Third Medical Facility Merges

The second merger in less than a month involving Harvard teaching hospitals was announced this week when Mount Auburn Hospital agreed to join a merger between Beth Israel and Deaconess Hospitals.

Beth Israel Hospital and the Pathway Health Network, the parent company of Deaconess Hospital, announced three weeks ago that they were initiating a complete merger.

Mount Auburn will not join the physical merger of the two hospitals, but will join them in the creation of a new common parent company, according to Erin C. Martin, spokesperson for Deaconess Hospital.

The addition of Mount Auburn Hospital to the existing merger plan between Beth Israel and Deaconess will allow the hospitals to increase their economic efficiency, Martin said.

She said the merger between the hospitals will enable them to order supplies in greater quantity and negotiate insurance at "more reasonable rates."

The Deaconess and Beth Israel merger will create a new medical center, which will be located at the hospitals' neighboring sites in the Boston Longwood medical area.

"Should the merger go through, there would be a complete consolidation from both clinical and administrative services," Martin said.

Mount Auburn Hospital, which is located on 330 Mt. Auburn St., would remain a separate facility, Martin said.

Still, the three hospitals will combine their resources into a single corporation with more than $1 billion in revenue, 9,000 employees and 1,800 physicians.

That new corporation would provide competition for the Harvard-affiliated Partners HealthCare System Inc., the $1.8 billion conglomerate formed when Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital merged in 1993.

"Now if all this goes through, that makes us a player as well," Martin said.

The merger of Mount Auburn, Deaconess and Beth Israel, all affiliates of Harvard Medical School, will not change the hospitals' relations with the school.

"[The merger] will not only produce more responsive and cost-effective health care...but also strengthen and foster greater coordination of academic programs," according to a statement from the Medical School