The JIM interview. Samuel O. Thier, MD.
Although the public has grown increasingly accustomed to consolidation in the health care industry, the announcement on December 8, 1993, that the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the Brigham and Women's Hospital would merge merited front page coverage across the nation. These hospitals, long considered the crown jewels of the Harvard Medical School, have a history rich in tradition and a reputation for fierce independence. The merged entity, subsequently named Partners Healthcare System, Inc., has a payroll of 17,500 employees, making it the largest employer in Boston and the third largest in Massachusetts. Shortly after the merger, Boston newspapers reported that the announced plan had circumvented plans for Harvard to merge all five of its major teaching hospitals. The MGH-Brigham merger included no provisions for the other three Harvard-affiliated hospitals, the Massachusetts Deaconess, the Beth Israel, or the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Speculation that the move was accomplished with little input from Harvard Medical School Dean Daniel Tosteson further accentuated the delicate politics of the merger. To run this powerhouse of health care, teaching, and research, the directors of Partners turned to Dr. Samuel O. Thier. Thier, who had honed his leadership skills as Medicine Chairman at Yale and President of the Institute of Medicine (IOM), has lifelong ties to the MGH. Indeed during his recent tenure as President of Brandeis University, he still made rounds at the hospital. Largely credited with revitalizing the IOM and restoring financial health to Brandeis, Thier must now lead an entity playing in a quickly changing and unpredictable marketplace.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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D001900:Boston; D006273:Health Facility Merger; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching; D012109:Research Support as Topic