Worcester Business Journal

www.wbjournal.com February 29, 2016 • Worcester Business Journal 5 $10 million actually came out to $24.671 million in today's dollars. These savings will be realized over the next 30 years. WPI gets $600K to train firefighting robot A Worcester Polytechnic Institute pro- fessor has received nearly $600,000 to develop the algorithms for humanoid robots designed to fight fires aboard U.S. Navy ships. The award from the Office of Naval Research will fund a team of WPI students who will develop software for a firefighting robot built by Virginia Tech engineering students. Joining Berenson on the WPI research team are undergraduate Will Pryor, graduate student Yu-Chi Lin and post-doctoral fellow Andreas Orthey. The SAFFiR (short for Shipboard Autonomous Firefighting Robot) robot is designed to fight fires and perform other maintenance tasks, according to a release from WPI. SAFFiR -- which stands 5 foot 10 inches tall and weighs about 140 pounds -- was put through an initial firefighting exercise on a ship in fall 2014 and will undergo more specialized tests this year. eClinicalWorks enters electronic records eClinicalWorks, the Westborough- based creator of health care IT solutions, is entering the United States acute care elec- tronic health records (EHR) market. The new cloud-centric platform allows organizations to connect care within in- patient, out-patient and allied health set- tings, according to the company. The cloud-based solution will require a lower total cost of ownership than the industry standard, while delivering a more trans- parent view across care settings. eClinical- Works is working with strategic partners, including South Carolina's Tidelands Health, to bring the new health care records product to market. Tidelands Health is a healthcare organization made up of three hospitals with approximately 300 beds and more than 40 outpatient locations. The new platform will be available in 2017 and focus on enterprise operations functionality, including inventory man- agement, support for emergency and oper- ating rooms, analytics, computerized phy- sician order entry (CPOE) and bed man- agement. Unplanned hospital readmissions remain a problem Unplanned patient readmissions to hospitals, which drive up health care costs because they are often preventable, remain a problem in Massachusetts where 78 percent of hospitals face federal penalties for having higher-than-expect- ed readmissions in the most recent fed- eral fiscal year. A Center for Health Information and Analysis report, released at noon on Tuesday, showed 81 percent of readmis- sions were for patients covered by public or government payers. The report also Eagle Cleaning Corporation 997 Millbury Street, Suite A Worcester, MA 01607 Toll Free: (866) 45.EAGLE Office: (508) 799-0700 Fax: (508) 799-0072 • Nightly Janitorial Service • Day Porter Service • Carpet Shampooing • Window Washing • Stripping and Refinishing Floors • Restroom Sanitation • Post Construction Cleaning • 24 Hour Emergency Service "We provide Superior Cleaning and Restoration for Commercial, Industrial and Institutional accounts. Our corporate office is located in Worcester, MA and we service accounts throughout Massachusetts. At Eagle, we continue to be one of the fastest growing companies in our industry. This is a direct result of our innovation, commitment and dedication to excellence in every building we maintain." — Jeff Johnson, President & CEO COMMERCIAL • INDUSTRIAL • INSTITUTIONAL Services Include: >> Continued from previous page REGIONAL BRIEFS REAL DEALS Real Deals highlights recent commercial property transactions in Central Massachusetts. Commercial real estate firms that want to submit information on transactions can send it to editorial@wbjournal.com. Source: Worcester County Property Records ADDRESS: 5 Chestnut St., Worcester AREA: 35,400 sq. ft. SALE PRICE: $1.7 million SELLER: Liberty Assembly of God BUYER: Presbyterian Church of Ghana — Compiled by Sam Bonacci, Worcester Business Journal digital editor The Presbyterian Church of Ghana plans to use the building for weekly worship activities. The purchase of the building will allow the church to move from its current location at 49 Lafayette St. in Worcester. found the readmission rate for commer- cial payers was 10.3 percent, compared to 17.4 percent for Medicare and 17 percent for Medicaid. The report concluded that 7 percent of patients account for 58 percent of fre- quent hospitalizations, which is defined as patients with four or more hospital visits per year. A readmission is defined as an unplanned admission that occurred within 30 days of a discharge from an acute care hospital. SeaChange cuts California operations SeaChange International of Acton has announced cuts to its Timeline Labs (TLL) operations in California that will save the company around $6 million annually while retaining the recently acquired firm's clients and software. The restructuring at TLL, which was acquired in 2014 for over $20 million, includes a "reduction in force" and a possible winding down of operations, the company reported in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. SeaChange will continue to make use of the company's software that allows media companies to analyze social media messages in real time, finding and broadcasting newsworthy social THE SUN IS 1,000,000 TIMES BIGGER THAN EARTH. WE'RE NOT INTIMIDATED. FROM THE EXPERTS IN ALL THINGS SOLAR. Planning. Building. Financing. Regulatory. Partner with Solect and get the expertise, innovation and commitment you need every step of the way. VISIT SOLECT.COM /GOSOLAR OR CALL 508.598.3511 TO SEE WHAT SOLAR CAN DO FOR YOUR BUSINESS. >> Continued on Page 6

• Cover