What price cost control? Massachusetts' new hospital payment law.

On October 1, 1982, Chapter 372 of the Massachusetts Legislative Acts of 1982, governing how each of the commonwealth's 121 hospitals is to be paid for the next six years, became effective. The new law is intended to improve the Massachusetts health-care system in two ways: by reversing the growth of overall hospital spending throughout the commonwealth, and by limiting perceived inequities in the allocation of hospital costs among private insurance companies, Blue Cross, the Medicare and Medicaid programs, and privately paying patients. Controlling Hospital Costs As in other states, overall spending for hospitals in Massachusetts has been increasing at . . .