Worcester Business Journal

28 2023 Economic Forecast • Worcester Business Journal • www.wbjournal.com H E A LT H C A R E A strained system e COVID pandemic exacer- bated the long-held problems in health care. ings won't get better in 2023. T he healthcare sector was under strain be- fore COVID hit in 2020, but since then the industry's flaws have been exposed. e cracks continue to expand. Health care is Central Massachusetts' fourth biggest industry by economic output and its largest employer, and right now it's under immense pressure. Hospitals will continue to be overwhelmed e onslaught of patients will not end for hospitals. If it's not COVID-19, it's RSV or the flu or chronic illness. Beds are on short supply, and it's only getting worse. Hospitals are stretched thinner now than anytime during the highs of the pandemic. at won't stop as more people in the Baby Boomer generation age and need care. e healthcare system in America isn't set up for this and can't handle it unless some- thing changes. Expect more strikes With the deluge of patients, hospital staff are wearing out. Expect those who work on the front lines to keep demanding more of their employers. A set of new contracts for nurses at UMass Memorial Health should ease some burden, but don't expect that to solve everything. Other workers who help make hos- pitals go are beginning to get agitated. Look no further than the Teamsters Local 170, which barely avoided a planned Dec. 26 strike by reaching a tentative agree- ment with Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester aer nine months of negotiations. Homeless population will need help In June, the Central Massachusetts Housing Alli- ance reported the homeless population in Worcester County had risen nearly 50%, and the trend showed no signs of slowing down, as housing costs rise and service providers meant to help them, such as shelters, run low on resources. W Central Mass. healthcare providers are struggling with shortages of both doctors and nurses. PHOTO | WBJ FILE Milford Regional union nurses ratify first contract, including pay raises and patient limits Registered nurses at Milford Re- gional Medical Center, represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, voted on Nov. 16 to ratify their first contract since unionizing in 2021. "Our MNA contract will immediate- ly benefit nurses and patients and will make a positive impact in our commu- nity for years to come," Sara Burton, MRMC nurse and co-chair of the MNA bargaining committee, said in a Nov. 17 press release from MNA. e contract establishes a wage step scale, guaranteeing a 4% raise between each step. In addition, there will be an 8.5% raise for all nurses over the next two years. Nurses will receive overtime pay when they have worked one-hour past their shi or exceed 40 hours a week. ey will also be considered full-time for insurance purposes once they exceed 32 hours per week. Charge nurses, who oversee the management and logistics of patients, will have either zero assigned patients or reduced patient assignments so they can perform their jobs more effective- ly and also be free to help in case of emergencies. "We are pleased with the Nov. 16 rat- ification of the first contract between Milford Regional Medical Center and the Massachusetts Nurses Association," Judy Kelly, MRMC vice president of patient care services and chief nursing officer at the hospital, said in an email to WBJ. e agreement reflects the hospital's priorities of recruiting and retaining top talent and providing high-quality care, Kelly said. Nurses at the hospital first sought to join the Massachusetts Nurses Associ- ation in December 2020 and voted to join in February 2021. Tufts to take over troubled MetroWest cancer treatment center from Tenet Tus Medicine plans to take over cancer services in early 2023 at the MetroWest Medical Center in Fram- ingham, which is owned and operated by Tenet Healthcare Corp., the parent company of Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester. e deal, announced Nov. 3, is pend- ing state regulatory approval. Financial terms were not disclosed. e cancer center will continue to provide oncology and radiation oncology services but now under the Boston-based Tus Medicine umbrella instead of through MetroWest Medical Center. Tus plans to add cancer surgery services on site at MetroWest, e deal expands Tus' service area into MetroWest and gives the provider a greater opportunity to send patients for more specialized services at Tus Med- ical Center in Boston, when necessary. In April, the Dallas-based Tenet had announced plans to close parts of its oncology unit at the MetroWest Med- ical Center, which was met with push back from nurses. Plans were to move some of the services, including oncol- ogy infusion and radiation oncology, to Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester due to dwindling numbers of patients Top healthcare stories from 2022 Framingham Union Hospital, which is part of MetroWest Medical Center PHOTO | WBJ FILE BY KEVIN KOCZWARA WBJ Staff Writer

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