Health

HEALTH • Winter 2016 19 The Community Hospital Acceleration, Revitalization and Transformation (CHART) program, established in 2012 under the Massachusetts health care cost containment law, is designed to help community hospitals make investments that improve efficiency in health care delivery. Central Massachusetts hospitals have received millions in funding to improve services, often in geographically isolated areas. Here's a look at how some hospitals are using money from the latest round. Harrington Memorial Hospital, Southbridge and Webster $3.5 million for enhanced behavioral health services through primary care- based screening, expansion of a partial- hospitalization program; construction of a new inpatient psychiatric unit HealthAlliance Hospital, Leominster and Fitchburg $3.8 million for care coordination infrastructure to improve behavioral health care and reduce emergency department utilization and length of stay Athol Memorial Hospital, Heywood Hospital in Gardner, and HealthAlliance Hospital $2.9 million for a joint proposal to support planning for increasing inpatient and outpatient behavioral health services at a new property and other behavioral health initiatives Health at Southbridge-based Harrington HealthCare System, found the problems in South Worcester County to be more profound than in the urban places where he'd previously worked, includ- ing Hartford and New Haven, Conn. A dearth of available services, and lack of access and transportation, hindered the delivery of appro- priate treatment. But that may be changing. "In a rural setting, we are developing a comprehensive system that's integrated and unified," Mirhej said. As part of that integration, Harrington used grant funding to build clinics in nearby towns. "We had been Southbridge-centric. Through CHART we developed transportation, levels of care and accessibility, and built outpatient clinics in Charlton, Dudley, East Brookfield, Spencer and Webster," said Mirhej. Harrington also developed an integrated system in which clinicians work in primary care offices to identify and screen patients at risk for mental ill- ness, thanks to the $3.5 million CHART grant. But taking it a step further, Harrington complet- ed construction of a new inpatient unit that will offer behavioral health treatment by the end of the year. Harrington Recovery Services at Webster is an 8,222-square-foot dual diagnosis unit that Harrington will open in December. Harrington Recovery Services contains a 16-bed inpatient unit, and partial hospitalization and outpatient pro- grams. The services will be housed in the former Hubbard Regional Hospital, which Harrington bought in May 2009. Harrington will continue to operate a psychiatric inpatient unit with 12 beds at the main campus in Southbridge. The new dual diagnosis unit is one of the only specialty units licensed by both the Department of Mental Health and the Bureau of Substance Abuse Services in Central and Western Massachusetts. It is designed to treat patients with multiple disorders, such as mental illness and underlying depression or anxiety, according to Mirhej. "One condition exacerbates others and treat- ment has not been successful working on these issues independently. If people continue to use substances while anxious or depressed, treatment won't work," he said. Greg Mirhej, executive director of Behavioral Health Services at Southbridge-based Harrington HealthCare System, said access to mental health services in South Worcester County is significantly hampered compared to the urban areas where he previously worked. CASH INFUSION "There are too many in the community that need to be treated and we just can't see them all." Nora Salovardos, director of Psychiatric Services, Heywood Hospital H P H O T O / D R E A M S T I M E . C O M P H O T O / E D D C O T E

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