Dive Brief:
- Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital, a member of Partners HealthCare, is looking to establish a clinical affiliation with Catholic Medical Center, in Manchester, NH, the Boston Business Journal reported.
- MGH views the affiliation as an opportunity to progress its care and extend its reach by receiving patients or working jointly with Catholic Medical Center to serve its sickest patients, particularly those with heart, vascular, or neuroscience issues.
- Catholic Medical Center stands to benefit from MGH's veterans services and opioid abuse programs.
Dive Insight:
The arrangement would not be a merger but would follow the general industry trend toward consolidations and other alliances - a move that can also sidestep some potential limitations to growth.
In addition, the plan strengthens MGH's presence in New Hampshire, with the announcement following just a week after the hospital inked a deal to acquire New Hampshire's Wentworth-Douglass Hospital, according to the Journal.
Parent organization Partners Healthcare has previously faced some opposition to the system's continued growth, having had two acquisition deals fall apart in 2015 following rejections from the state's attorney general.
Mass General president Dr. Peter Slavin posed the latest affiliation as the new way for the hospital to progress its care. “This is a transformative time for healthcare and for hospitals in particular,” he wrote in a prepared statement. “Working together keeps us ahead of the curve. We each continue to do what we do best, with our patients and providers benefiting from sharing our experiences and expertise.”