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BOSTON (State House News Service) - Health care system overseers in Massachusetts say they are working to measure the impact of a pair of industry deals on care costs, quality and access.
According to the Health Policy Commission, it recently received notices concerning UnitedHealth Group's proposed acquisition of Amedisys, a for-profit home health and hospice care company based in Louisiana.
Amedisys owns 19 home health, hospice or palliative care locations across Massachusetts. Minnesota-based United's providers in Massachusetts include Atrius, Reliant Medical Group, and Caretenders, which offers home health services.
The commission is also exploring the proposed clinical affiliation between Tufts Medicine and the Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings, a multinational provider of lab services headquartered in North Carolina.
Labcorp operates 2,000 labs across the U.S., including locations in 10 eastern and central Massachusetts cities and towns, and recently acquired Tufts' outreach laboratory business. Under this proposed transaction, according to the HPC, Labcorp would provide administrative, staffing, and other services for Tufts hospital labs, managing and staffing the inpatient and outpatient labs at Tufts Medical Center, Lowell General Hospital, and MelroseWakefield Hospital.
HPC Executive Director David Seltz last month said that health care spending in Massachusetts is "moving in the wrong direction" 11 years after enactment of a landmark cost containment law, and that regulators will make another pass at convincing lawmakers to support a new approach.
Written By Michael Norton/SHNS
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