Audit of the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission (November 3, 2025)

This is a state performance audit of the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission covering July 1, 2023 through September 30, 2024.

“In accordance with Section 12 of Chapter 11 of the Massachusetts General Laws, the Office of the State Auditor has conducted a performance audit of certain activities of the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission (HPC) for the period July 1, 2023 through September 30, 2024.”

Auditors checked whether the agency’s website met accessibility rules so people with different needs could use it.

“The purpose of our audit was to determine whether HPC’s website adhered to the World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 for user accessibility, keyboard accessibility, navigation accessibility, language accessibility, error identification, and color accessibility.”

If a public website is hard to use, people with disabilities may miss health policy information and online services.

“Noncompliance with WCAG 2.1 reduces accessibility for individuals with disabilities and limits equitable access to HPC information and services.”

For residents, this matters because public websites are often how people get government information and services.

“Government websites are an important way for the general public to access government information and services.”

The audit found limited but real website accessibility problems, and HPC said it took action to fix them and improve future compliance.

“The HPC acted immediately to rectify the limited instances identified by the Auditor where page elements did not meet the applicable criteria, and has implemented processes and capabilities to ensure compliance with all elements going forward.”

The Auditor’s office plans to check back in about six months to see how HPC handled the issue.

“As part of our post-audit review process, we will follow up on this matter in approximately six months.”

WCAG is a set of website accessibility guidelines meant to help everyone, including people with disabilities, use web content and features.

“Adherence to WCAG helps ensure that all users, regardless of ability, can access the content and functions of HPC’s website.”