马萨诸塞州参议院于6月通过一项法案，针对该州日益严峻的初级保健医生短缺问题。[1]根据2025年健康信息与分析中心的报告，30%的马萨诸塞州居民在获取初级保健方面遭遇困难。[1]
该法案要求医院和医疗机构到2030年将初级保健支出提高至总支出的15%。[1]目前商业医疗支出中仅6.6%用于初级保健。[1]同时法案要求商业保险公司提高对社区卫生中心的报销费用，并恢复2010年被削减的医疗补助研究生医学教育项目。[1]违反规定的医院将面临至少50万美元的罚款。[1]
短缺的严重程度在新贝德福德市尤为明显。[1]该市仅有36名初级保健临床医生，20000至25000名居民没有初级保健提供者。[1]南海岸医疗中心的新患者初级保健预约等待时间约59天，霍桑医疗协会则有约4000人的等待名单。[1]不过新贝德福德社区卫生中心已取得进展，成人患者等待时间从9个月降至3个月。[1]
一项2022年研究表明，每次面对面初级保健访问可为每患者每年节省医疗成本721美元，为该改革提供了成本效益支持。[1]该法案目前待众议院审议，众议院截止日期为2026年7月31日。[1]
Massachusetts' state Senate passed legislation in June to combat a critical shortage of primary care physicians across the state [1]. The bill requires hospitals and health care facilities to increase primary care spending to 15 percent of total expenditures by 2030 [1], while mandating commercial insurers raise reimbursement rates for community health centers and restoring graduate medical education funding under Medicaid that was cut in 2010 [1]. The measure now awaits House review, with a deadline of July 31, 2026 [1].
The shortage has reached acute levels in many communities. Thirty percent of Massachusetts residents face difficulties accessing primary care, according to a 2025 Center for Health Information and Analysis report [1]. New Bedford exemplifies the crisis, with only 36 primary care clinicians serving between 20,000 and 25,000 residents lacking a primary care provider [1]. Wait times for new patient appointments have become prohibitively long: Southcoast Health reports approximately 59-day delays, while Hawthorn Medical Associates maintains a waiting list of roughly 4,000 people [1]. New Bedford Community Health Center has achieved some progress, reducing adult patient wait times from nine months to three months [1].
The legislation targets current spending disparities, as commercial health care expenditures in Massachusetts devoted only 6.6 percent to primary care in 2024 [1]. Health officials point to economic benefits of preventive care: a 2022 study found that each face-to-face primary care visit saves $721 per patient annually in medical costs [1]. Hospitals that fail to comply with the new spending requirements face fines starting at $500,000 [1].