Mass. Health Plans Report: Payment Reform Won't Fix Prices

The latest Massachusetts Association of Health Plans annual report is out, and it offers some very colorful visual reminders of a point many in the state have been making: To stem the growth in health care costs, payment reform is not enough; something must be done about the "market distortion" that allows some hospitals to charge far higher prices than others.

As illustrated in the chart above, in which the hospitals with yellow circles next to them have long been part of payment-reform-type plans yet remain relatively expensive, "Changing the way we pay is just not enough," association president Lora M. Pellegrini said.

"You have to address the market power issues and the price distortion issues," she said. "Legislation that deals with payment reform issues only and that doesn't address market distortion issues is not going to fix our cost problem."
The report includes comments from three state leaders — Attorney General Martha Coakley, House majority leader Ronald Mariano, and Administration and Finance Secretary Jay Gonzalez — on possible solutions. You can download the whole document here.