Tufts Health, Partners Renegotiate For Millions In Savings

Partners HealthCare, the company that owns Mass General and Brigham & Women's hospitals, says it is taking another voluntary step to reduce health care spending in the state.

Partners opened an existing contract with Tufts Health Plan and renegotiated a lower payment rate. The change will save Tufts about $105 million.

Tufts CEO Jim Roosevelt says Partners will also move to payments that are based on keeping people healthy, not just on how many services doctors provide.

"The opportunity that gives for patients and their doctors to reach decisions on their care for the right reasons is really exciting," Roosevelt said.

The larger context for this is that hospitals are under increasing pressure to show what they can do to address rising health care costs.