State panel to examine payments to Partners

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick has formed a panel of top state officials, which will look into whether a recently disclosed, eight-year-old agreement between Partners HealthCare System Inc. and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts drove up healthcare costs and in turn made it harder to extend insurance to all residents. The panel will also look at current contract negotiations between Partners, and other insurers to see whether the negotiations might also create artificially high rates that threaten healthcare reform.