4 HEALTH • November 30, 2015
C E N T R A L M A S S A C H U S E T T S
Executive Editor
Brad Kane, bkane@wbjournal.com
HEALTH Editor
Emily Micucci, emicucci@wbjournal.com
Contributors
Edd Cote, Livia Gershon, Christina P. O'Neill
Susan Shalhoub
Research Director, Stephanie Meagher
smeagher@nebusinessmedia.com
Research Assistant, Heide Martin
hmartin@wbjournal.com
Production Director, Kira Beaudoin
kbeaudoin@wbjournal.com
Art Director, Mitchell Hayes
mhayes@wbjournal.com
Manager of Video/Multimedia Services,
Matthew Volpini
mvolpini@nebusinessmedia.com
Senior Accounts Manager
Matt Majikas, mmajikas@wbjournal.com
Custom Publishing Project Manager
Christine Juetten, cjuetten@wbjournal.com
Marketing & Events Manager
Kris Prosser, kprosser@wbjournal.com
Chief Financial Officer, Mary Rogers
mrogers@nebusinessmedia.com
Accounting Assistant, Valerie Clark
vclark@nebusinessmedia.com
Collections Manager, Raki Zwiebel
rzwiebel@nebusinessmedia.com
Human Resources, Donna Currie
dcurrie@nebusinessmedia.com
Publisher, CEO, Peter Stanton
pstanton@nebusinessmedia.com
Associate Publisher, Mark Murray
mmurray@wbjournal.com
Group Publisher, Joseph Zwiebel
jzwiebel@nebusinessmedia.com
Central Massachusetts HEALTH is published 4
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A division of:
HEALTH
{ From The Editor }
Who among us has not, on occasion, questioned their sanity at work?
Project deadlines, staffing changes and IT glitches -- plus balancing fam-
ily responsibilities -- can push you to the brink.
For the lucky ones, it's a temporary state. But for a sizeable number of
people, persistent mental illness is a difficult reality they must cope
with, while also trying to earn a living. Though stigma remains, there's a
region-wide effort afoot to crack it and help people suffering with men-
tal illness be successful on the job.
We chose to lead off our November issue of Central Massachusetts HEALTH, which
focuses in part on mental and behavioral health, with a feature by writer Livia Gershon
that highlights that effort. See Page 14 to learn about how companies are stepping up, with
anecdotes from people living with mental illness.
The problem of how to meet the needs of people with more severe mental illness requiring
hospitalization may be more complex, but local healthcare providers are trying. Read our
Page 18 feature, which highlights some key inpatient psychiatric facility projects sprin-
kled throughout Central Massachusetts intended to reduce waiting and travel time for
mental health patients that need to be admitted.
A third story providing a roundup of local hospitals that stopped hiring cigarette
smokers and those who use other nicotine products touches on the addiction side of behav-
ioral health. On Page 16, find out why local hospital administrators think the hiring policy,
which is becoming more popular, is more exemplary than discriminatory.
The other focus of our November issue is the business of health care. On that front,
writer Christina O'Neill examines how area healthcare companies are reaching out to a
demographic that has become increasingly important in the last few years: the patient. Before
healthcare reform, patients were less inclined to shop around for healthcare services because
their out-of-pocket costs were relatively small. As costs grow, consumers are wising up and
marketing efforts are increasingly geared towards them. See Page 20 for the full story.
Regularly featured content
In this issue, we're pleased to have another all-star lineup of columnists contributing
their knowledge and experience in the areas of benefits administration; healthcare innovation
and consumer advice. We also got a chance to sit down with Central Massachusetts native
Renee Bazinet Nelson, who leads adolescent programming in Worcester as well as other loca-
tions for an eating disorder treatment company, for our Provider Profile on Page 34. And be
sure to catch up on healthcare news highlights and happenings in our Page 5 Briefs, as well as
in our Newsworthy section on Page 25.
Rounding out year one
I want to extend warm thanks to our readers, as we conclude the first year publishing
Central Massachusetts HEALTH. Your enthusiasm for our new quarterly magazine since we
launched in March has been gratifying, and we look forward to a second year of delivering
strong healthcare content to you in 2016. Here's to a healthy holiday season!
Mental health is top of mind
