The Massachusetts Health Policy Commission on June 5 voted to conduct its first retrospective cost and market impact review, focusing on the 2019 formation of Beth Israel Lahey Health, the state’s second-largest health system.
“We appreciate the collaboration of Beth Israel Leahy Health as we undertake this assessment, and their continued partnership from our initial assessment of this formation in 2019,” David Seltz, the commission’s executive director, said in a news release. “This review will give the public an opportunity to consider the extent to which BILH has been able to achieve its goals of promoting market competition, expanding access to community-based services, and improving quality across providers in its system.”
Four things to know:
1. The commission authorized the launch of the review after a formal request from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
2. The review will examine the effects of the formation of Beth Israel Lahey Health on healthcare spending, market dynamics, and care access and quality. It will rely on confidential information provided by the health system and other market participants, as well as all available data on measures of healthcare costs, prices, quality and access in Massachusetts.
3. The Massachusetts Health Policy Commission will formally initiate the review later this month.
4. Boston-based Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Lahey Health in Burlington, Mass., officially merged March 1 2019 to become Beth Israel Lahey Health. The health system now includes 14 hospitals and more than 4,700 physicians, according to its website.
“When Beth Israel Lahey Health was formed in 2019, we agreed to several conditions with the state, including participating in a retrospective cost and impact market review by the Health Policy Commission,” a spokesperson for the health system told Becker’s. “We are proud of our commitment to sustaining and expanding access to extraordinary care throughout our communities and to meeting our obligations to the state; we look forward to working with the HPC in the months ahead on this review.”
