North Shore Health System to become member of Partners Network.

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 19, 1994--Partners HealthCare System, Inc. and the North Shore Health System (NSHS) today announced that NSHS plans to join Partners' growing integrated network, a move that both organizations say will help ensure the continued delivery of the full range of high-quality, coordinated services to people living and working on the North Shore.

NSHS, a regional integrated health care delivery system, was created earlier this year by 250 North Shore physicians and The North Shore Medical Center, comprised of Salem Hospital, North Shore Children's Hospital, Shaughnessy-Kaplan Rehabilitation Hospital, and the VNA of Greater Salem. NSHS will join Partners Community HealthCare, Inc., the integrated network of Partners HealthCare System, the organization overseeing the affiliation of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital.

The relationship between NSHS and Partners reflects a vision for the future of health care, according to John Fallon, M.D., president of the NSHS. "By becoming part of this growing network of providers, we will be best able to continue to serve the residents of the North Shore in the years ahead," he says. "Health care providers cannot compromise quality despite growing pressures to reduce costs. Close integration of providers and systems offers an enormous opportunity to increase efficiency of care, thereby reducing costs while improving the patient's care and experience."

The addition of the NSHS represents an important step in the building of the Partners network, says Ellen Zane, Network president of Partners. "The North Shore Health System has been enormously successful in bringing together physicians and high-quality health care institutions in a partnership that has benefited patients, a strategy similar to that of Partners. We see the North Shore Health System as an ideal addition to our network and an anchor organization for Partners in the region north of Boston."

According to the agreement signed by the two organizations, NSHS will be Partners' primary geographic affiliate for provision of community-based health services on the North Shore. NSHS will continue to expand its local primary care physician network and form relationships with other integrated resources to meet community needs. NSHS will also develop a long-range strategic business plan for its geographic area that will incorporate mutually established objectives. In addition, NSHS will be involved in developing a Partners information system, quality assurance programs and other initiatives to benefit patients.

"Our integrated health care system encourages patients to continue to receive primary and secondary care from physicians they have come to know and trust, in high-quality facilities that are close to home," Zane says.

Dr. Fallon adds that people on the North Shore will also benefit directly from the progress being made and the knowledge being generated at Partners' founding academic medical centers. "Our affiliation agreement specifically addresses the commitment of both organizations to the early introduction, within the network, of advances in medical knowledge that are developed by the world-renowned research centers at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital."

Stanley Reczek, executive director of the North Shore Health System, describes the affiliation plans as the logical extension of the strategic plans of the NSHS. "For 25 years, Salem Hospital and MGH physicians have maintained strong clinical links, most recently evidenced by a new joint physician training program in advanced cancer care," says Reczek. "Linking North Shore Health System and Partners is the natural next step in developing a truly comprehensive, integrated health care network."

In addition to Partners' two founding tertiary care hospitals and the planned affiliation with NSHS, the network encompasses several physician groups, including the Cape Ann Medical Center in Gloucester. Discussions are continuing with more than 30 other physician groups and several community hospitals in Eastern Massachusetts, according to Zane.

CONTACT: North Shore Health System

             Ann Blessing, 508/741-1215, ext. 2010
                            or
             Partners HealthCare System Inc.
             Georgia Peirce, 617/724-6423
             Michelle Scarlatelli, 617/732-5008