Mass. Deal With Nonprofit Health Giant Caps Price Increases

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley and nonprofit Partners HealthCare, the state’s largest medical system, reached an agreement Monday that will allow Partners to complete two planned acquisitions but limits price hikes across its network to the rate of inflation, reports The Boston Globe.

The deal was spurred by a determination by the state Health Policy Commission in February that Partners’ purchase of South Shore Hospital in Weymouth, Mass., would likely reduce competition and raise health care costs. Ms. Coakley said that by limiting Partners’ power to negotiate rate hikes, the deal will “better control health costs for families and businesses, and help level the playing field in the market.’’

Pending court approval, the agreement will allow Partners to acquire South Shore and Hallmark Health Systems but blocks the system from expansion in some parts of Massachusetts for seven years and from raising costs beyond inflation through 2020. Inflation has averaged 1 to 2 percent in recent years, well below the network’s rate increases over the past decade.