BOSTON (AP) — The planned takeover of three suburban hospitals, including Melrose-Wakefield, by Partners Healthcare has been further delayed by a judge who raised serious concerns about the deal.
Partners, the state’s biggest health care system, has been trying for three years to merge with South Shore Hospital in Weymouth and take over Lawrence Memorial in Medford and Melrose-Wakefield Hospital.
Attorney General Martha Coakley brokered a deal that would allow Partners to expand, while setting price caps and other limits to protect consumers.
The Boston Globe reported this week Superior Court Judge Janet Sanders said at a hearing Monday she has “substantial concerns,” particularly when it comes to health care costs for Massachusetts residents. Sanders is reviewing the deal Coakley and Partners agreed to.
She scheduled a hearing for Nov. 10.
Critics of the deal say it gives Partners too much control over the market and would boost costs.
In July, during a public hearing held in Melrose by the state Department of Public Health, those attending were overwhelmingly in support of the Partners deal with Hallmark Health, which runs Melrose-Wakefield Hospital and Lawrence Memorial. Of the dozens who spoke in favor of the merger, many said the affiliation would ensure that Hallmark’s hospitals have the ability to invest in facilities, infrastructure and technology needed to meet the future needs of patients and communities served by those hospitals.
According to the Globe, Sanders told a croweded courtroom, “I do have some very substantial concerns about the impact of this. I’m sure there’s significance to it, particularly in the efficient delivery of high-quality medical care, but where I have serious concerns is the impact the settlement has on Massachusetts, on the health care costs of all Massachusetts citizens.”
Partners’ lawyers argued that the courtroom is not the place to fix health care policy.
— The Associated Press contributed to this report.
