Massachusetts moves to contain healthcare costs

Kaiser Health News reported on efforts in Massachusetts to block the expansion proposed by the largest healthcare provider in the state. The healthcare provider is a non-profit institution who reported $442 million in operating income last year, and the proposed expansion was found to be expected to nearly double that figure. Growth in the state's healthcare spending exceeded the target set by the state's health policy commission, and prices from the healthcare provider that proposed the expansion "far exceeded those of other hospital systems."

The healthcare institution has been able to command such a premium in pricing in part because of its size. The institution was formed as the merger of two prominent Boston hospitals, whose merge likely should have been blocked to prevent consolidation in the market. Now the state seems to be mitigating its earlier permissiveness by blocking further expansion.