After months of discussion, Boston-based Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Burlington, Mass.-based Lahey Health unveiled the new brand under which their proposed merged company will operate, according to The Boston Globe.
Here are five things to know about the brand.
1. Officials announced the merged company's name would be Beth Israel Lahey Health. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center CEO Kevin Tabb, MD, said in a prepared statement the name "signifies a new beginning while harnessing the strength of our revered legacies."
2. The proposed merger, which received a key approval from the Massachusetts Public Health Council last month, will comprise five healthcare organizations, including BIDMC; Lahey Health; Boston-based New England Baptist Hospital; Cambridge, Mass.-based Mount Auburn Hospital; and Newburyport, Mass.-based Anna Jaques Hospital. If successful, the 13-hospital system will become the second-largest hospital chain in the state in revenue, behind Boston-based Partners HealthCare.
3. Dr. Tabb, who will reportedly become CEO of the combined entity, said each hospital in the system will retain its own brand.
4. The deal is still subject to approval by the state attorney general's office and the state's healthcare watchdog organization, the Health Policy Commission, which analyzes how mergers and acquisitions may affect patient costs and access to care.
5. The proposed merger has been criticized by some health experts, including Boston-based Tufts Medical Center President and CEO Michael Wagner, MD, who said, it "would likely siphon the remaining commercial patients from non-Partners hospitals, community health centers and physicians."