UMass Memorial Health Care (UMMHC) is the clinical partner of the University of Massachusetts Medical School and is the largest health care system in Central and Western Massachusetts. UMMHC is a not-for-profit health care network providing all levels of primary to quartary health care.
History
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Memorial Hospital was founded in 1871 as the Washburn Dispensary. Worcester industrialist Ichabod Washburn endowed the hospital through a bequest in memory of his wife and daughters. Memorial Hospital moved to its current location in 1888 and later merged with Hahnemann Hospital (founded in 1896) and Holden Hospital to become the Medical Center of Central Massachusetts.
The University of Massachusetts Medical Center (University Hospital) opened in 1974 as the principal teaching hospital of the University of Massachusetts Medical School. UMass Memorial Healthcare was formed in 1998 through the merger of Memorial Hospital with the clinical system of the University of Massachusetts UMass Medical Center has operated LifeFlight, New England’s first hospital-based air ambulance, for over 30 years.
Facilities
UMass Memorial Health Care (UMMHC) is a not-for-profit healthcare network located in Worcester, Massachusetts that is affiliated with the University of Massachusetts Medical School. UMMHC consists of UMass Memorial Medical Center, a Level 1 Trauma Center and the major teaching hospital of UMass Medical School, as well as three community hospitals and a number of ambulatory clinics throughout Central Massachusetts.
The organization has over 1,200 active medical staff and 2,200 registered nurses who are active in over 22 communities. They also offer emergency services such as LifeFlight, long-term care facilities, home health and rehabilitation and behavioral health services. They also offer a variety of informational patient seminars and classes on health related topics throughout the year.
UMass Memorial Medical Center:
UMass Memorial Medical Center consists of three campuses in Worcester, MA: University Campus, Memorial Campus, and Hahnemann Campus. They offer care in over 41 different service areas. The Emergency Care at UMass Memorial Medical Center is the only center in the region that is verified by the American College of Surgeons as a Level 1 Trauma Center. They also offer LifeFlight air ambulance for emergency response.
UMass Memorial HealthAlliance-Clinton Hospital: UMass Memorial HealthAlliance-Clinton Hospital has campuses in Clinton, Leominster and Fitchburg, MA. There are 40 different service areas that are available at the hospital. They are a full-service, acute care hospital with 163 beds. They have over 1,600 employees and 400 physicians. The Central New England HealthAlliance also includes the Simonds Sinon Regional Cancer Center, Simonds-Hurd Complementary Care Center, Outpatient physical therapy centers, and a Home health and hospice agency.
UMass Memorial - Marlborough Hospital: UMass Memorial - Marlborough Hospital has campuses in Marlborough and Southborough, MA. The Marlborough campus offers a variety of health care services including emergency care, comprehensive cardiac care services, surgical services, behavioral health services, diagnostic imaging, intensive care, cancer care, and laboratory services. Services at the Southborough campus include Woman’s imaging, MedWorks (Occupational Health), Colonoscopy/endoscopy imaging, and a variety of physician specialists. They also offer physical rehabilitation services in Marlborough, MA.
Awards and recognition
- UMass Memorial Medical Center has ranked as number one hospital in New England for surviving and treating a heart attack for many years. In 2008, the hospital ranked second in the USA for heart attack survival.
- UMass Memorial Medical Center was recognized in Becker's Hospital Review (2016 edition) as being in among "100 hospitals and health systems with great heart programs".
- UMass Memorial Medical Center was identified as being amongst the Top 50 Cardiovascular Hospitals in the USA by Truven Health Analytics.
- The cardiac surgery program of UMass Memorial Medical Center, UMMHC's flagship hospital, has been awarded the highest quality 3-star rating for performing cardiac bypass graft surgery by the US Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) consistently since reporting started in 2006. The hospital has also been awarded the highest 3-star quality rating for aortic valve replacement and combined cardiac surgery. Only 1.6% of US cardiac surgery programs (17 of 1009) in the STS database achieved such high-quality standards in all three categories.
- UMass Memorial Medical Center was the first hospital in Central Massachusetts to offer transcatheter aortic valve replacement and mitral valve repair. It is also among the only hospitals in New England with access to custom manufactured fenestrated endovascular grafts for minimally invasive treatment of thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms.
- UMass Memorial Medical center has received the award of best Health-system pharmacy by the Massachusetts Society of Health-system pharmacists.
- UMass Memorial received the 11th annual Cheers Award by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices in recognition of the medical center's work to prevent medication errors and promote patient safety. The UMass pharmacy residency program is the largest in New England. UMass Memorial and UMass Medical School offer one of only two postgraduate residency programs in the country dedicated to medication safety.
- Clinton Hospital is consistently rated among the state leaders in patient satisfaction; in 2013 Clinton Hospital was declared the best hospital in New England for patient satisfaction. HealthAlliance hospital ranked number one in safety in Massachusetts by a leading consumer ratings magazine in 2012 and 2013.
Criticism and restructuring
UMass Memorial Healthcare faced a downhill financial slide over a 5-year period, starting with an operating surplus of $83 million in 2009 to a $55 million operating loss in the 2013 fiscal year. The organization was criticized for being inefficient. In addition, changes in healthcare reimbursement impacted the Medical Center more severely than other hospitals as its proportion of Medicaid patient business, the state-federal health plan for the poor that tends to be less lucrative for hospitals, is 25% higher than the statewide average (24% in 2012 compared to state average of 19%). The financial decline culminated in the downgrading of the system's rating by Moody's Investors service in 2013.
In response to this criticism and challenges, UMMHC underwent significant restructuring towards a more lean business model. Shedding of assets included the sale of UMass home health care and hospice business, UMass outreach laboratories and the Caitlin Raymond International Registry (although dissociation from the latter has been postulated to also relate to the public criticism of the Registry's practices). A number of employee positions (reportedly over 500), predominantly in non-patient contact areas, were also eliminated in an effort to improve system efficiency. In December 2013, UMMHC announced its intent to transfer ownership of Wing Memorial hospital to Baystate Health in Springfield, MA. Following the above changes, along with an effort to standardize clinical and business processes, the system reported a stabilization of its financial position in 2014.
See also
- University of Massachusetts
- University of Massachusetts Medical School
References
External links
- UMass Memorial Health Care
- University of Massachusetts Medical School
