MA state report flags Partners HealthCare over cost of care

A new state report issued last week has reconfirmed what few have contested: that Partners HealthCare is more expensive than the typical care provider in Massachusetts. The report, issued Feb. 25 by the Center for Health Information and Analysis, used commercial insurance data to determine where local care providers rank when it comes to the price of care. CHIA said the data showed Partners HealthCare as the only health system in the commonwealth where all of its hospitals — eight in all — are more expensive than the state average. Comparatively, only two of CareGroup's five hospitals were higher than state averages, as were two of Lahey's three hospitals and one of UMass Memorial's four hospitals.