Worcester Business Journal

4 Worcester Business Journal | February 3, 2020 | wbjournal.com C E N T R A L M AS S I N B R I E F Natick hospital shifting to behavioral campus V E R BAT I M Heart CEO "I am as excited as ever about the future of CardioFocus given the impressive clinical and commer- cial results coming out of Europe with our HeartLight X3 System." Burke Barrett, who was promoted from president to CEO of Marlborough medical device manufacturer CardioFocus on Jan. 22 Cannabis cash "We see this as one way of putting these buildings back on the tax rolls. We welcome this industry and the jobs it brings." Fitchburg Mayor Stephen DiNatale, during a Jan. 22 tour of marijuana cultivation facility Revolutionary Clinics, which opened in an old shoe factory in the city No more tolls "You can be doing really important, cutting-edge, best- practice work to be tackling congestion, and you can still be really congested." MassDOT Secretary Stephanie Pollack, during a Jan. 21 panel on traffic congestion, where she opposed to proposal to put more tolls on Massachusetts highways L eonard Morse Hospital in Natick is planning to shi to a behavioral healthcare campus, no longer offering acute care services such as surgical and emergency departments. e change was proposed Jan. 21 by MetroWest Medical Center, of which Leonard Morse Hospital is a part. MetroWest filed a notice with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, which starts a regulatory review process. e shi would take place in about 120 days, the hospital said. "We envision the Leonard Morse Hospital campus becoming a unique behavioral health specialty center dedicated to the mental health of our community for child, adolescent, adult and geriatric psychiatric care," Andrew Harding, the CEO of MetroWest Medical Center, said in a statement. "Behavioral health is a challenge in our community, and it is critical we optimize our services to help address the issue." MetroWest Medical Center will instead shi acute care services to its Framingham Union Hospital campus about six miles away. It will make investments to improve acute care services there, the hospital said, including to the emergency department, hospital infrastructure and clinical equipment. e proposed change would eliminate Leonard Morse's medical and surgical unit, intensive care unit, operating rooms, emergency department and outpatient rehabilitation services, according to a filing with the Department of Public Health. Only psychiatric services, sleep services and CT scan services will remain. e Natick campus is licensed for 160 beds: 64 medical and surgical beds, 10 intensive care unit beds, and 86 psychiatric service beds. MetroWest Medical Center, along with Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester, is owned by Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare. In the most recent five-year period on record with the Massachusetts Center for Health Information and Analysis, MetroWest Medical Center reported a 10% drop in patient discharges, compared with a median increase of 1% among cohort hospitals. Longer-term, the drop has been 41% in the most recent eight-year period, the sharpest decline of any hospital in Central Massachusetts. MetroWest Medical Center said it intends to formally submit a 90-day closure notice around Feb. 20, which will start a regulatory review process. e Department of Public Health's review includes ensuring measures have been put in place to minimize the effect on the community. Leonard Morse will not be the first to reposition its behavioral health services. UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester opened the 120- bed Hospital for Behavioral Medicine in 2018, with inpatient and outpatient care for adults and children. A new 14- bed psychiatric unit at the Univrsity Campus opened later in the year. BY GRANT WELKER Worcester Business Journal News Editor Leonard Morse Hospital (above) will reposition as a behavioral health center. Andrew Harding (left) is the hospital's CEO. W MetroWest Medical Center discharges 4,000 6,000 8,000 10,000 12,000 Discharges '11 '12 '13 '14 '15 '16 '17 '18 Down 40.6% MetroWest Medical Center, which includes the hospital in Framingham and the Leonard Morse campus in Natick, has seen a sharp drop in patient discharges in the most recent eight years on record. Note: Analyses include discharges for adults with any payer, excluding discharges for obstetric or primary psychiatric care. Source: Massachusetts Hospital Inpatient Discharge Database. PHOTO/COURTESY PHOTO/GOOGLE

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