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wbjournal.com | April 15, 2019 | Worcester Business Journal 3 Worcester Business Journal (ISSN#1063-6595) is published bi-weekly, 24x per year, including 4 special issues in May, September, October, and December by New England Business Media. 172 Shrewsbury St., Worcester, MA 01604. Periodicals postage paid at Worcester, MA. Copyright 2019. All rights reserved. Postmaster: Please send address changes to: Worcester Business Journal, PO Box 330, Congers, NY 10920-9894. Subscriptions: Annual subscriptions are available for $54.95. For more information, please email wbjournal@ cambeywest.com or contact our circulation department at 845-267-3008. Fax: 845.267.3478 Advertising: For advertising information, please call Mark Murray at 508-755-8004 ext. 227. Fax: 508-755-8860. Worcester Business Journal accepts no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts or materials and in general does not return them to the sender. Worcester Business Journal 172 Shrewsbury Street, Worcester, MA 01604 508-755-8004 tel. • 508-755-8860 fax www.wbjournal.com A division of: Worcester Business Journal WBJ T he stories in this edition's Focus on Health Care section starting on Page 12 examine – in part – the difficulty in providing care to different populations and how the inability to afford insurance is a major barrier to care for certain ethnicities like Hispanics and African Americans, as well as all lower-income households. Leading off our Central Mass. In Brief section on Page 4 is a story about the threat of eminent domain at the Midtown Mall in Worcester, and how the collateral dam- age might be the small businesses largely owned by minorities who have enjoyed low-cost rents in the facility. e WBJ Edi- torial Board delves deeper into this issue in the Opinion section on Page 21, advocating for Worcester to guarantee these small businesses are held harmless. In both cases, industry and government officials are dealing with people who are being squeezed out by increasingly costly systems. Of course, in a capitalist society, people with more money can afford more luxuries than people with less money; and everyone – to varying degrees – is respon- sible for their socioeconomic status. But that shouldn't mean the system gets to run roughshod over people who lack the re- sources to adjust to a changing landscape, especially when it comes to basic human rights like health and entrepreneurialism. With the Midtown Mall, if the city ends up pushing for revitalization – as it should since the property has racked up 21 code violations in five years – those low-cost tenants will be pushed out. When a new developer comes in and spends the money to make the property more attractive, the cost of those improvements will have to come from the rents, since no developer would want to make those investments at a loss. So, the role of the city will be to help the displaced businesses thrive anew. Health care is a much more complex issue. Government efforts to curb cost increases while still providing quality care don't change the fundamental financial cal- culation everyone must make in pursuing health care for a specific ailment, which is basically, "Am I sick enough to justify spending the money to get better?" For people on limited incomes, this question is much more difficult to answer. But, it shouldn't have to be. e entire nation should start moving immediately toward a healthcare system where every- I N T H I S I S S U E one is given access to basic coverage, at little to no out-of-pocket costs. is isn't the solution to all of health care's issues, but it is a solution we should strive for as a society. Keeping the rich and poor healthy will make our businesses more productive and our country better. - Brad Kane, editor W 13th Annual 5 Minute Pitch Contest! theventureforum.org/5MP Presenting Sponsors $20,000 Cash & 8 Pitches 5 Minutes In-kind Services where will you be? Tuesday April 23, 2019 5:00 PM - 8:30 PM WPI Campus Center Please join us for the ... Top 8 Local Startups Pitch "Shark Tank Style" 16+ new business demos at Innovation Lab 200+ enjoy networking, food & drink NEWS & ANALYSIS DEPARTMENTS 4 Central Mass. In Brief 5 Flash Poll 12 Focus on Health Care 17 The List: Top NIH grant winners in Central Mass. 18 Know How 19 Movers & Shakers 20 Photo Finish 21 Opinion 22 Shop Talk: Robert Cox, Bowditch 10 Fast-casual gas stations Cumberland Farms is going after the Panera, Chipotle & Starbucks crowd with its new convenience stores. 33 Fighting opioids, digitally UMass Memorial researchers win $200K to develop a telemedicine system addressing opioid overdoses. Poor people deserve nice things, too Editor, Brad Kane, bkane@wbjournal.com News Editor, Grant Welker, gwelker@wbjournal.com (Real estate, higher education, health care) Staff Writer Zachary Comeau, zcomeau@wbjournal.com (Manufacturing) Contributors Susan Shalhoub, Livia Gershon, Sarah Connell Research Director, Stephanie Meagher, smeagher@nebusinessmedia.com Research Assistant, Heide Martin, hmartin@nebusinessmedia.com Production Director, Kira Beaudoin, kbeaudoin@wbjournal.com Art Director, Mitchell Hayes, mhayes@wbjournal.com Senior Accounts Manager Matt Majikas, mmajikas@wbjournal.com Senior Accounts Manager Christine Juetten, cjuetten@wbjournal.com Senior Special Accounts Manager Mary Lynn Bosiak, mlbosiak@wbjournal.com Marketing & Events Manager Kris Prosser, kprosser@wbjournal.com Distribution and Database Coordinator A Guide to STUFF, a publication of New England Business Media Patty Harris, pharris@nebusinessmedia.com COO, Mary Rogers, mrogers@nebusinessmedia.com Accounting Manager, Valerie Clark, vclark@nebusinessmedia.com Accounting Assistant, Rae Rogers, rrogers@nebusinessmedia.com Collections Manager, Raki Zwiebel, rzwiebel@nebusinessmedia.com Human Resources, Jill Coran, jcoran@nebusinessmedia.com Publisher, CEO, Peter Stanton pstanton@nebusinessmedia.com Associate Publisher, Mark Murray mmurray@wbjournal.com President, Joseph Zwiebel jzwiebel@nebusinessmedia.com