Marlborough Hospital to merge with UMass Memorial Medical Center

Photo | Grant Welker Marlborough Hospital, part of the UMass Memorial Health Care system

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By Alison Kuznitz I State House News Service

Public health regulators approved the merger of UMass Memorial Medical Center (UMMMC) and Marlborough Hospital on Wednesday, with the licensing overhaul deepening an existing affiliation that's expected to improve patient care and reduce operating costs.

The UMass Memorial Health system encompasses UMMMC, an academic medical center, and four community hospitals, including the 79-bed Marlborough Hospital. All hospitals in the system are licensed independently, and Marlborough Hospital is the smallest of the facilities, said Dennis Renaud, director of the Determination of Need program at the Department of Public Health.

The Public Health Council approved UMass Memorial Health's DoN application for a transfer of ownership, allowing Marlborough Hospital to become a licensed campus of UMMMC. Marlborough Hospital, while formerly owned by a different nonprofit, has already been affiliated with UMass Memorial for more than two decades, according to a filing with the Health Policy Commission.

UMass Memorial said the merger will allow Marlborough Hospital to improve access to specialty services, plus eliminate costs tied to maintaining separate hospital licenses, governing bodies and staffing infrastructure.

"The applicant states that, due to its small size, Marlborough Hospital does not have sufficient inpatient volume to independently support a full array of hospital and specialty service lines needed by the community," Renaud told the council. "Consequently, patient access to services at Marlborough Hospital are impacted by the ongoing challenges in recruiting and retaining primary care and specialty care physicians needed to support an acute care hospital in the community."

Those factors have led to heightened on-call demand for physicians, Renaud said. Marlborough Hospital in the last year has also reduced or cut access to anesthesia weekend coverage, general surgery and urology, creating a model that is "not sustainable" for ensuring access to care, he said.

Rep. Danielle Gregoire, a Marlborough Democrat, voiced her support for the merger. She said some patients are currently forced to seek care outside the UMass system, with some traveling to costlier hospitals in Boston.

"It's critical that we protect and enhance the services offered at Marlborough Hospital so that residents across central Massachusetts can continue to receive high-quality care close to where they live and work, now and in the future," Gregoire said.