Partners HealthCare announces rebranding to Mass General Brigham
The new name aligns more closely to the system's academic medical centers and is being launched at the same time as a five-year strategic plan.
Partners HealthCare will become Mass General Brigham in a rebranding of the multi-hospital health system which was formed by the academic medical centers, Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital.
The new name more closely aligns the system to that of the trusted healthcare brands of the academic medical centers, Partners said.
President and CEO Dr. Anne Klibanski unveiled the rebranding and a five-year strategic plan in a letter last week to the system's 75,000 employees.
The move is being made based on feedback from patients and employees and extensive market research and was approved by a vote of the board.
It is being done at the same time as the health system has announced a five-year strategic plan. The Partners HealthCare name has been in existence for over 25 years but the name more closely reflects the vision for the system, Klibanski said.
WHY THIS MATTERS
The initial rebranding effort began a year ago with a goal to strengthen regional, national and international recognition for the ongoing work of the healthcare system, Partners said.
It wants to reinforce its presence as the "go to" place for care and consolidate and expand its national and international impact on health.
Other five-year strategic goals are to build on the strong track record for innovations in diagnostics, therapeutics, devices and data analytics and to focus on value-based models in primary care, secondary care and behavioral health.
Partners' expansion in recent years included, notably, a move northward into New Hampshire in 2017 when it added Wentworth-Douglass Hospital in Dover.
Another attempted move to partner with a hospital in Exeter, New Hampshire, was recently opposed by that state's attorney general over antitrust concerns. In 2018, Exeter Health Resources, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Wentworth-Douglass Hospital signed a letter of intent to explore developing a new regional network to collaboratively deliver healthcare within the larger New Hampshire Seacoast region.
Partners also wanted to add Harvard Pilgrim Health Care to its integrated system, though those merger talks ended last year. Harvard Pilgrim has since announced it is combining with the Tufts Health Plan.
Harvard Pilgrim would have given Partners further northern reach through analytics company Benevera Health. In 2015, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care joined with New Hampshire hospitals Dartmouth-Hitchcock, Elliot Health System and Frisbie Memorial to create Benevera for proactive care intervention. The Benevera system has since expanded to include St. Joseph Hospital, which is located in southern New Hampshire.
The current Partners HealthCare system serves more than 1.5 million patients and receives nearly $2 billion in research funding annually, the system said.
THE LARGER TREND
Partners is a large health system based in Boston, within the relatively compact and competitive New England area.
Klibanski was named president and CEO in June, succeeding Dr. David Torchiana when he announced plans to retire. She had been named interim president and CEO in February.
She took over as CEO at a time when task forces under her interim leadership completed their work and planned to begin implementing their recommendations, the Partner's board said at the time.
ON THE RECORD
"The overall aim of our strategy and new name is to create the premier integrated healthcare system of the future, built on the strong reputations of our academic medical centers," Klibanski said. "We will increasingly work as a single healthcare system that delivers excellence across the full spectrum of healthcare and is enabled by the strength of research, innovation, new technologies, our valued employees and work we do in communities – work that will impact health worldwide."
Twitter: @SusanJMorse
Email the writer: susan.morse@himssmedia.com
