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Adding Milton Hospital, Beth Israel enters new era

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January 03, 2012|By Robert Weisman

Dr. Kevin Tabb (left), CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess, with Milton president… (John Tlumacki/Globe Staff )

Milton Hospital, a community hospital that operated independently for 108 years, is starting 2012 with a new name: Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Milton.

The 81-bed hospital, taken over by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center on Sunday, could represent the first in a string of acquisitions, clinical partnerships, and alliances with physician groups that the Boston teaching hospital will undertake this year. With the health care market changing rapidly and cost pressures increasing, Beth Israel Deaconess is seeking to compete by building a bigger and more integrated health care network.

“Milton is an example of exactly where we intend to go strategically,’’ said Dr. Kevin Tabb, who took over in October as president and chief executive of Beth Israel Deaconess, a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. “We recognize that there will always be a place for academic medical centers to do what can’t be done anywhere else. But we also recognize that there’s a lot of care that can and should be provided in the community.’’

Massachusetts health care providers and insurers have been scrambling for two years to forge alliances and gain scale in anticipation of new state and federal laws that are expected to favor larger medical networks, with the idea they can better manage patient care and costs. In that context, the Milton acquisition is another key step for Beth Israel Deaconess, which has in recent years been quietly assembling a network of hospitals and doctors.

Beth Israel Deaconess has its own physicians group and operates Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Needham. It receives referrals from Atrius Health of Newton, the largest independent doctors organization in the state, and has affiliations with Anna Jaques Hospital in Newburyport and Lawrence General Hospital. It has also held preliminary talks with other potential partners, including Lahey Clinic in Burlington.

But Beth Israel Deaconess trails Partners HealthCare System and Steward Health Care System in size and reach. Partners owns nine Eastern Massachusetts hospitals, including Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women’s, both teaching hospitals.

Steward owns 10 community hospitals.

“There’s no question they [Beth Israel Deaconess] have a long way to go,’’ said Stuart H. Altman, professor of national health policy at Brandeis University in Waltham. “The question is whether they have to go as far and get as big as the others.’’

Altman said Beth Israel Deaconess needs to compete as both an academic medical center and a community hospital network. To do that, he said, it needs to attract more doctors and maintain a strong physician group that can draw patients and negotiate with health plans.