Boom: The NY Times reports that NYU Langone Medical Center and Continuum Health Partners (think St. Luke's, Beth Israel) "reached agreement on Wednesday to pursue a merger that would shake up the way medical care is delivered, especially in Manhattan, where hospitals compete to serve some of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the world."
How big a deal is this? Well, the Times explains, "It would create one of the largest health care systems in the city, one that would have immense market power under the new federal health care system, and put pressure on independent medical practices, insurance companies and even rival medical schools, which may have to find other places to train their students."
NYU Langone and Continuum issued a statement (PDF), saying they are undertaking a "comprehensive effort to determine whether to enter into a formal merger agreement that would create a new academic health care system in the City of New York to meet the challenging and evolving health care needs of their communities." Further:
In this next phase, NYU Langone and Continuum Health Partners (CHP) will consider how their partnership could create a fully integrated health care delivery system for the benefit of the people they serve, including underserved populations. Any new partnership would reflect a commitment to the highest standards of clinical care, supported by the most advanced technologies, and integrated with world-class research and teaching programs that would further enhance the collective abilities of the two entities, together with their affiliated physicians. Both entities expect that a successful partnership would achieve economies of scale that reduce health care costs while enhancing the quality of careand allowing for investment in new facilities.
Still, the two hospital groups are just in talks—a NYU spokesperson told the Post, "This is by no means a done deal."
