Spotlight: Massachusetts Blues' alternative quality contracts signal hospitals' risk-based future

The national health system will likely follow Massachusetts' lead and inch toward global payments, said Craig Schneider, director of healthcare policy for the Massachusetts Health Data Consortium, reports Healthcare Finance News. But that doesn't mean hospitals won't be able to make money--especially if they take on some risk. New York private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management appears to believe risk can bring reward, tying its purchase of Caritas Christi Health Care to the negotiation of a successor agreement to an alternative quality contract (AQC) that the Boston-based nonprofit hospital chain signed last year with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSMA), reports the Boston Globe. FierceHealthFinance