N.E. Health, Lahey form affiliation

The non-profit Northeast Health System, which includes Beverly Hospital and its satellite Beverly Hospital Danvers, Addison Gilbert Hospital in Gloucester and BayRidge Hospital in Lynn, announced Tuesday it is affiliating with Lahey Clinic, the physician-led non-profit teaching hospital of Tufts University School of Medicine which includes Lahey Clinic campuses in Burlington and Peabody.The Northeast Health System Board of Trustees unanimously accepted the recommendation of its Affiliate Advisory Committee to enter into the alliance with Lahey, after announcing last January it was pursuing new partnerships.Lori Howley, director of marketing communications and public relations for Northeast Health System, emphasized in a telephone interview with the Item that the affiliation “is not a takeover and it is not a purchase,” and that Northeast Health System and Lahey Clinic will continue as separate subsidiaries of a newly formed parent company, Lahey Health System, which will be led by Dr. Howard Grant as president and CEO.Grant is Lahey Clinic?s current president and CEO.Northeast Health System today employs about 5,000. Lahey Clinic, according to a statement released by the two organizations, employs more than 5,000 including 500 physicians and 1,100 nurses.Asked if the new alliance will result in job cuts at Northeast, Howley said, “It?s really too early to say. We?re just entering the definitive agreement process.”Northeast and Lahey will have equal representation on the board of the new Lahey Health System, Howley said.?Northeast Health System is a financially strong system and renowned for its high quality rating,” Howley said, adding it was under the guidance of Northeast President and CEO Ken Hanover that this “proactive step is being taken to ensure that the right kind of care and right level of services are provided in the right communities to meet patient needs and meet the challenges of health care reform.?Lahey Clinic and Northeast Health System have a long history of collaborative care and this affiliation will help leverage our synergies,” Howley added.There is no immediate plan for significant changes to any of the Northeast Health System campuses, Howley said.Hanover, in a prepared statement, said, “With Lahey Clinic, we believe we will be able to create a premier healthcare delivery system that significantly increases the accessibility of leading-edge clinical services for our patients, while creating an infrastructure that promotes efficiencies, quality and synergy of services.”Efforts to reach a Lahey administrator for comment Tuesday were not successful, but in the same prepared statement, Grant, Lahey?s CEO, commented, “Lahey Clinic and Northeast will make a great healthcare team ? Together we will provide greater value to patients by enhancing the scope and quality of services that can be delivered to patients in their own communities.”The alliance of Lahey Clinic and Northeast Health forms the largest single competitor in the region for Partners Healthcare, parent of North Shore Medical Center in Salem, Union Hospital in Lynn and The Mass General/North Shore Center for Outpatient Care on Endicott Street in Danvers.A North Shore Medical Center spokesman said Tuesday it?s too soon for it to comment on the Lahey-Northeast alliance.