A report commissioned by Partners HealthCare rebuts a pivotal investigation by Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley's office, which found that the market clout of the best-paid providers in Massachusetts is a main driver of the state's spiraling healthcare costs. In a 14-page analysis released by Partners, former state public health official Paul Dreyer said that the attorney general's staff used flawed methodology to reach conclusions in its 77-page report, and that a major reason the cost of healthcare has soared in Massachusetts is that hospital quality overall has improved and not because influential providers have demanded higher fees.
