Mass General, Brigham and Women’s, and Newton-Wellesley are some of Boston’s biggest names in health care and have one big thing in common: they all belong to the Partners HealthCare System, which is embroiled in a five-year fight to expand its network even further.
Partners is already the state’s largest health care system, with most of its hospitals in the Boston area, a few on the Cape and Islands and one out in Northampton. If its proposed acquisitions go through, Partners will add three more hospitals to its network: South Shore Hospital in Weymouth and two Hallmark Health System Hospitals in Melrose and Medford.
A hearing on an antitrust settlement that Attorney General Martha Coakley reached with Partners is scheduled for Aug. 5, but Thursday, Coakley asked to postpone it for more than a month, saying she wants to renegotiate parts of the settlement.
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Dr. Howard Grant is the President and CEO of Lahey Health, which has hospitals in Burlington, Lexington and Peabody.
