Boston’s Tufts Medical Center and Lowell General Hospital in Lowell, Mass. announced Monday that they are creating a new health system.
The two organizations will align under a new parent company, yet to be named. Each organization and their physician groups will operate under local governance and have equal representation on the parent company’s board.
The new parent company's chief executive officer will be Normand Deschene, Lowell’s CEO, and its chairperson will be Ellen Zane, vice chair of Tufts Medical Center’s Board of Trustees.
“Our partnership will be the first of its kind in Massachusetts,” said Zane, in the press release announcing the partnership. “This system is not being formed by one entity taking over another, with the academic medical center as the hub of the universe. What we are creating is a ‘round table,’ if you will, predicated on our commitment to managing the health and well-being of the communities we serve. This system we are forming with Lowell General Hospital is powerful both on its own, and as an alternative for other community providers and regional physician groups who share our vision and values.”
“We know from experience that strong hospitals and physician groups like ours seek the scale necessary to leverage collaborative technologies and data sharing that allow us to improve access to affordable, high quality health care for the communities we serve,” said Deschene in the press release. “We believe the market is hungry for this type of value-driven system.”
Executives from Tufts and Lowell told the Boston Globe that many details still have to be hammered out and getting approvals from state and federal agencies could take six months.