Beth Israel Deaconess and New England Baptist Partnership

The two hospitals hope to become the leading destination for orthopedic care.

New England Baptist Hospital (NEBH), a hospital in Roxbury Crossing that specializes in orthopedic care, and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) are forming a “strategic relationship.”

The proposed partnership will combine NEBH’s clinical expertise and as an orthopedic specialty hospital and BIDMC’s depth and research as a teaching hospital in order to become the go-to destination for orthopedic care on a national level. However, the partnership still has to be reviewed by the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission, and implementation won’t take place until the review is finalized. 

According to the Globe, this is not a full “merger” but the sides will work together:

Details of the joint venture weren’t spelled out in a statement released by the two hospitals. But in the initial phase, they said, they would develop a “clinical integration strategy and plan for growth.”

Part of that strategy will involve working together to provide orthopedic care through an expanding network of community hospitals and physicians that Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess has been building.

In the short term, each hospital will continue to provide orthopedic services at their own hospitals.

Dr. Mark C. Gebhardt, chief of the BIDMC Department of Orthopedic Surgery says that the new relationship will enhance quality and create opportunities to further develop the skills of orthopedic residents, fellows, and newly practicing physicians in the fields of orthopedics, rheumatology, physical medicine, and rehabilitation. “[It will] advance medical knowledge through clinical and basic science research,” he says.