Maura Healey

Massachusetts Hospitals Allowed to Merge After Deal on Price Cap, Medicaid

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey has cleared the way for two major hospital systems to merge after Beth Israel and Lahey Health agreed to a seven-year cap on price increases.

Healey on Thursday announced the filing of a court settlement that allows the 13-hospital merger to go forward, but with several conditions. One is a guarantee the newly-formed Beth Israel Lahey Health will keep prices below a state benchmark for growth in health care costs — currently set at 3.1 percent — for seven years.

The merged systems also must spend more than $70 million on improved access to health care for low-income communities and make efforts to increase its share of Medicaid patients.

Critics argued the merger would lead to steep price hikes and hurt patients at smaller, community-based hospitals.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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