MA healthcare study: higher provider prices correlate w/ market leverage, not utilization or quality

[Hannah Bell]

A study of health care cost trends released in January 2010 by Attorney General Martha Coakley found that, in fact, variations in the price of health care in Massachusetts are not correlated with the quality of care received, “the sickness or complexity of the population being served,” or by differences in provider costs between similar hospitals.

The report found that higher costs come from higher provider prices rather than increased utilization, and that price increases do correlate with “market leverage.”

In other words, large organizations like Partners HealthCare—which includes Massachusetts General Hospital, Spaulding Hospital, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital—are able to demand high prices from insurers.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/jan2011/mass-j31.shtml