Community Reports
View our Health Equity Strategic Plan Executive Summary
View our 2025 Community Health Needs Assessment Report
The system-wide community health and health equity strategies we develop and implement are driven by data, informed by evidence, and focused on performance and accountability. This includes system-wide leadership roles and data analytic resources that allow us to address inequity more effectively in patient care and remove the use of race in clinical decision tools and policies.
We will never assume we know what our residents need. Instead, we’re going to ask, listen, and let the data guide us. Below you can access our most recent planning and assessment documents.
Community health reports and plans
Here you’ll find our most recent Health Equity Strategic Plan. MassHealth requires the Executive Summary as part of its broader goal to make health equity a core accountability measure for hospitals and health plans operating in Massachusetts and summarizes our plans to identify and address health disparities in the communities we serve.
The overview includes information such as the health gaps we’ve identified in areas such as pregnancy health and hypertension, the rationale for the inclusion of each, and the goals we’ve developed in each area.
- Health Equity Strategic Plan Executive Summary (English)
- Health Equity Strategic Plan Executive Summary (Arabic)
- Health Equity Strategic Plan Executive Summary (Chinese)
- Health Equity Strategic Plan Executive Summary (Haitian Creole)
- Health Equity Strategic Plan Executive Summary (Portuguese)
- Health Equity Strategic Plan Executive Summary (Russian)
- Health Equity Strategic Plan Executive Summary (Spanish)
Every three years, Mass General Brigham conducts community health needs assessments (CHNAs) to identify the most pressing social, economic, and health issues in our communities. Findings from these CHNAs direct our Community Health Improvement Plans.
In 2025, Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital collaborated to produce a joint CHNA report for Boston and the North Suffolk regions.
We’re committed to reducing premature mortality and improving the health of the communities we serve by addressing both clinical and social determinants of health. The joint CHNA was conducted in collaboration with community partners, local health departments, and residents to identify key health priorities, disparities and opportunities for action across our service areas.
In addition to the joint CHNA report, you can review each hospital’s most recent CHNA documents.
- Cooley Dickinson Hospital
- Martha’s Vineyard Hospital
- Mass Eye and Ear
- McLean Hospital
- Nantucket Cottage Hospital
- Newton-Wellesley Hospital
- Salem Hospital
- Spaulding Rehabilitation
- Wentworth-Douglass Hospital
The CHNA process reflects Mass General Brigham’s ongoing dedication to community engagement, collaboration, and evidence-based interventions. By combining quantitative data with community input, we highlight the most pressing health challenges — such as chronic disease, behavioral health, and social and economic barriers — and guide the development of strategies that promote improved health metrics and sustainable impact.
Findings from our community health needs assessments related to the most pressing social, economic, and health issues in our communities inform our Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP). The CHIP outlines systemwide strategies and investments to address priority health needs and social risks in partnership with our different communities.
Here you can view the CHIP plans for each of our hospitals.
- Brigham and Women’s Hospital
- Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital
- Cooley Dickinson Hospital
- Martha's Vineyard Hospital
- Mass Eye and Ear
- Massachusetts General Hospital
- McLean Hospital
- Nantucket Cottage Hospital
- Newton-Wellesley Hospital
- Salem Hospital
- Spaulding Rehabilitation
- Wentworth-Douglass Hospital
Through community partnerships, targeted interventions, and system-level strategies, our efforts prioritize communities facing the greatest health obstacles and support longer, healthier lives.
Mass General Brigham works with and reports to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, whose Determination of Need (DoN) laws govern health care facilities statewide. All state health care organizations must file DoN applications for capital projects, with five percent of the expenses from these projects designated for use in community health programming.
Our DoN program promotes population health, innovative care delivery, and equitable access to services. An advisory committee determines the priorities and strategies for how we use these funds, guided by the most recent community health needs assessment. Once the advisory committee sets funding priorities, an allocation committee oversees the distribution of the funds.
Community Health Impact Fund Investments
In 2024, we allocated more than $33 million in total to areas including economic/financial stability and mobility; mental/behavioral health; food & nutrition security; and housing. For details on what’s ahead for our health impact fund investments, you can review our funding distribution timeline.