Report: Massachusetts excels in child health care, but struggles to provide for older adults
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Massachusetts received a mixed scorecard from The Commonwealth Fund for 2023.
Massachusetts had the highest overall performing health system in the country in 2023, excelling in metrics including childhood vaccines and infant mortality, but for older adults, the state’s healthcare industry lagged behind.
The state had both the lowest infant mortality rate and the least amount of avoidable and treatable deaths in the country, according to the 2025 Scorecard on State Health System Performance released on Wednesday by The Commonwealth Fund, a New York-based healthcare research and policy private foundation.
The Bay State experienced 3.3 infant deaths per 1,000 live births, a dip from 2018 when there were 4.2 deaths per thousand live births. Infant mortality stayed the same in 2023 for seven states and worsened in 20, with Mississippi reporting 9.1 deaths per every 1,000 live births, the most in the nation.
In regards to avoidable and treatable deaths before the age of 75, the Commonwealth reported 201.1 deaths per every 100,000 people between 2022 and 2023.
The state’s lowest avoidable death of any racial group was 82.1, the third lowest in the country. While the report did not specify which racial group that figure represents, it did determine that Black residents had an elevated rate of 287.8 avoidable deaths for every 100,000 people, as preventable deaths of Black residents was consistently heightened throughout the entire nation.
Continuing its streak of exceptional child healthcare, at 90.1%, Massachusetts had the highest number of children who received all doses of the seven recommended childhood vaccines: a figure just over 15 percentage points higher than the rate of most states in the country and exactly 10 percentage points higher than in 2019.
The state was ranked 11th lowest in the country for rates of 30-day hospital readmissions for 18 to 64 year olds, but took a nosedive when assessing that same metric for those 65 and older.
As opposed to 2.8 readmissions for every 1,000 employer-insured enrollees for those under 65, individuals over 65 experienced 44.6 readmissions for every thousand Medicare beneficiaries, earning the state the 50th highest readmission rate in the nation.
A similar dyad was reported when analyzing potentially avoidable emergency department visits across the ages.
In 2023, the state had 144.2 potentially preventable ED readmissions per every 1,000 employer-insured enrollees for those 18 to 64, yet 161.9 for every thousand Medicare beneficiaries for those 65 and older, placing Massachusetts 13th and 34th in the nation, respectively.
Along the same vein, Massachusetts had the 47th worst hospital readmission rate for skilled nursing facility patients with 25% readmitted, a rate 2 percentage points higher than the nation’s average.
“This scorecard makes one thing very clear: where you live continues to define your health and your ability to get and afford the health care you need,” Dr. Joseph Betancourt, president of The Commonwealth Fund, said in a Wednesday release. “While some states have taken bold steps to improve coverage and invest in primary care and public health, others are falling behind. We need commonsense, people-centered federal and state policies so all Americans, no matter who they are, where they live, or how much money they make, can live a healthy life.”
Mica Kanner-Mascolo is a staff writer at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the healthcare and diversity, equity, and inclusion industries.
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