MGH and Emerson team up on clinic
Suburban center will offer advanced cardiac treatment
Massachusetts General Hospital and Emerson Hospital of Concord are collaborating on an advanced cardiac care clinic that will move some of the Boston teaching hospital's expertise to the suburbs.
While Emerson has cardiologists on staff, the new center will include specialists in heart electrical systems, women's heart disease, and advanced heart failure. The center, to be called the MGH-Emerson Cardiovascular Center, will be located in a medical specialty building about a mile from Emerson.
The collaboration follows an increasingly common template in which academic medical centers create suburban outposts, giving them an expanded geographic reach and a flow of patient referrals. At the same time, suburban hospitals add advanced services without having to hire doctors, and get to piggyback on the better-known hospital's brand name. And suburban patients get access to more specialized medicine without having to drive through the crowded streets surrounding most academic medical centers.
Christine Schuster, chief executive of Emerson Hospital, said she intends to attract cardiac patients that now go to Lahey Clinic, a teaching hospital in Burlington, and other competitors.
"We hope to capture more market share by having an expanded cardiac care program," she said in an interview. "You've got to have strong cardiology in a community hospital."
MGH and Emerson have collaborated before. In 1997, they opened a joint radiation oncology program at the hospital, followed by a program to treat newborns. Earlier this year, the two institutions opened the MassGeneral Hospital for Children at Emerson, providing care for children with complex medical needs.
Dr. Peter Slavin, president of MGH, said Emerson approached his institution about six months ago to explore the cardiac care collaboration.
"We're always talking about opportunities to strengthen the services in the community," said Slavin.
Other suburban hospitals are also adding advanced cardiac programs. In May, Caritas Christi Health Care system said it would expand advanced cardiac care to several of its suburban hospitals.
Mass. General has a treatment center in Waltham, community health centers in Chelsea and Revere, and a variety of collaborations with hospitals like Emerson.
Schuster said the new cardiac center will likely be a 50-50 collaboration, with each institution sharing equally in costs and revenues. The cost of the center hasn't yet been determined. Approval of the plans is required from the state Department of Public Health.
Mass. General will staff the center with cardiac specialists and nurse practitioners. In addition to sharing revenue from patient treatment, the Harvard teaching hospital is looking to the center to refer patients who need the more advanced care available at the hospital's campus near the Longfellow Bridge in Boston, Slavin said.
Ellen Bender, a hospital management consultant at Bender Strategies in Boston, said the new collaboration is a smart move for both institutions.
"They are providing skilled care within the community setting at a lower cost than could be provided in an academic medical center," she said. "Community-based reimbursement is very different than what insurers have to pay at academic medical centers because there is no teaching role at the hospital."
Officials from Emerson and MGH said reimbursement rates had not yet been negotiated with insurers, so they could not say how much lower costs would be for care delivered at the suburban center. While costs for cardiac treatment may be lower at Emerson, it is the reimbursement rate the hospital negotiates with insurance companies that determines the ultimate cost to the healthcare system. Patients with adequate healthcare insurance are unlikely to see much difference in the amount they pay out-of-pocket regardless of where they are treated.
Separately, Schuster said Emerson's financial turnaround was proceeding faster than planned. The hospital expects to lose $3 million in the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30, about $2 million less than what had been budgeted.
The hospital has also hired John O. Wilhelm Jr., the interim chief financial officer, to fill the position permanently.
The Globe reported in March that two senior financial executives at Emerson created documents that misstated the hospital's results. The executives were replaced and the hospital had to restate its results, wiping out $7 million in improperly recorded revenue. The hospital said the misstatements were accidental.
Jeffrey Krasner can be reached at krasner@globe.com. 