders using the MHCW report?

The team has presented the MHCW results directly to provider organizations, trade associations, state partners, and legislators, who have found this data helpful in providing a fact-based assessment on workforce capacity issues. Provider associations and health care and human services organizations can use this data to better assess workforce gaps, identify the employee recruitment and retention strategies most effective within each sector and across sectors, and develop informed interventions to better address staffing constraints and patient demand. Policymakers can use the findings to develop programs and initiatives to tackle upstream issues, like education or certification gaps. 

The interactive dashboard and databook with underlying data are available on CHIA’s website.

This survey also informs CHIA’s other ongoing efforts to monitor health care workforce issues. For example, CHIA is building on insights from MHCW by conducting a new study to learn more about recruitment and retention challenges and opportunities from the perspective of direct care workers and case managers in post-acute care settings. This study aims to better understand what influences their decisions to work in health care, assess the effectiveness of organizational strategies, and examine state policies that encourage workforce stability.

Massachusetts Health Care and Human Services Workforce Survey

February 2026

CHIA recently published results from the 2025 MHCW in an interactive dashboard showing information on staffing capacity and demographics in 13 key health care and human services sectors. Learn more in the “Data User Profile” above. 

Integrated Nursing Dashboard

February 2026

CHIA has produced its inaugural Integrated Nursing Dashboard, developed in collaboration with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and Executive Office of Health and Human Services, to provide an in-depth look into the nursing sector and to support the Commonwealth in meeting the health care needs of its residents. 

State and publicly available federal data sources were used to outline key characteristics of the registered nurse and licensed practical nurse workforce in Massachusetts. 

Total Medical Spending Trends Across Massachusetts Communities

February 2026 

As highlighted in the “News You Can Use” section, CHIA has released its latest report examining how medical spending varies across Massachusetts communities, and the relationship between certain spending categories and community characteristics. Learn more in the “News You Can Use” section above.

Quarterly Case Mix Dashboards

February 2026

CHIA recently released the latest quarterly Case Mix update. It includes emergency department, hospital inpatient, and outpatient observation dashboards that offer insights into patterns and trends on key utilization measures between October 2019 and September 2025.

Annual Report on the Performance of the Massachusetts Health Care System

March 2026

CHIA examines the performance of the Massachusetts health care system and reports on trends in costs, coverage, and quality indicators to inform policymaking.

The latest Annual Report on the Performance of the Massachusetts Health Care System includes a calculation of Total Health Care Expenditures (THCE) for 2024. THCE is a measure of total statewide health care spending in the Commonwealth. In addition to THCE, the Annual Report presents results on health care spending and cost trends, access and affordability, hospital utilization and financial performance, key quality metrics, and behavioral health trends. This report primarily focuses on data through 2024; select hospital utilization and financial measures are included through June 2025, where possible.

Enrollment Trends (data through September 2025)

March 2026

Twice per year, CHIA updates its detailed Enrollment Trends analysis for the most recent 2-year period to provide insight into the types of health insurance in which Massachusetts residents are enrolled.

The latest edition covers the period between September 2023 and September 2025 and includes breakouts by payers and product types in private commercial and public market sectors. In this report, coverage is defined by unique Massachusetts residents with primary medical membership in the 12 largest commercial payers, MassHealth (Medicaid), or Medicare.

Hospital and Hospital Health System YTD Financial Performance Report

March 2026

CHIA has released the latest year-to-date hospital and health system financial data, which includes the quarterly period through December 2025. The report includes data from acute hospitals, associated health systems, and physician organizations and provides an update on profitability, liquidity, and solvency for these entities. This publication is presented as an interactive Tableau dashboard and an enhanced databook.

This section includes events and announcements of interest to our community, organized by CHIA, other Commonwealth agencies, and others.

Massachusetts Health Policy Commission (HPC) Health Care Cost Growth Benchmark Hearing

Wednesday, April 1, 12 p.m.

HPC Offices, Boston

The Hearing to Determine the 2027 Health Care Cost Growth Benchmark will take place tomorrow. More information on this annual hearing, hosted by the HPC in conjunction with the state Legislature’s Joint Committee on Health Care Financing, can be found on the HPC’s website. The event will be livestreamed, and a recording will be available following the conclusion of the hearing.

During the hearing, HPC commissioners and members of the joint committee will review testimony and data from health care market participants, stakeholders, and other interested parties regarding the state’s performance against the benchmark. CHIA will present findings from its March 2026 Annual Report at the hearing.

Primary Care Access, Delivery, and Payment Task Force

Thursday, April 16, 10 a.m.

Virtual

The next meeting of the Primary Care Access, Delivery, and Payment Task Force can be livestreamed on the HPC’s YouTube channel. This task force was charged with studying and making recommendations to improve primary care access, delivery, and payment in the Commonwealth. See the task force website for more information.

Massachusetts Health Policy Commission Board Meeting

Thursday, April 16, 2026, 12 p.m.

Virtual

The HPC’s 11-member board meets approximately every 6 weeks throughout the year to review the agency’s major workstreams and other topics related to health care cost containment and reform. Major reports, statutory regulations, and publications are authorized by a majority vote at these meetings. Meetings stream live on the HPC's YouTube channel.

CHIA Data User Workgroup

Tuesday, April 28, 3 p.m.

Virtual

These ongoing meetings are designed for data users and other interested parties to connect with CHIA to discuss analytical techniques and best practices in research using CHIA’s MA APCD and Case Mix databases. For more information, including past presentations and user support materials, visit the data user workgroup information page.

MHQP’s 30th Anniversary Celebration

Monday, May 11, 6:30 p.m.

Museum of Science, Boston



Massachusetts Health Quality Partners’ (MHQP) gala will celebrate the 2026 Leadership Awardee Dr. Atul Gawande and recognize MHQP President and CEO Barbra Rabson. Find more details or register for the event.

CHIA Oversight Council Meeting

Wednesday, June 17, 2 p.m.

Virtual

CHIA’s appointed Oversight Council meets quarterly to discuss agency priorities and agenda-setting. The next meeting will stream live on CHIA’s YouTube channel.

National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) Annual Conference

September 28-30

New York Hilton Midtown, New York City

NASHP’s 39th Annual Conference will bring attention to the issues facing state health policymakers and highlight solutions shared by the nation’s leading experts. Topics include Medicaid, public health, health care costs, coverage and access, behavioral health, workforce, maternal and child health, primary care, caregiving, aging, and more. Registration opens in May. 

Join Our Team

A selection of open positions at CHIA. Please feel free to share broadly with your network. Follow CHIA on LinkedIn for more regular updates.

Graphic Design Intern

Communications and External Affairs Team

CENTER FOR HEALTH INFORMATION AND ANALYSIS

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