Waiver pits Mass. health orgs against each other
Massachusetts health officials barred hospitals from opening new cardiac catheterization units within 30 minutes of similar services, but regulators exempted Steward Health Care from this ban over the summer. Now rival healthcare systems are crying foul, reports the Boston Globe.
The policy change has paved the way for Steward to transfer its catheterization unit from Quincy Medical Center, which is closing, to Saint Anne’s Hospital in Fall River. But Steward’s competitor in the region, Southcoast Health System, is worried that the new competition will siphon away patients.