2021 Publications

CHIA has launched a new series exploring health care equity issues in the Commonwealth, beginning with a baseline assessment of gaps in health insurance coverage, access, utilization, and affordability in the period leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Findings from this series are derived from the 2015, 2017, and 2019 Massachusetts Health Insurance Survey (MHIS). CHIA will continue to monitor developments in these domains for different subpopulations as insights from this report series may help inform efforts to better target interventions for a more equitable health care system in the Commonwealth.

CHIA data supports two critical Commonwealth of Massachusetts missions: lowering health care costs and reducing administrative burden in regulation.

In the November edition, you’ll learn more about CHIA’s Total Medical Expenses (TME) data and how it is used as part of the state’s annual cost growth benchmarking process. You can also read how the Division of Insurance (DOI) uses CHIA's APCD data to increase its speed and efficiency in ensuring the financial solvency of the companies it regulates.

Health care quality is the focus of September’s DataMatters. Check out the new Quality of Care in the Commonwealth dashboard. The  “Data User Profile” section highlights a study that used MA-APCD data to show what happened to health costs and utilization when one widely-used quality measure is put into practice.

CHIA is also partnering with the Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association and select acute care hospitals to pilot a program to reduce readmissions and enhance patient experience. To read more, check out the September edition of DataMatters.

CHIA monitors and reports on health care quality using measures. The metrics cross different domains of quality assessment, including:

• Health care-associated infections
• Mortality Medication safety
• Matrnity-related care
• Effective care processes
• Hospital patient experience
• Primary care patient experience

CHIA reports both annually and quarterly on the performance of the Commonwealth’s acute care hospitals, associated hospital health systems, and affiliated physician organizations.

See the latest quarterly update with data through June 2021.

The Annual Massachusetts Acute Hospital and Health System Financial Performance Report for fiscal year (FY) 2020 incorporates the financial impact of COVID-19 on hospitals during FY 2020, including the distribution of federal COVID relief funding as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act starting in April 2020, as well as the distribution of state relief funds.

CHIA is releasing this report with an interactive dashboard containing information for each acute hospital and their hospital health system. There are also individual hospital fact sheets containing information on profitability, liquidity, and solvency.

Massachusetts Acute Care Hospital Emergency Department Data (FFY 2016-2019) presents key measures of emergency department (ED) utilization overall and by hospital, patient, and visit characteristics.

This is the first annual statewide report on ED utilization and part of a new reporting series providing analyses on patterns and trends of acute care hospital services from CHIA’s Case Mix database. CHIA has also published a  report on inpatient visits in Massachusetts  and is currently developing a report on outpatient observation visits in the Commonwealth.

At the onset of the pandemic, CHIA began producing monthly enrollment data summaries in order to provide more rapid insight into the impact of COVID-19 on insurance coverage in the Commonwealth. CHIA's latest edition of the monthly enrollment data summaries contains figures through June 2021.

For a more granular insight into enrollment, CHIA has also released its regular biannual Enrollment Trends report with data through March 2021. Enrollment Trends includes an interactive dashboard, which contains detailed breakdowns by payer and product type.

This issue of DataMatters highlights our first report documenting unmet health-related social needs using the Massachusetts Health Insurance Survey. This issue also features a Texas-based research team that used CHIA's hospital discharge data to inform their just-published study, Emergency Department Utilization by Adolescents Experiencing Homelessness in Massachusetts.

You can also catch up on CHIA's reviews of mandated health insurance benefits in the Commonwealth, our published hospital and health system financial data, and our latest examination of provider price variation.

The Massachusetts Acute Care Hospital Inpatient Discharge Data (FFY 2016-2019) report offers timely insights into monthly inpatient utilization patterns, discharge characteristics, diagnoses, and procedures through a series of interactive dashboards.

This update adds new data from the latest quarter, January through March 2021, to monthly summary data available starting in October 2018. A summary and an accompanying databook are also available.

The Massachusetts Acute Hospital Financial Performance report provides a quarterly update on profitability, liquidity, and solvency for the fiscal year-to-date period ending March 31, 2021.

Hospital financial performance was significantly impacted by COVID-19 during calendar year 2020. The period ending March 31, 2020, which is used as a comparison for the data in this report, includes the first few weeks of the impact of COVID-19 on health care operations.

CHIA has released its latest research brief, Over Half of Massachusetts Residents Report Unmet Health-Related Social Needs in Their Families.

Unmet unmet health-related social needs (HRSNs) are associated with poorer health, compromised health care access, and higher health care costs. Survey respondents who reported food insecurity, housing instability, financial strain, and/or employment instability in their families were considered to have an unmet HRSN. This research  addresses an important gap in our understanding of unmet HRSNs for Massachusetts residents.

CHIA has released its annual update on provider price variation in the commercial health insurance market. Relative Price (RP) facilitates the comparison of average provider prices accounting for differences in patient acuity, the types of services providers deliver to patients, and the different insurance product types that payers offer to their members.

This publication also includes an interactive dashboard including data on cross-payer statewide-relative price (S-RP) results and payer-specific RP results.

CHIA published an expanded version of monthly enrollment data summaries to provide more insight into the impact of COVID-19 on insurance coverage in the Commonwealth. This release covers enrollment through March 2021, including a full calendar year of health insurance data following Governor Baker's state of emergency declaration.

Also included are a brief with data tables and technical notes, as well as a databook.

This issue of DataMatters covers:

• CHIA’s Annual Report on the Performance of the Massachusetts Health Care System;
• A report on the financial impact of COVID-19 on Massachusetts hospitals;
• Inpatient utilization during the pandemic; and
• A series profiling health care affordability issues.

Also included is a a look at Total Health Care Expenditures and out-of-pocket prescription drug spending.

This preliminary update on hospital and health system financial performance for fiscal year 2020 provides a view of profitability, liquidity, and solvency for those hospitals with a fiscal year end date of June 30 or September 30. This report includes 49 of the 61 acute hospitals in Massachusetts as well as data for 22 of the 25 hospital health systems.

This publication incorporates the financial impact of COVID-19 on hospital health care operations during fiscal year 2020. Federal COVID-related funding was distributed in April, May, June and July to hospitals as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. State relief funds were also distributed to hospitals in this time period.   

CHIA has developed a quarterly update series to complement its December 2020 Massachusetts Acute Care Hospital Inpatient Discharge Data (FFY 2016-2019) report. These quarterly updates rely on interim data to present analyses on a monthly basis. The primary purpose of this series is to provide timely patterns and trends on key inpatient utilization measures in the period leading up to and including the outbreak of COVID-19 (October 2019-December 2020).

The report includes a summary, technical appendix, databook and interactive dashboard.

CHIA's Annual Report on the Performance of the Massachusetts Health Care System includes a calculation of Total Health Care Expenditures (THCE) for 2019 and a final calculation for 2018. THCE is a measure of total statewide health care spending in the Commonwealth.

Massachusetts experienced a 4.3% growth in Total Health Care Expenditures per capita between 2018 and 2019, exceeding the health care cost growth benchmark of 3.1% established in accordance with the state's 2012 health care cost containment law. Total Health Care Expenditures totaled $64.1 billion ($9,294 per capita) for insured health care services received by Massachusetts residents.

Hospital Profiles provide information on acute and non-acute hospitals based on hospital characteristics, services, payer mix, utilization trends, cost trends, financial performance, and quality. They are accompanied by an interactive dashboard allowing users to find results by individual hospital, hospital type, and hospital health system..

CHIA also released Massachusetts hospital health system profiles, which provide a summary of financial performance and relative size of component entities for the hospital health system and their affiliated acute hospitals, physician organizations, and health plans.

CHIA’s newsletter, DataMatters, helps our stakeholders to find out more about our corner of the Massachusetts health data world. Features include “News You Can Use” from the Massachusetts Enrollment Monitoring and Enrollment Trends reports, a data user profile highlighting the Health Policy Commission, a major CHIA data user, and upcoming health care-related events.

In this newsletter, CHIA will share recent reporting highlights and put our data into a broader context. Our goal is to get this information to the many stakeholders working to improve the Massachusetts health care system.