Beth Israel-Lahey merger gets bashed by critics as bad for consumers, poor
Health care advocates raised concerns about the proposed merger of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Lahey Health to the City Council yesterday, warning it would drive up health care costs and leave poor residents without access to services.
“I have great respect for these two organizations, but I have grave concerns about what this could do to health care costs and access to care in Boston and Eastern Massachusetts,” said Dr. Michael Wagner, CEO of Tufts Medical Center. “This merger would widen disparities by creating a two-tier system . ... haves and have-nots.”
The merger, which has been backed by the Department of Health, would blend 13 hospitals, including New England Baptist and Mount Auburn hospitals.
It would be one of the largest hospital mergers in Massachusetts history.
Proponents argue the union would provide competition for medical services behemoth Partners HealthCare, parent of Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and yield lower patient costs.
But Wagner and others who testified disagreed.
“The new combined Beth Israel-Lahey system would likely siphon the remaining commercial patients from non-Partners hospitals, community health centers and physicians,” Wagner said. “BI and Lahey will need to recruit physicians. In order for them to recruit physicians, they need to raise costs.”
Attendees also raised concerns about whether the union would cost hospital staff — nurses in particular — their jobs.
But reps from Beth Israel and Lahey said the merger would benefit all populations, including those under Medicaid, and that there would only be layoffs at the highest levels.
“We’ve made no plans for any layoffs,” said David Spackman, general counsel at Burlington-based Lahey. The only employees who might be affected, he said, “are at my level, at the CEO level.”