The physicians of the Massachusetts Medical Society appreciate the work performed by the Center for Health Information & Analysis (CHIA) and recognize the importance of the transparent and data-driven methods which it used to study and parse health care spending in the Commonwealth.
The data and analysis in this report underscore the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the financial volatility, and the health care workforce shortages that present significant challenges in affordability and accessibility of safe, equitable, and high-quality care.
Pharmacy spending was again identified as a leading driver of cost growth, continuing a now longstanding trend identified in successive reports. Affordability of health care remains a clear crisis and a threat to our patients, with data revealing that more than 40 percent of Massachusetts residents report struggling to pay for health care expenditures – with Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black residents impacted at even higher levels.
While the establishment of a target benchmark and collection and sharing of health care cost data was a well-intentioned practice at the time of its inception, a longitudinal approach, which could look at multi-year averages of growth, would capture more salient trends and allow for a more nuanced analysis of necessary growth of smaller entities. Due to the rigidity of the current benchmark formula, it cannot account for the real time-challenges facing the health care system or evaluating the value of investment. The benchmark formula needs to be revisited in order to account for both real-time economic factors, such as labor costs, the evolving federal landscape, and patient needs that impact the overall cost of the system.
The physicians of the Medical Society remain committed to ensuring that our patients have equitable access to affordable, high-quality care, to containing health care costs. We will continue to advocate for legislative changes that will advance those objectives, including rebuilding the physician workforce, bolstering investment in primary care, and eliminating unnecessary administrative waste in the system. We look forward to the opportunity to continue working with the Health Policy Commission and other stakeholders in reviewing current data and processes, with a shared goal of improving the health of the Commonwealth.
-Hugh Taylor, MD, President, Massachusetts Medical Society
