Administrators also touted the move in a memodated yesterday to the employees of Brigham andWomen's Hospital and MGH--the first suchcommunication to staff about the merger.
"Through this merger, we have combined ourstrengths to better prepare ourselves to meet therevolution in managed care," read the memo fromMGH General Director J. Robert Buchanan andNesson.
"By merging, we believe we will be able tooffer the best resources for patient care,research, and teaching through an efficient,cost-effective delivery system," Buchanan andNesson wrote.
Cost-effectiveness also seemed to be on themind of Medical School Dean Daniel C. Tosteson '44at the Wednesday press conference. He called themerger a "momentous step" that he hopes will allowthe two hospitals to provide "the highest qualityof health care at an affordable cost to thelargest possible population in the greater Bostonarea."
Several doctors and nurses agree the merger isa good idea.
Dr. Joseph Rhatigan of Brigham and Women's saysone of the merger's greatest effects would come inthe form of financial savings.
"I don't think there will be any differences interms of services, but there probably will befinancial savings," he says. "For example, rightnow there are duplicate services provided by thetwo hospitals, such as transplants, that will bestopped."
Dr. Eugene Braunwald, chair of Brigham andWomen's department of medicine, said at the pressconference the merger will lower costs by trimmingredundant services and reducing the hospitals'excess capacities.
"I think it can eliminate the duplication ofservices, reduce costs and improve care,"Braunwald said.
Nurse Kevin J. Flinn of Beth Israel ambulatoryservices says he hopes the other hospitals willjoin Brigham and Women's and MGH in theconsolidation.
"I think Beth Israel being part of the mergerof Harvard teaching hospitals would make sense,"Flinn says. "I don't think it would compromiseservices and costs would probably be reduced. Theywould have to save money on central administrationcosts and the added purchasing power wouldprobably lead to better prices on medical items."
Though it appears the five hospitals have theultimate goal of joining forces, for now the threehospitals not included in the merger are moreconcerned with the effects the current move willhave on them.
Beth Israel's Dr. Joshua Bloomstone says hethinks his hospital can benefit from the merger.
"I think the merger is potentially good forBeth Israel because Mass General and the Brighammight now form their own HMO [health maintenanceorganization] and then [Harvard Community HealthPlan] will pull out. And if that happens theymight come here," he says. "This merger gives usthe possibility of merging with Deaconess to forman Ob-Gyn center."
The merger has national implications beyond thehighly-concentrated population of health careworkers in the Boston area, as the Clintonadministration pushes for reforms in health care.
One key player in the merger, Business SchoolDean John H. McArthur, cited the changing natureof health care as a major factor in the hospitals'move, calling the merger "just a small step in thereordering of health care."
Boston is not the first city to attempt amerger of this kind. Other cities--most recently,Minneapolis--have responded similarly to thehospitals' growing size and to the growing numberof HMOs, says one health care expert who requestedanonymity.
The implication of such recent moves, then, isthat "consolidation"--one of the corporate buzzwords of the '90s--has arrived in health care. Forstaff at those hospitals, as they know all toowell, "consolidation" may mean "unemployment."