In an interview this fall, Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association President and CEO Lynn Nicholas said we’re only seeing the tip of the iceberg when it comes to changes in Massachusetts health care.
With hospital mergers, affiliations and expansions already on the table for a number of Central Massachusetts providers, Nicholas is almost certainly right.
If 2016 was a bustling year for this industry, 2017 will at least keep pace and it may be even be more disruptive, as brewing plans come to pass. Here are some important topics to follow next year.
Mergers & affiliations
There are some major Central Massachusetts deals pending that will tighten the web of healthcare providers in the Bay State.
HealthAlliance Hospital in Leominster and Clinton Hospital, both part of the UMass Memorial Health Care system, received preliminary approval to proceed with a merger last month.
Meanwhile, Steward Health Care is vying for a similar stamp of approval from the Health Policy Commission to acquire the 200-member Central Massachusetts Independent Physician Association, potentially bringing a big Boston player into the region.
And a clinical affiliation expected to move forward between Framingham-based MetroWest Medical Center and Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, owned by Partners HealthCare, would add dimension to the provider mix.
Community-based expansion
Community-based health care will continue to grow.
Providers are casting wider nets and looking outside the hospital to increase patient volume, and beefing up services in areas that have been historically underserved. For instance, Southbridge-based Harrington HealthCare, a relatively small player in Massachusetts, is weighing building new offices in Northeastern Connecticut.
And new urgent care centers have continued to open in and around Worcester, driving patient volume into healthcare systems.
More risk
For years, providers have been heralding the coming of risk-based contracting as the new method for insurers to pay providers for their services. Encouraged by federal healthcare reform, risk-based contracts reward providers for taking care of patients on a budget. These arrangements are expected to become more widespread in Massachusetts, thanks to an overhaul of the state’s Medicaid program, MassHealth.
Experts have said that with MassHealth transitioning to risk-based contracting, the balance may begin to tip toward this payment method, and away from fee-for-service payments, which have dominated until now.
