President & CEO
Chair of the Board of Directors
While Massachusetts has prioritized having the highest health insurance coverage rate in the country, 2025 proved that those gains were not immune to the federal policy changes and budget cuts that threatened access across the nation. Prior to and following the passage of H.R. 1, also known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill” Act (OB3), a major tax and domestic policy law, the Foundation monitored proposed federal changes and reacted quickly to produce nonpartisan analysis and research describing the potential effects of newly enacted policy on Massachusetts.
Nearly 500 stakeholders joined our webinar in March that outlined potential changes in federal financing and policy and provided estimates of the likely impacts of these changes (in terms of dollars and lives) for MassHealth (the name of Massachusetts' Medicaid program) and Massachusetts ConnectorCare programs. The webinar featured a presentation from our research partners and answered questions from participants about the path ahead.
Additional reports published throughout the year included those designed to create awareness of impacts to health insurance coverage as well as detailed briefs to inform public discussion of proposals that would limit or eliminate states' ability to receive federal Medicaid reimbursement, leading Massachusetts to either make up those lost revenues through other sources or plan for program cuts.
The Foundation kept consumers, state policymakers, the business community, insurers, labor unions, hospitals, providers, community health centers, and religious groups apprised of the ongoing changes in federal policy and their impacts on health care coverage in Massachusetts.
The Massachusetts Coalition for Coverage and Care provided a forum for data-driven discussion among diverse member organizations committed to preserving access to coverage and care. Grant partners in our Strengthening the Voice for Access and Racial Justice in Health funding programs continued to participate in the Coalition and to play key roles in advocacy efforts to devise a coordinated response. Foundation leadership also communicated learnings in the press and delivered findings and analysis at statewide discussions including the Health Policy Commission's Health Care and Cost Trends Hearing and the Philip W. Johnston Massachusetts Health Policy Forum.
"Just these two provisions alone have the potential to increase our uninsurance rate by more than 50 percent...but there are [also] many other harmful provisions that will really unravel the gains Massachusetts has made in getting to near universal health insurance coverage."
— Kaitlyn Kenney Walsh, then VP of Policy & Research, commenting to NEPM on the impact of new MassHealth redetermination and work requirements caused by federal legislation
Advancing health equity requires a deliberate and sustained focus on addressing systemic racial and ethnic disparities. In a challenging national environment, the Foundation has actively deepened its commitment to advancing equity and supporting the grassroots leaders who are driving change within their communities. We operate on the principle that the most effective, equitable health care solutions are those developed and led by the communities they serve. Through targeted grantmaking and strategic partnerships, we are helping to scale innovative, grassroots prevention and care models across the Commonwealth. In 2025, we continued to establish and support community-led problem solving.
Our policy team worked with the Cambridge Health Alliance’s (CHA) Health Improvement Team and their community partners to co-create a Community Action Lab that introduced other Massachusetts organizations to CHA’s Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) model featured in the Foundation’s Health Equity Initiative Inventory. The interactive events were held in both Worcester and Boston, with nearly 200 total participants.
The Foundation was one of the first grantmaking organizations to partner with the Commonwealth to engage specific geographies across the state in the Advancing Health Equity initiative, organizing around solutions for the social causes of disparities in cardiometabolic disease and maternal health. Through our Strategic Health Equity grant program, we funded the Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts for a second year to facilitate a coalition building process for Chicopee. The Advancing Chicopee Together/Adelantando Chicopee Juntos (ACT) coalition has begun their work to create solutions to address the disparities in their community. This funding strategy, along with our Perinatal Health Initiative grants, exemplify the tangible benefits of investing in culturally responsive, community-based efforts to repair inequitable health outcomes.
The launch of our 13th cohort of the Massachusetts Institute for Community Health Leadership (MICHL) program reflected our commitment to the ongoing professional development of diverse leadership working in health and public health settings across the state. Each of these efforts demonstrates that impact begins at the local level.
"Our mission has always been to ensure equitable access to health care for all those in the commonwealth who are economically, racially or socially marginalized. That hasn’t changed."
— Jacquie Anderson, Senior Director of Grantmaking, commenting to WBUR on the Foundation's commitment to funding health equity work
Ensuring equitable access to behavioral health care remains a pressing challenge in Massachusetts. Throughout 2025, the Foundation continued to monitor and support the implementation of the state's Roadmap for Behavioral Health Care Reform and efforts to create a "no wrong door" approach to access. We worked to identify barriers to care as well as potential solutions. And we invested in sustainable, community-led models designed to expand capacity and improve the cultural responsiveness of the behavioral health workforce.
Building on the success of our first four years of investment in the Problem Management Plus (PM+) model, we furthered our commitment to expand community-based capacity for mental health support with a second cohort of five new organizations in our Advancing Community Driven Mental Health (ACDMH) grant program. This initiative builds on the success of the inaugural cohort and represents a significant, ongoing investment in organizations rooted in and dedicated to serving historically marginalized populations, including survivors of trauma, refugees and immigrants, individuals in shelter and supportive housing, and older adults.
The Foundation’s research also directly informed state-level strategies. Our issue brief, Expanding Access to Community-Based Mental Health Support: A Review of Select Programs, served as an evidence-based resource for policymakers and was cited in a $10 million funding opportunity issued by the Massachusetts Office of Behavioral Health Promotion and Prevention. Low-intensity community-based mental health support programs like PM+ and the others described in our report are designed to complement other services and treatment options within the mental health system. This approach is intended to optimize allocation of resources, including providers and health care dollars, and ensure the right level of services are available and accessible in the right settings for a given community.
A Foundation-supported study led by researchers at William James College examined barriers and opportunities to advance diversity in the state's behavioral health workforce and brought necessary attention to the need for systemic reform of the provider licensure process. At the start of 2025, William James College launched their Men of Color Career Advancement Program, which is an approach to building a more representative provider network, supported by Foundation Special Initiatives funding.
"It's almost never the case that you launch a new program model and it's done. We must address what is needed to make [Community Behavioral Health Centers] work and ensure that the quality and affordability that these programs promise can be achieved."
— Audrey Shelto, Former President & CEO, in a Letter to the Editor published by the Boston Globe
Chief Medical Officer, Press Ganey
Retired Health Center CEO and Consultant/Advisor
Founder & CEO, Flowetik
Chief Behavioral Health Officer, Lynn Community Health Center
Executive Director, Massachusetts Business Roundtable
CEO, Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program
Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School; Chief Academic Officer, Kristine M. Trusty Endowed Chair in Psychiatry Chief, Division of Women's Mental Health Director, Alcohol and Drug Abuse, Clinical and Health Services Research, McLean Hospital
President and CEO, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
Vice President of Mission & Associate Chief Medical Officer, Boston Medical Center
Strategic Policy Director, Community Catalyst
Chief Medical Officer & Sr. Vice President, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
Dean and Professor, Departments of Nutrition, and Biostatistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Board Advisor
President & CEO, BCBSMA Foundation
