Partners HealthCare is changing its name

More than 25 years ago, when Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital joined to form a new healthcare system in Boston, we launched “Partners HealthCare.” The selection of the name Partners, and the associated four-part mission of patient care, research, teaching and community symbolized our collaboration and commitment to all aspects of care delivery.

The commitments that served as the foundation for our name are still true today, as we have added other superb hospitals, expanded the range of ways we care for patients and increased the variety and type of systemwide collaboration. Still, the question we are often asked is: “Does the Partners name best reflect who we are now, and as importantly, who we will be tomorrow?”

As part of the Partners 2.0 task force work, a systemwide team comprised of hospital leadership and board members investigated this question and recommended that we develop a new name and brand for our healthcare system. After reviewing the work of the task force, Partners board members voted unanimously to change the Partners brand to one that will more closely represent our continued focus on collaboration, building on the strength of our academic medical center brands.

Work has already begun to develop new naming options and to craft a plan that will introduce our new brand to our patients. This work includes efforts to gather opinions from patients, consumers and the 75,000 employees across our system.

Bringing a new brand into the marketplace is a lengthy process and requires a tremendous amount of careful planning and collaboration, which will occur over the coming months. Stay tuned for future updates.

Q&A

Q: What is a brand?

A: A brand is much more than a name and logo. A brand is largely defined as a promise to the marketplace. For us, the branding work will demonstrate our commitment to the marketplace to act as a single, integrated system.

Q: Why are we doing a system rebrand now?

A: We are moving past the name “Partners” to both better reflect who we are and who we plan to be. Partners has evolved significantly during the past 25 years as have consumer expectations and competitor dynamics. Given our current systemwide strategy planning and our renewed focus on the patient experience, this is an appropriate time to engage in this project. Our goal is to create a brand, including a name, that conveys the depth, breadth and connection of our expertise and our well-established reputation as a leader in healthcare. 

Q: I’ve heard it may cost $100 million?

A: The costs to rebrand our system have not been fully vetted yet, but that work is underway. It is important to note that a good rebranding plan evaluates several scenarios that incorporate different implications for costs. Our plan will include this. Rebranding plans also consider timeframes, and in some cases, that can mean months or years, based on how significant the work is and what makes sense for managing costs. 

Q: How do we know this will make a difference?

A: Patient research shows a preference for systems, that the value of our hospitals increases when associated with a system and that the reputation of a potential new brand could be significantly greater than our current. In addition, we know that we have some of the strongest and most trusted healthcare brands in our portfolio. Using those brands to better convey what our system is, and connecting them to all aspects of it, will clarify who we are.

Q: What are some examples of us collaborating better together that this brand will represent?

A: Beyond the operational elements that have always been a part of Partners such as systemwide finance and IT, examples of recent collaboration include our AMC pathology and radiology departments working to create shared solutions for managing information and better treating patients. This complements other recent systemwide efforts such as the deployment of a common EHR (EPIC), Population Health Management, the Mass General Cancer Center at Newton-Wellesley Hospital and tighter integration between Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital.