Public Policy Working Group

What We Do

We are an advisory working group of the Coalition whose goal is to identify a new set of priorities for Massachusetts state-level public policy action and attention. We’re prioritizing public policy interventions based on equity, alignment, impact, and feasibility.

Prioritization Process


Draft Prioritization Rubric

Measure (measures listed roughly in order of rank) Considerations
Equity: does this center the needs and experiences of the communities/people most likely to have poor experiences/unmet needs/preventable suffering?  
Value of Coalition Engagement: either because no one else is addressing this issue OR because it adds meaningful amplification/synergy in alignment with other organizations; member interest/alignment with member mission/priorities  

Impact: does it increase the alignment of care and supports with what matters most?

  • Magnitude of impact on care experience/preventable suffering/alignment of care and support with what matters most?
  • Strength/quality of data/evidence-based logic model to support impact assessment
  • We must recognize that public health and equity-focused interventions show impact on a much broader scale and over a longer timeline and are not easily captured by traditional research methods like RCTS; over-reliance on ‘high quality data’ can biases to status quo approaches, likely at the cost of broader equity goals

Feasibility

  • Member interest/alignment with member mission/priorities
  • Cost magnitude (including broader economic impact – e.g., jobs)
  • Public costs: short term vs. long term
  • State vs. federal control
  • We ‘know’ what a solution/policy looks like (e.g., via examples from other states, previous efforts).
  • Infrastructure for change exists
  • Ability to measure impact
  • Feasibility should not deter us from what is right, according to highest impact on producing equitable gains in outcomes…however, we must also balance short-term and longer-term impacts
  • We must recognize that looking for existing solutions (similar to existing data) biases to the status quo, possibly at the cost of broader equity goals


Working Group Members: