Harvard Pilgrim, Partners HealthCare Discuss Possible Merger
Harvard Pilgrim and Partners Healthcare are discussing a possible merger that may combine Massachusetts’s largest payer and provider organizations.
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By - Harvard Pilgrim and Partners HealthCare are engaging in discussion of a possible merger. A deal would combine Massachusetts’s largest payer organization with the state’s largest provider group and may create a dominant healthcare market presence in the state.
Both organizations told the Boston Globe that the potential merger is intended to address healthcare challenges related to patient outcomes, high healthcare costs, and consumer experiences.
“These conversations are occurring in a very dynamic health care environment in which the organizations that will be best positioned for future success are those that can create a truly seamless end-to-end consumer experience that improves health outcomes and lowers costs,” Harvard Pilgrim spokesperson Joan Fallon told the Boston Globe.
Harvard Pilgrim provides insurance to a total of 1.2 million members through commercial health plan products. Partners HealthCare’s provider network consists of prominent organizations, such as Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
“Partners HealthCare is constantly exploring new partnerships and relationships with other providers and insurers with the goal of improving the delivery of health care to patients both locally and around the world,” said Partners HealthCare spokesman Rich Copp. “Harvard Pilgrim is certainly among those organizations.”
Any merger agreement could take more than a year to complete. Due to the scale at which both organizations operate within the state, a potential partnership could face scrutiny from anti-merger critics and the Department of Justice.
