In a major step towards further integration, the state’s largest health system is combining the clinical departments and academic programs across Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Over the next few years, MGB will combine departments across the two hospitals, like the departments of orthopedics or dermatology, and appoint one chair to lead them, the health system announced Wednesday.
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Mass General and Brigham and Women's are two of the most highly-ranked academic hospitals in the country. They merged in 1994, becoming the flagship hospitals of Partners HealthCare, which was renamed Mass General Brigham in 2019. Despite their 30-year affiliation, the two academic medical centers have until now largely operated as separate hospitals under MGB's umbrella.
There's not yet a date where the process is expected to be completed, though the health system said the timing for the finalization of each department’s transformation will be dependent on size, complexity, and discipline.
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As part of this restructuring, MGH’s current president, Dr. David Brown, will move into a new role as president of Mass General Brigham’s Academic Medical Centers. The Brigham’s former president, Dr. Robert Higgins, stepped down in January.
“This is about elevating the quality of care we provide,” Brown told the Business Journal. “It's about expanding access to make it more seamless for our patients as they seek our care across our AMCs, it's about continuing to work to elevate the health of the communities that we serve, and it's about improving the care of the patients of the future by deepening our commitment to educating the next generation of clinicians and scientists."
Dr. Marcela del Carmen, current president of the MGH's Physicians Organization, will become president of Mass General, and Dr. Giles Boland, current president of BWH’s Physicians Organization, will become president of the Brigham.
