It's no secret that Massachusetts' healthcare reform — signed into law by former Gov. Mitt Romney — was used, at least in part, as a model for the White House's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
For that reason, and many more, healthcare in Massachusetts has a huge impact on the industry as a whole.
The following 10 facts offer some insight into healthcare delivery in the Bay State.
1. All total, Massachusetts healthcare expenditures add up to $61.2 billion, roughly 3 percent of the United States' total healthcare expenditures.1
2. Adjusted expenses per inpatient day at Massachusetts hospitals total about $2,587 which is slightly more than the national average of $2,090.1
3. Roughly 57 percent Massachusetts residents have health insurance through their employers. Additional sources of health insurance for residents include Medicaid (17 percent), Medicare (14 percent) and other private insurers (7 percent). Roughly 4 percent of Massachusetts' population is uninsured, the lowest uninsured rate in the country.1
4. The average cost of personal health spending per capita in The Old Colony State is $9,278, the highest of any state, whereas the average cost of personal health spending per capita in the U.S. is $6,815.
5. There are about 31,363 professionally active physicians in Massachusetts, 13,971 of whom are primary care physicians while 17,392 are specialty physicians.1
6. Massachusetts has 67 designated primary care Health Professional Shortage Areas.1
7. As of January 2012, there was only one Medicare-certified rural health clinic in Massachusetts.1
8. There are 83 non-federal, short-term, acute-care hospitals and 15,448 staffed beds in Massachusetts, according to the American Hospital Directory.
9. Among states that have expanded Medicaid, Massachusetts has the eighth least total number of residents (70,000) who may qualify for Medicaid under the expanded qualification thresholds, according to a Families USA analysis.
10. Massachusetts is home to four accredited medical schools, three of which are located in the state's capital, Boston:
- Boston University School of Medicine
- Harvard Medical School (Boston)
- Tufts University School of Medicine (Boston)
- University of Massachusetts Medical School (Worcester)
1 Kaiser State Health Facts
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