The Primary Care Access, Delivery, and Payment Task Force recommends new primary care spending target of at least 15% and reforms to strengthen the primary care workforce
BOSTON — Today, the Massachusetts Primary Care Access, Delivery, and Payment Task Force (PCTF), co-chaired by the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission and Executive Office of Health and Human Services, today published a final report documenting the work of the PCTF and compiling its recommendations in seven areas to strengthen and sustain the primary care system in the Commonwealth. These recommendations were issued on a staggered basis between September 2025 and June 2026 by the PCTF to inform policymaking and legislative action this year.
The 25-member task force – established by Chapter 343 of the Acts of 2024 – included legislators, clinicians, policy experts, and stakeholders from across the health care system. The Legislature directed the PCTF to make recommendations to improve the Commonwealth’s primary care system, reforming payment methods and care delivery, establishing primary care spending targets, and workforce development. If enacted by the Legislature, these recommendations would position Massachusetts as a national leader in rebalancing health care spending and resources to prioritize accessible, equitable, and high-quality primary care for all residents.
On August 3, 2026, Governor Healey announced the Health Care Affordability Working Group’s roadmap to lower health care costs across the Commonwealth. The Health Care Affordability Working Group identified strengthening primary care as a central strategy to improve affordability, access, and health outcomes, endorsing reforms aligned with the PCTF’s recommendations. In conjunction with this announcement, Governor Maura Healey signed an Executive Order directing MassHealth to increase its investments in primary care to 12 percent of total medical spending by the end of 2028. This Executive Order complements the recommendations of the PCTF and reflects the Healey-Driscoll Administration’s recognition that stronger investment in primary care is urgently needed and essential to improving access, supporting the primary care workforce, achieving better health outcomes, and lowering long-term health care costs.
Primary Care Task Force Key Recommendations:
- Establish an aggregate primary care spending target for the Commonwealth that is equivalent to either (1) doubling the share of health care spending on primary care as a percentage of total health care spending or (2) 15%, whichever is greater, within the next five years.
- Develop an advanced primary care payment model that would be available to all primary care practices in Massachusetts that provides a prospective, capitated per member per month (PMPM) payment to primary care practices for a specified set of services and supports enhanced care delivery capabilities.
- Reduce sources of administrative burden and burnout for primary care clinicians, support team-based care models and improve care coordination, and strengthen the primary care provider pipeline and improve workforce retention, particularly for community health centers.
- Create additional transparency and oversight of the flow of primary care payments within health systems to verify that at least 90-95% of payments in the advanced model are supporting primary care practices.
- Continue efforts to improve health care affordability, including addressing the burden of cost sharing and underlying growth in health care spending, and promote health plan benefit designs that minimize barriers to primary care, are consumer-friendly, and are less burdensome for providers.
- Leverage the HPC’s Office of Health Resource Planning to conduct assessments of primary care need, supply, capacity, and utilization to help ensure that new primary care investments are targeted to the geographies and communities with greatest unmet need.
- Codify the Center for Health Information and Analysis (CHIA) as the agency responsible for defining, measuring, and reporting on primary care spending, require that CHIA publicly post its methodology and data specifications, and establish a new primary care technical advisory body to provide technical input on CHIA’s data specifications, methodology, measurement, and reporting.
Statements of Support from Primary Care Task Force Members:
“Primary care is where people go to stay healthy, manage chronic conditions and catch problems before they become more serious and more expensive,” said Governor Maura Healey. “But too many people in Massachusetts are struggling to find a primary care provider or waiting too long to get an appointment. That’s why I recently signed an Executive Order directing MassHealth to significantly increase its investment in primary care, while we work to strengthen our workforce and lower health care costs. I’m grateful to the Primary Care Task Force for laying out a strong path forward to make sure everyone in Massachusetts can get the care they need, when they need it.”
Governor Maura Healey
“In Massachusetts, we want to prioritize creating a system that keeps people healthy, preventing the need for more intensive, acute care down the road. The recommendations by the Primary Care Task Force represent a step forward to better align our health care spending and resources with this goal. Investments in the primary care system will not only generate health care costs savings, but improve the quality of life for our residents.”
Task Force Co-chair Kiame Mahaniah, MD, MBA
Secretary of Health and Human Services, Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services
“Primary care is the foundation of our health care system, but it has been underfunded and overburdened for too long. This crisis, if left unaddressed, threatens Massachusetts’ position as a national leader on health care and will lead to less accessible care for patients, worse health outcomes, higher costs, and fewer primary care workers. The recommendations put forth by the Primary Care Task Force provide a bold, necessary policy roadmap to a better future, where primary care is valued and strengthened in the Commonwealth and patients have greater access to high-quality affordable care, when they need it. The urgency shown by Legislature and the Healey- Driscoll Administration to take action consistent with these recommendations in recent weeks is commendable and bring us significantly closer to realizing this vision. I am proud of the work of this task force and grateful to all of the members who contributed their time and expertise to this work.”
Task Force Co-chair David Seltz
Executive Director, Massachusetts Health Policy Commission
“Since its establishment by the legislature in 2024, the Primary Care Task Force has been instrumental in developing recommendations on how the Commonwealth can take groundbreaking steps towards a value-based system where patients, rather than payments, are put at the forefront of health care. Over this past year, the Task Force has informed policy to address the most pressing needs of the primary care crisis and has been fundamental in the creation and passage of primary care legislation in the Senate. By putting these recommendations in place, we can transform the health care system in Massachusetts by fostering stronger patient-provider relationships, reducing time-consuming and costly administrative burdens, and encouraging medical students to enter primary care—bringing down overall costs and delivering to every member of our Commonwealth the care they so rightfully need and deserve.”
Senator Cindy Friedman
Chair, Joint Committee on Health Care Financing
“Massachusetts is facing a primary care crisis that poses significant barriers for residents seeking care and places unsustainable strain on our health care providers. The work of the Primary Care Task Force reflects over a year of collaboration to develop meaningful recommendations to the critical issues surrounding primary care payment, delivery, affordability and access. These thoughtful and comprehensive recommendations create a robust framework for strengthening our primary care system in Massachusetts by prioritizing investments in primary care, supporting our essential health care workforce and improving the affordability of care. I am proud to have served on the Task Force, and our work embodies our collective commitment to building a healthier, accessible, and equitable Commonwealth for all residents.”
Representative John Lawn
Chair, Joint Committee on Health Care Financing
“With its broad representation, I am proud that the Primary Care Task Force worked collegially and to a unified mission. Primary care reforms can be building blocks to cost-effective and more accessible care benefiting the patient.”
Michael Caljouw, JD
Massachusetts Commissioner of Insurance
“The recommendations advanced by the Primary Care Task Force reflect an important commitment to strengthening the front door of our health care system. The data shows, again and again, that investments in primary care can improve access, advance equity, support better health outcomes, and help patients receive the right care at the right time. CHIA is proud to have contributed data and analysis that informed the Task Force’s work, and we look forward to supporting the implementation and measurement of these recommendations alongside our partners across state government and the health care sector.”
Andrew Jackmauh
Executive Director, Center for Health Information and Analysis
“Massachusetts has a long history of coming together to address challenges in health care and we’ll need to do that again to solve this complex issue. Primary care is in crisis and without thoughtful intervention across the state, our healthcare system and the health of our Commonwealth are at risk. The Task Force recommendations outline a practical and important path forward to increase access to primary care, improve health outcomes, and manage health care costs. MassHealth is strongly committed to advancing primary care and we look forward to working with partners throughout the state to implement these recommendations.”
Ryan Schwarz, MD, MBA
Medicaid Director and Assistant Secretary for MassHealth
Explore the full report and recommendations and more information on the PCTF on the HPC’s website. The full recommendations of the Health Care Affordability Working Group can be found on Mass.gov.
