Northeast Hospital Corp. in Beverly, MA is exploring a merger or sale to a larger healthcare system, a move that would accelerate a trend toward hospital consolidation in Massachusetts and reshape the health care landscape on the North Shore and Cape Ann. So far, Northeast has talked to two nonprofit hospitals and a pair of for-profit companies. It owns Beverly Hospital, Addison Gilbert Hospital in Gloucester, BayRidge psychiatric hospital in Lynn, and a Danvers outpatient clinic. The company has had preliminary discussions with Lahey Clinic in Burlington, which operates a satellite hospital in Peabody, and the Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.
