Whittier Independent Practice Association, a large physician group that was wooed by Boston-based Steward Health Care in 2011, is defecting back to the physician organization at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, according to a Boston Globe report.
Haverhill, Mass.-based Whittier IPA and its 150 physicians affiliated with the for-profit Steward under the possibility of making up to $3 million more than their previous year through a global payment contract Steward secured with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. The group was previously affiliated with the PHO at Beth Israel Deaconess.
Steward's affiliation with the IPA caused a stir, leaving the Massachusetts Council of Community Hospitals asking the state Attorney General Martha Coakley to review the Steward-Whittier contracts. The community hospital group was concerned "such apparent predatory actions" would spread to affect community hospitals.
Beth Israel Deaconess' new agreement with Whittier, in partnership with Anna Jaques Hospital in Newburyport, Mass., will add about 200 physicians to the BIDMC network. "It's a blow to the upstart Steward system, which has been aggressively growing its medical footprint in Massachusetts," according to the report.
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