Key Findings
- The burden of health care affordability issues was greater for Black and Hispanic residents than for White residents.
- Black residents relied on the emergency department for health care nearly twice as often (20 percent) and Hispanic residents more than two and half times as often (29 percent) as White residents (11 percent).
- Communities with higher proportions of residents identifying as Black or Hispanic tended to have lower spending on physician services, which includes both primary care and specialist care.
- Asian patients rated their experiences with primary care providers lower than White patients in all nine areas surveyed, with the largest differences in access to timely appointments and responsiveness, behavioral health screening, and support managing health goals.
- Black and Hispanic residents with insurance reported significantly lower rates of employer-sponsored insurance (53 percent and 44 percent, respectively) than insured White residents (72 percent).
Additional Information
Supporting equitable health care in Massachusetts is integral to the mission of CHIA. Throughout CHIA’s reporting on health care coverage, access, utilization, affordability, cost, and quality of care, the agency aims to measure disparities experienced by subpopulations to better inform policymakers, health care providers, payers, and other stakeholders.
Metrics are grouped into 6 domains:
- Coverage—metrics focused on health insurance enrollment and coverage
- Access—metrics focused on availability of and access to health care services
- Utilization—metrics focused on use of health care services
- Affordability—metrics focused on cost of health care services for residents
- Finance—metrics focused on spending on health care services by payers and providers
- Quality—metrics focused on standards and/or value of health care services
Note: This report was updated September 25, 2025, to correct data on p. 5 that details emergency department visits and inpatient discharges by region.
Recommended Links
Equity in Quality of Care and Patient Experiences
Analyses of quality and patient experience measures across Massachusetts providers, with findings by race, ethnicity, and payer.
Total Medical Expense (TME) Trends Across MA Communities
Explore CHIA's analysis of total medical expense trends across Massachusetts communities, including regional variation in health care spending per person.
Massachusetts Health Insurance Survey (MHIS)
Analyses from CHIA's statewide resident survey on insurance coverage, access to care, affordability, and health care experiences.