2026 Massachusetts Healthcare Summit

About this event

Coming together to strengthen rural and community health across the Commonwealth

Join us for our fourth annual healthcare summit! Register today >

• No cost to attend

• Breakfast and lunch will be provided by award-winning UMass Dining

• Open to all

• Healthcare Career Fair immediately follows from 1 p.m to 3 p.m.

Join leaders from healthcare, higher education, government, public health, community health centers, long‑term care, and assisted living to address one of the Commonwealth’s most pressing challenges: strengthening the workforce that serves rural and medically underserved communities.

This year’s summit will highlight strategies, partnerships, and practical solutions for building a resilient, community‑based health workforce:

• The growing need for community health workers and community‑based health professionals

• Workforce shortages at community health centers

• Recruitment and retention challenges in rural health settings

• Staffing needs in assisted living, skilled nursing, and long‑term care facilities

• Strategies to strengthen care delivery in medically underserved and rural communities

• University, provider, public health, and state collaborations to develop sustainable workforce solutions

Agenda

• 8 a.m.

Registration and Breakfast

• 8:30 a.m.

Welcome remarks

• Speakers: Dean Allison Vorderstrasse, Sen. Jo Comerford, Rep. Mindy Domb, and Chancellor Javier Reyes

• 9 a.m.

Anchors of Access: Elevating Community Health Centers as Frontline Care Engines

• Panelists: Michael Purdy, Chief Executive Officer, Hilltown Community Health; Tania Barber, President and CEO, Caring Health Center; Mary Ellen McIntyre, Executive Vice President, Grants, Programs and Operations, Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers; Allison van der Velden, Chief Executive Officer, Franklin County Community Health Center

• Moderator: Tinamarie Fioroni, Vice President of Workforce Development and Learning, Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers

• 9:45 a.m.

Transforming Aging in Rural Communities: How Leaders Create the Future Together

• Alice Bonner, Chair, Moving Forward Nursing Home Quality Coalition

• 10:10 a.m.

Care Beyond the Clinic: Reimagining Home Health and Long Term Support Systems

• Panelists: Maggie Messer, Director Talent Acquisition and Employee Engagement, Integritus Healthcare; Tamara Bedard, Central Region, Local Public Health Nurse Consultant, UMass Amherst Marieb College of Nursing; Peter Lindenauer, Chair, Department of Healthcare Delivery and Population Sciences, Baystate Health; Adam Delmolino, Vice-President, Innovation & Care Transformation, Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association

• Moderator: Alice Bonner, Chair, Moving Forward Nursing Home Quality Coalition

• 10:55 a.m.

Shortage to Solution: Building the Massachusetts' Nursing Career Pathway

• Jay Prosser, Executive Director, Nursing Council for Workforce Sustainability

• 11:30 a.m .

Legislating Equity: Funding, Frameworks, and the Future of Rural Health Policy

• Panelists: Eliza Lake, Director of Health Policy and Strategic Initiatives at Executive Office of Health and Human Services; Phoebe Walker, Director of Community Health, Franklin Regional Council of Governments; Tara Gregorio, President, Massachusetts Senior Care Association

• Moderator: Michael Lepore, Associate Dean for Research, Elaine Marieb College of Nursing, UMass Amherst

• 12 p.m

Closing remarks and lunch

Thank you to our lead legislative sponsors!

• Jo Comerford , Mass. State Senator for Hampshire, Franklin and Worcester counties. Chairperson, Joint Committee on Higher Education.

• Mindy Domb, Mass. State Representative, Third Hampshire District. Chair, Joint Committee on Mental Health, Substance Use and Recovery.

• Western Mass legislative delegation

State Senators

• Sen. Jo Comerford

• Sen. Adam Gomez

• Sen. Jake Oliveira

• Sen. John Velis

• Sen. Paul Mark

State Representatives

• Representative Shirley Arriaga

• Representative Brian Ashe

• Representative John Barrett III

• Representative Leigh Davis

• Representative Mindy Domb

• Representative Patricia Duffy

• Representative Tricia Farley-Bouvier

• Representative Michael J. Finn

• Representative Homar Gomez

• Representative Carlos Gonzalez

• Representative Angelo Puppolo

• Representative Lindsay Sabadosa

• Representative Aaron Saunders

• Representative Todd Smola

• Representative Susannah Whipps

• Representative Kelly Pease