Boston-based Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Burlington, Mass.-based Lahey Health are talking about a merger to better compete with Partners HealthCare, Boston's dominant healthcare provider, according to The Boston Globe.
If the deal goes through, it would significantly alter the state's healthcare market, creating an eight-hospital system across Eastern Massachusetts. The new system would rival Partners' network of 10 hospitals and Boston-based Steward Health Care System's nine.
These talks mark the third time Lahey and Beth Israel Deaconess have discussed a merger. Previous negotiations have failed. Most recently, talks of a three-way merger among Beth Israel Deaconess, Lahey and the physicians network Atrius Health fell apart in February 2014 when executives couldn't agree on who would serve as the new system's chief, according to the report.
Four people with knowledge of the potential deal said negotiations are in the early stages and no agreement has been reached yet, according to the Globe.