What to Know About MassHealth’s Quality and Equity Incentive Programs
In 2022, MassHealth launched a five-year, $2 billion initiative to incentivize contracted entities, such as hospitals and managed care organizations (MCOs), to improve health equity. Specifically, these entities are incentivized to improve demographic data completeness, strengthen organizational capacity for equity efforts, adopt more equitable practices (such as accommodating disability needs), and ultimately reduce health disparities among MassHealth members. This initiative, known as the Quality and Equity Incentive Program (QEIP), represents an ambitious and unprecedented approach to implementing aligned quality and equity initiatives across delivery system settings. The goal of this issue brief is to explain how MassHealth’s QEIPs for Accountable Care Organizations, MCOs, and acute care hospitals are designed and what is known about their impacts to date.