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Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Lahey Health are firing back against criticism of their proposed merger, calling a watchdog agency’s prediction that the deal would increase health care costs “misleading and inflammatory." In a filing released Monday, hospital leaders responded to a critical analysis last month from the state Health Policy Commission, which said uniting the hospital systems could raise costs by as much as $251 million a year for hospital and physician services. The cost estimates assume that a merger would allow the hospitals to sharply raise the prices they charge for medical services. (Dayal McCluskey, 8/20)

For more than a year now, Grady has blended mental health services into regular patient visits in the Atlanta system’s primary care clinics. Screening for mental health problems is now part of a patient’s regular Grady primary care visit. Since 2017, about 80,000 patients have been screened for depression through the Grady “integrated behavioral health” program. About 3,000, like Dennard, have been referred to behavioral health care after visiting one of Grady’s eight primary care clinics. In addition to therapists, Grady has psychiatrists and a clinical pharmacist to help these patients, along with access to tele-psychiatry. (Miller, 8/20)

About 38,000 Legacy Health patients' personal, medical or billing information might have been accessed in a May email breach, the health system said Monday. The Portland-based nonprofit health system said someone accessed multiple employees' email accounts, some of which contained patient information. The breach was not discovered until June 21 and not publicly disclosed until Monday, as the health [system] moved to establish a hotline and contact affected patients. (Njus, 8/20)

Mission Health, the not-for-profit health system that HCA Healthcare is looking to buy, announced Monday it will place $90 million into six hospital-level foundations in hopes they'll use the money to improve health in their communities. If the deal with HCA closes, Asheville, N.C.-based Mission will give $15 million to each of its five existing hospital foundations plus one that will be created for its Angel Medical Center, which doesn't currently have a foundation. The money would come in three annual payments of $5 million. ... Part of why Mission wants to ensure the strength of the local foundations is so they can help carry out the goals of Dogwood Health Trust, the not-for-profit foundation that would be created from the proceeds from the sale of Mission to HCA, which some have predicted will exceed $1 billion. Dogwood also won't legally be able to give money directly to the hospitals. (Bannow, 8/20)