Partners HealthCare and Massachusetts Eye and Ear issued a seven-page response Thursday challenging a Nov. 1 report by a Massachusetts healthcare watchdog agency that claimed healthcare costs would skyrocket as a result of the organizations' proposed acquisition agreement, The Boston Globe reports.
The Health Policy Commission said in its Nov. 1 report the deal would raise the cost of MEE's services, increasing spending by $20.8 million to $61.2 million per year.
In response, the two Boston-based institutions said the commission overstated potential cost increases and underestimated MEE's financial challenges. Officials said the hospital's financial situation would worsen and that the hospital had to join with a larger hospital system in order to stay afloat.
"These financial challenges, if left unchecked, will ultimately erode access for patients within the Commonwealth to MEE's high-quality ophthalmology and otolaryngology services and will weaken MEE's world-class research program," officials wrote in their response.
The organizations also said the overall goal of the acquisition is "only to seek market competitive hospital rates for MEE," which officials claimed would be much less than the amount the commission had predicted in its report.
A spokesperson for the Health Policy Commission told The Boston Globe Thursday the agency will review Partners and MEE's joint response before issuing a final report about the deal in the coming weeks.
While the commission cannot block the merger, the organization can share its concerns with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and the state attorney general's office, which maintains the authority to block the deal.
Partners and MEE initially announced the proposed transaction in January and signed an agreement in May.