What will become of the medical mecca? Health care spending in Massachusetts.

Massachusetts has been called a "medical mecca." It has also been called the world's most expensive health care market. This paper concludes that claims of excess costs in Massachusetts are overstated. Massachusetts hospitals have lower inpatient costs than peer institutions in other states, yet the state's concentration of academic hospitals tilts the system toward higher spending. In markets like Massachusetts, there is growing pressure to demonstrate tangible benefits to justify the additional costs of academic health centers (AHCs). Applying new information technologies to proactively manage patients with expensive chronic illnesses is a critical area for future collaboration between payers and AHCs.