Boston Children's Hospital has gained the support of Mass. Gov. Charlie Baker (R) on its proposed $1 billion expansion plan, despite opposition from competing hospitals and patients' families, according to The Boston Globe.
Additionally, the children's hospital attained support from the head of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, the largest payer in the state, and Jack Connors, former chairman of Boston-based Partners HealthCare, according to the report.
The expansion involves building an 11-story building at the hospital's Longwood campus and an outpatient center in Brookline. Smaller competing hospitals and a state watchdog agency, the Health Policy Commission, have warned that the proposal is likely to increase state medical spending. In the commission's September report on the proposal, it projects the expansion could raise spending in Massachusetts between $8.5 million and $18.1 million each year.
Smaller competing children's hospitals worry an expansion to Boston Children's, which is one of the top-rated pediatric hospitals in the U.S., would attract patients away from lower-priced facilities.
Many patients' families have also been protesting the expansion because it requires building over the beloved Prouty Garden on the hospital campus.
But last week, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health issued preliminary approval of the Boston Children's Hospital expansion, though it attached some conditions to ensure the hospital does not pass excessive costs of the new facilities on to patients and payers. If the hospital fails to comply with the conditions, it could face fines and limits to the number of new beds it can house.