How Mass. General and Brigham and Women's are driving up your health-care costs

Paul Levy, CEO at Partners HealthCare frenemy Beth Israel Deaconess, reports he dismissed complaints from friends at Norwood Hospital about the MGH/Brigham clinic under construction in Foxboro - until this past Friday, when he gave a speech at a meeting at neighboring Gillette Stadium and was stunned to see how huge the thing is:

... [T]he two facilities are merely 8.5 miles apart, making them indistinguishable to many patients in terms of transportation access. Since insurance companies pay community doctors in the Partners system substantially more than those in the Caritas Christi system, it will be easier to recruit physicians to offer services in Foxboro than in Norwood. Does this difference in reimbursement rates reflect a documented difference in the quality of care between the community-based doctors in the two systems? No.

Now, let's acknowledge that MGH and the Brigham are powerful brands. To the extent patients are influenced by that reputation or other factors to migrate to the PHS facility from Norwood Hospital, the overall health care bill for the state will rise for no documented additional value to those patients or society. ...