Worcester Business Journal

F rom July 2013 through June 2014, nearly 5,000 people sought treat- ment for substance abuse in Worcester. For 62 percent of them, the drug in question was heroin. Growth in opiate abuse in recent years is well documented in Central Massachusetts and across New England. In an effort to combat it, the state last year passed legislation to make it easier for those affected to seek treatment. Among other things, beginning in October, the law will require private insurers to cover residential treatment programs when patients need them. Between the growing need for servic- es and the improved ability to get paid for providing them, new players are entering the Massachusetts substance FOCUS: Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Small Business How can you hang onto your best people? 25 Expert advice: ere are 5 ways, not all of which are linked to money. Life after the military: How some veterans have launched their own businesses. WBJ >> To Subscribe Q&A with Laurie Leshin, president of Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Shop Talk 8 Central Massachusetts' Source for Business News May 25, 2015 Volume 26 Number 12 www.wbjournal.com $2.00 13 Treatment options grow to battle rising opiate crisis New insurance rules offer more help for substance abusers BY LIVIA GERSHON Special to the Worcester Business Journal The number of accidental deaths tied to opioid overdoses grew substantially from 2002 to 2014. * - Preliminary or provisional data; subject to updates Source: Mass. Dept. of Public Health Growing crisis abuse treatment market. Out-of-state companies are planning new facilities in the eastern part of the state. Meanwhile, in Central Massachusetts, Worcester-based Spectrum Health Systems Inc. and Gardner's Heywood Hospital both intend to open new inpa- tient treatment centers. "We are seeing an uptick in entities looking to open new treatment beds in Massachusetts," said Vic DiGravio, president and CEO of the Natick-based Association for Behavioral Healthcare. "There's incredible demand for treat- ment. The demand … far outstrips the capacity to provide treatment at this point in time." DiGravio said that right now, MassHealth, the state's Medicaid pro- >> Continued on Page 11 Making room for the arts Worcester, Fitchburg look to transform older buildings into 'live/work' space, where artists can ply their craft, as well as eat and sleep S ome of the most dynamic cities in the United States rely on a strong core of artists to boost their image and add an element of desirability that's missing from other communities. Artists led the first wave of redevelopment in Massachusetts communities like Somerville and Lowell, as well as in Austin, Texas, as they looked for affordable space where they could both live and create. While Central Massachusetts has many mill spaces that could house art- ists, the development of these "live/work" spaces for artists has not been a priority. But Fitchburg and Worcester could be on the verge of changing that. In Fitchburg, the Fitchburg Art Museum and Twin Cities Community Development Center (CDC) are working together to tap into the "creative economy" by transforming three industrial buildings across the street from the museum into combined living and working quarters for artists, with 55 apartments planned for 94,000 square feet of space. >> Continued on Page 10 Molten glass is lowered into a wooden mold at a glass studio of the Worcester Center for Crafts. 0 50 100 150 200 '14* '02 '04 '06 '08 '10 '12 * Middlesex County Worcester County 212 113 154 120 77 55 P H O T O / C O U R T E S Y E R B P H O T O G R A P H Y BY SAM BONACCI Worcester Business Journal Staff Writer

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