Boston-based Partners HealthCare System has signed a letter of intent to acquire Neighborhood Health Plan, a Boston-based health insurer that covers more than 240,000 mostly low-income residents in the state, according to a Boston Globe report.
By acquiring the non-profit payor, Partners would create a niche in the private health insurance business. As part of the cashless transaction, Partners would contribute an unspecified sum to provide grants to more than 50 community health centers affiliated with Neighborhood Health.
The affiliation would raise the possibility of Partners competing with other large insurers and offering employers a limited network of Partners hospitals and physicians, according to the report.
Regulators are expected to examine the deal with a fine-tooth comb, since Partners' teaching hospitals (such as Brigham and Women's and Massachusetts General, both in Boston) have been cited by Attorney General Martha Coakley for using their market power to command higher prices for care than other smaller hospitals.
Read the Boston Globe report on Partners HealthCare and Neighborhood Health Plan.
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By acquiring the non-profit payor, Partners would create a niche in the private health insurance business. As part of the cashless transaction, Partners would contribute an unspecified sum to provide grants to more than 50 community health centers affiliated with Neighborhood Health.
The affiliation would raise the possibility of Partners competing with other large insurers and offering employers a limited network of Partners hospitals and physicians, according to the report.
Regulators are expected to examine the deal with a fine-tooth comb, since Partners' teaching hospitals (such as Brigham and Women's and Massachusetts General, both in Boston) have been cited by Attorney General Martha Coakley for using their market power to command higher prices for care than other smaller hospitals.
Read the Boston Globe report on Partners HealthCare and Neighborhood Health Plan.
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