Senate Passes Bill to Make It Easier to See a Primary Care Doctor

 Senate Passes Bill to Make It Easier to See a Primary Care Doctor 

 Legislation requires greater investment in primary care, fairer pay for community health centers, and a larger medical workforce, with aim of driving down health care costs 

 

(BOSTON—6/18/2026) The Massachusetts Senate today overwhelmingly passed landmark legislation to invest in primary care and make it easier for Massachusetts residents to get a primary care appointment. 

 

The bill simplifies finding a primary care clinician, reduces the amount of time providers have to spend on administrative paperwork, and aims to reduce health care costs. 

 

Currently, 43 per cent of Massachusetts residents have difficulty accessing primary care. Studies show that 40 per cent of emergency room visits in Massachusetts could have been prevented if treated in a primary care setting. 

 

The legislation—S.3116, An Act relative to primary care for you—requires health care providers and insurers to invest more heavily in primary care services. Additionally, it ensures fairer compensation for community health centers, which serve as the frontline of primary care for many residents, and grows Massachusetts’ primary care workforce by unlocking matching federal funds to train and recruit more primary care doctors. 

 

“Massachusetts has always led the way on health care, and today the Senate is doing it again. Too many of our residents are struggling to find a primary care doctor, or putting off basic care because of the cost,” said Senate President Karen E. Spilka (D-Ashland). “That's not acceptable, and it's not sustainable. This legislation takes direct aim at the problem: it requires greater investment in primary care, lifts up the community health centers at the heart of so many neighborhoods, and grows the workforce our residents need. When we get primary care right, everything else in our health care system works better. I want to applaud Senator Friedman for her tireless leadership and the years of dedicated work that went into crafting these policies, Chair Rodrigues for shepherding this legislation to the floor, and every Senator and stakeholder who helped shape a bill that will make a real difference for residents across the Commonwealth.” 

 

“After an exhaustive and thorough analysis of our primary health care delivery system, the Senate today acted on a comprehensive package of provisions informed by recommendations from the Primary Care Task Force, improving access to primary care for all Massachusetts residents,” said Senator Michael J. Rodrigues (D-Westport), Chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means. “This sweeping legislation supports residents of the Commonwealth by incentivizing significant investments into primary care, grows our health care workforce, assists community health centers, and cuts down on administrative bureaucracy. I’m pleased that this bill complements the Senate’s recent efforts in the Fair Share supplemental budget to support the primary care workforce and ensures we continue to foster the next generation of providers and strengthen our neighborhood health centers. Thank you to Senator Friedman for her collaboration, dedication, and hard work on bring this important bill forward, and to Senate President Spilka for her unwavering leadership.” 

 

“With this nation-leading approach, the Massachusetts Senate is confronting the primary care crisis head-on with the thoughtfulness and urgency it deserves,” said Senator Cindy F. Friedman (D-Arlington), Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing. “For far too long, our health care system has put too much emphasis on costly medical interventions, rather than incentivizing preventive care delivered in our primary care practices and community health centers. The legislation passed today delivers a historic increase in primary care funding in Massachusetts by reprioritizing and shifting how we spend our health care dollars to support our primary care providers, increases access to value-based care, and delivers better health outcomes for patients. I thank Senate President Spilka for her steadfast leadership in expanding access to care for all residents of the Commonwealth, Chair Rodrigues, my Senate colleagues, fellow Primary Care Task Force members, and the many stakeholders involved in this effort for their support of this transformational legislation.” 

 

This key health policy bill would create a more robust health care system in Massachusetts by requiring providers and insurers to invest a certain level of their annual spending on primary care services. 

 

In recent years, investment has surged in profitable ‘specialty care’ areas while only 6.7 per cent of total health care spending in Massachusetts has been on primary care. The resulting scarcity of available primary care doctors has left many residents searching for crucial basic, preventive care. 

 

Health care entities would now have to meet a new mandated level of primary care investment which would gradually step up to 15 per cent. The requirements would be overseen and enforced by the Health Policy Commission (HPC). 

 

The bill also lifts up one of the main settings where many Massachusetts residents access their primary care—community health centers (CHCs), which have been disadvantaged by receiving lower reimbursements than other providers. This legislation calls for fairness and sets dependable rates for CHCs by requiring commercial insurers to reimburse at least the same rates that MassHealth reimburses for the same services. 

 

The Senate’s proposal also doubles down on recent efforts to grow the size of the primary care workforce in Massachusetts. It would re-establish a Medicaid graduate medical education (GME) program, which the state can use to take advantage of matching federal funds to help cover the costs of fellowships and residency programs. When fully scaled up, the program would fund dozens of positions and help draw more primary care providers to Massachusetts in community-based settings. 

 

This builds on a Senate-led initiative that was signed into law earlier this month to address the shortage of primary care doctors by funding scholarships for UMass Chan Medical School students who pursue family medicine and pledge to practice in underserved communities in Massachusetts after they graduate. 

 

Full details of today’s legislation are included in a fact sheet in the Senate press room. 

 

Senators proposed 72 amendments to the bill. During the course of today’s public debate, the Senate adopted a significant amendment to ensure access to timely and effective treatment for people with serious mental illness. The amendment (Amendment 64) eliminates prior authorization for medication to treat serious mental illness, keeping decisions between providers and patients. 

 

People with serious mental illness often have to try multiple combinations of medications in an effort to find the right treatment. Delays due to prior authorization can impede their ability to effectively treat their disease. Feedback on that amendment was solicited last year at a public hearing by the Joint Committee on Financial Services. It was also recommended by the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing and was further reviewed by the Senate Committee on Ways and Means. 

 

The Committee on Ways and Means advanced the underlying legislation to the Senate with a 14-0 vote on June 11, 2026, as a new draft of legislation previously advanced by the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing. 

 

The Senate passed the bill today on a 35-4 roll call vote and sent it to the House of Representatives for further review.