Ever-expanding Steward Health Care System is adding Hawthorn Medical Associates to its network of providers. Hawthorn Medical Associates, the Bedford, Ma.-based multi-specialty practice, on Wednesday announced a new 10-year affiliation with Steward, thereby ending its 14-year relationship with Partners Community Healthcare, The Boston Globe reported.
The news comes just eight months after Steward struck a deal with Compass Medical, a former physician group of Partners HealthCare, as well with the physician group Whittier Independent Practice Association previously affiliated with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) a month earlier.
The Steward-Hawthorn deal, however, isn't competitive against Partners, a hospital spokesperson told FierceHealthcare.
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______________________________ "We're not interested in growing just for the sake of growth." ______________________________ |
"We feel that we are complementary with all academic medical centers in Massachusetts," Steward Media Relations Director Chris Murphy said. Because Hawthorn and other physician groups like it offer a level of tertiary and quaternary care that the community hospitals don't provide, such as transplants, Level one trauma care and advanced burn care, the providers and patients can benefit from the new relationship, Murphy explained.
When asked about expansion, Murphy said, "We're not interested in growing just for the sake of growth. We're looking for real (clinical) integration in our communities."
Steward has 11 hospitals in its network with more than 17,000 employees, according to the company website.
For more information:
- see the Boston Globe article
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