Boston’s prestigious Tufts Medical Center teaching hospital will partner with Lowell General Hospital, a community hospital with two campuses in Lowell, Mass., under a new parent company yet to be named.

The change comes as healthcare reform and implementation of provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) put increasing pressure on hospitals to deliver population health management programs. However, it is not a merger in the traditional sense, explained Ellen Zane, vice chair of the Tufts Medical Center Board of Trustees and chairperson of the new parent company for both hospital systems.

"Our partnership will be the first of its kind in Massachusetts," she stated in the press release. "This system is not being formed by one entity taking over another, with the academic medical center as the hub of the universe. What we are creating is a 'round table,' if you will, predicated on our commitment to managing the health and wellbeing of the communities we serve. This system we are forming with Lowell General Hospital is powerful both on its own, and as an alternative for other community providers and regional physician groups who share our vision and values."

Normand Deschene will serve as chief executive officer for the new parent company. He is currently CEO of Lowell General Hospital, and president and CEO of Circle Health, the hospital’s health system parent organization. According to Lowell General’s most recent annual report, Circle Health was formed in 2012 when Lowell General merged with Saints Medical Center and began operating two hospital campuses as well as more than a dozen satellite organization.

Both organizations are not for profit, but there are still substantial differences between them as Tufts Medical Center is a 415-bed academic medical center with an affiliated children’s hospital. It is the primary teaching hospital of Tufts University’s School of Medicine. Meanwhile, Lowell General is community hospital operator. The reason to come together and break the academic/community hospital divide is partly financial and partly for the improvement of patient care.

"We know from experience that strong hospitals and physician groups like ours seek the scale necessary to leverage collaborative technologies and data sharing that allow us to improve access to affordable, high quality health care for the communities we serve," said Deschene in the press release. "We believe the market is hungry for this type of value-driven system."

According to the two organizations, the new system will leverage population health data and services already available through the Lowell General Hospital system and New England Quality Care Alliance (NEQCA), a network of 1,800 physicians affiliated with Tufts Medical Center. 

"Physicians and hospitals are going to find this unique system attractive in that it provides a level of local control and collaboration between academic and community medicine that currently does not exist," said Jeffrey Lasker, M.D., president and CEO of NEQCA in the press release.