Worcester Business Journal

Which way to go on electronic health records? 9 UMass Memorial deal helps Wis. vendor add to its clout among Bay State providers. WBJ >> To Subscribe Central Massachusetts' Source for Business News August 17, 2015 Volume 26 Number 18 www.wbjournal.com $2.00 Q&A with Bill Andrews of ExaGrid Systems, Westborough Shop Talk 8 FOCUS: Education New Fitchburg State president aims to strengthen ties with community leaders. 12 Outpatient services may be just around the corner I t's no mistake that, throughout Massachusetts, there's more hospital sig- nage showing up either on commercial sites that had been something else, or on empty land that will give rise to satellite facilities under the umbrel- la of larger health care systems. That, in turn, is creating new business for architects and construction companies. Government pressure to reduce the costs of providing medical services has resulted in a building boom of free-standing medical facili- ties that provide medical services - particu- larly surgeries - that no longer need to be performed in a hospital setting. When outpatient surgical centers debuted in Worcester several decades ago, their main attractions were lower costs and the promise of more efficient patient processing for those who could walk in and walk out. Today, the emergence of electronic health records that either provide, or promise to provide, intra- system information sharing has created an extra layer of patient comfort for procedures performed outside a full-service hospital. An increased awareness of the threat of hospital-acquired illnesses is another motiva- tor. Acute-care hospital staff routinely advises patients and their families about the risks of picking up illnesses such as respiratory or digestive infections, which create more cost. Tax exempt? Not exactly Communities such as Worcester lean on nonprofits to help pay for municipal services. Are they paying enough? BY SAM BONACCI Worcester Business Journal Staff Writer C entral Massachusetts, especially Worcester, is home to a number of nonprofits and other tax-exempt organiza- tions. Last year, more than 30 percent of all land in the city was tax exempt. While that's the largest of any Central Massachusetts community, it's substantially less than Boston, where more than half of its land – 52 per- cent – is tax free. So, while Worcester-based nonprofits don't have to pay property taxes to the city, some — Clark University and the Christopher House assist- ed-living facility, to name two — make up for it through for- mal agreements or programs, such as PILOTs, or payments in lieu of taxes. >> Continued on Page 10 Jonathan Cocker of Maugel Architects: "High cost" of acute care has led to new health care construction. Worcester Polytechnic Institute pays the city in lieu of taxes for the development in Institute Park, on Salisbury Street. >> Continued on Page 11 Health care reform spurs hospitals to build satellite facilities elsewhere BY CHRISTINA P. O'NEILL Special to the Worcester Business Journal P H O T O / R I C K S A I A

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