Matt Fishman, Vice President for Community Health at Mass. General Brigham (previously Partners HealthCare), has led organization-wide community health commitments since 1994. While the specifics of his work change from year to year based on changes in community needs and public policy, the underlying principles that guide his work are consistent. Matt has worked to improve the health of low-income and vulnerable people and communities through efforts focused on ensuring access to health care services and health insurance coverage, and initiatives that address the social determinants of health, including education, economic opportunity, and poverty. He does this work through extensive collaboration with policymakers, community health center-and hospital-based clinicians and leaders, and community and business leaders.
Current areas of focus include participating in state and Mass. General Brigham (MGB) efforts to improve care delivery and outcomes for Medicaid patients through accountable care organizations; working on racial and other inequities in health care access and outcomes; responding to the opioid epidemic and COVID-19 pandemic; and focusing on efforts to use the economic decisions that MGB makes to create more opportunity in low income neighborhoods.
Matt began his career in state government. He served as Budget Director for the Massachusetts Department of Public Welfare and then as Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services during the second and third terms of Governor Michael Dukakis.
Matt joined Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) in 1990. He led the hospital’s efforts to work with community partners to prevent infant mortality and also served as the emergency department administrator. He joined Partners when BWH and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) founded the system in 1994.
With a number of policy and community colleagues, Matt was deeply involved in the development of the Massachusetts health care coverage reform law that took effect in 2006. The Massachusetts law was one of the models for the federal Affordable Care Act.
Matt is a member of the board of AllWays Health Partners (previously Neighborhood Health Plan). He had earlier served as board chair for seven years. Matt is also a member of the boards of Camp Harbor View and the United Way of Mass. Bay and Merrimack Valley. He is an advisor for RIZE Massachusetts and serves on its program strategy committee. He was a founding board member of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation and served on the Foundation board for 16 years, including three as chair of its program review committee.
Matt is married to Robin Lipson. They have two young adult children—Sarah and David.