[4] Beth Israel Deaconess (BID) and Lahey Health first publicly expressed their intention to merge in 2013, when they shared with employees that the two systems were in talks with each other and several physician groups, including Atrius Health, to form an alliance that may see a formal merger between the hospital systems.

[5] While talks were off and on for years, the two systems repeatedly expressed their desire to merge, largely to compete with Mass General Brigham (called Partners Healthcare at the time), which was a dominating force in the Massachusetts health care market.

[8] State and federal regulators officially approved the deal in January 2018.

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healy placed requirements on the new health system, including that they cap price increases for their first seven years, make efforts to increase the number of Medicaid patients they serve and ensure their doctors accept Medicaid, and that they spend $72 million over eight years to support health resources for low-income and mental health patients, among other requirements.

The system was required to pay for an independent firm to monitor their compliance with the AG's deal for 10 years.