Southcoast Health, Care New England Merger Moves Forward

The potential merger between Southcoast Health and the Rhode Island-based Care New England took another step forward after it was announced on Monday that Southcoast Health filed a Notice of Material Change with the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission.

Southcoast Health President Keith Hovan told WBSM News now that the filing has been received it's possible that the commission may request an additional review.

"The process is called a CMIR or Comprehensive Market Impact Review," said Hovan "if it's determined that we need to move through the CMIR it might take several months to complete."

As merger efforts continue, many groups, including labor unions, have expressed concerned about a reduction in staff.

Hovan said those same concerns were echoed when Charlton Memorial Hospital, St. Luke's Hospital, and Tobery Hospital merged in 1996 to create Southcoast Health.

"It was the exact question that was being asked at that particular point in time 'what will happen to the number of people being employed?'" siad Hovan "at that point we had 3,600 employees, fast forward to today where 7,400 individuals working for the organization."

Hovan also addressed concerns about the potential closure of some offices in either Wareham, New Bedford, or Fall River saying he doesn't see that happening.

"We anticipate no closures of any of those three offices," said Hovan "but as you might imagine we cover geography that spans over 40 miles so it's amazing what you can accomplish in any location that we might happen to be at on any given day with just an iphone and a computer."

Hovan says public hearings will be scheduled in collaboration and consultation with Care New England and the regulatory authorities in both states.