UMass Memorial Health receives some of the highest commercial insurance rates for primary care in Massachusetts. A network that includes two Worcester community health centers receives the lowest, according to a report Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell released Tuesday, Nov. 10.
The 2026 health care cost trends report looks at how commercial insurers paid primary care providers in 2024. It found that insurers pay different providers different rates for the same services. Payments made outside of individual claims make those gaps wider.
“Primary care is the foundation of a strong health care system,” Campbell said in an announcement of the report. She said the state must deal with funding disparities and make sure new investments reach the providers and communities that need them most.
How the 10 providers ranked
The attorney general’s office studied 10 provider organizations. For each one, it compared the contracted primary care rate, averaged across the insurers in the study, with Medicare’s 2024 fee schedule for Massachusetts. Rates ranged from 127% to 244% of Medicare:
- Mass General Brigham: 244%
- UMass Memorial Health: 222%
- South Shore Health: 207%
- Tufts Medicine: 188%
- Optum, including Atrius Health and Worcester-based Reliant Medical Group: 184% (tie)
- Beth Israel Lahey Health: 184% (tie)
- Cape Cod Healthcare: 180%
- Southcoast Health: 171%
- Signature Healthcare: 169%
- Community Care Cooperative: 127%
Federally qualified health centers run Community Care Cooperative, known as C3, a MassHealth accountable care organization. Its member health centers include Family Health Center of Worcester and Edward M. Kennedy Community Health Center. The report lists one rate for C3 as a whole, not separate rates for its health centers…