Mass General Brighamâs plan for surgical centers in suburbs stirs controversy
Competitors worry that the already dominant health care provider could become even more powerful
By Priyanka Dayal McCluskey Globe Staff,Updated May 6, 2021, 2 hours ago
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A rendering of the outpatient surgery center that Mass General Brigham is planning to build in Westborough.Mass General Brigham
An ambitious plan by Mass General Brigham to expand into affluent suburbs miles from Boston has set off a fight about the future of outpatient health care in Massachusetts.
A group of rival health care companies has mounted an opposition campaign to block the expansion plan, worried that the stateâs biggest health care provider will become even more powerful at their expense.
72% of UMass Memorial Health Care employees are fully vaccinated; 75% at St. Vincent Hospital
Updated Apr 05, 2021;
Roughly one-third of hospital employees of Worcester’s two hospital systems have not received the COVID-19 vaccine numbers that run consistent across across most of the state’s large hospitals.
Roughly 72% of the roughly 14,000 caregivers at UMass, which includes all of the hospital system’s employees, have been vaccinated as of Friday, according to UMass Memorial spokesperson Tony Berry. At Saint Vincent Hospital, it’s about 75%, according to CEO Carolyn Jackson.
Speaking to MassLive, Jackson said some hospital workers are still hesitant to get vaccinated because the immunizations are under emergency use authorization, and haven’t gone through the standard Food and Drug Administration approval process.
Massachusetts Hospitals To Distribute Vaccines Again
In this Dec. 3, 2020, file photo, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker speaks after touring the DCU Center as it gears up to be used as a COVID-19 field hospital for the second time in Worcester, Mass.
Nancy Lane/AP
State officials are reversing course and will once again allow hospitals to serve as distribution sites for COVID-19 vaccines.
Hospitals were told earlier this month to stop making appointments for first doses, as those shots were being steered to mass vaccination sites. But Gov. Charlie Baker said Wednesday that hospitals will again be part of the mix as the federal government makes more doses available.
Tripadvisor opens up its headquarters in Needham to distribute vaccines
Site opens Wednesday, and doses will be limited to patients in the Mass General Brigham network
By Jon Chesto Globe Staff,Updated February 3, 2021, 10:58 a.m.
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Vaccine recipients will check in at the Tripadvisor reception area.Photo courtesy of Tripadvisor
Health care workers have been heading to some unlikely places to distribute COVID-19 vaccines in Massachusetts: a shopping mall, a hotel, an indoor track, a football stadium.
Now, thanks to travel website operator Tripadvisor, they can add a corporate headquarters to the list.
Tripadvisor on Wednesday announced the use of its temporarily vacant main office, at 400 1st Avenue overlooking Interstate 95 in Needham, as a vaccination center, in partnership with the nearby Newton-Wellesley Hospital. The hospital will staff the vaccination distribution site seven days a week, with a starting capacity of 630 patients a day.