Baystate Health to Address Proposed Hospital Changes on March 3

WARE — Baystate Health invites the community to attend a question-and-answer session to address the changes planned to the inpatient unit at Baystate Mary Lane Hospital in Ware. The meeting will be held on Thursday, March 3, at 6:30 p.m. in the auditorium of Ware Public School.

Among those participating will be Dr. Mark Keroack, president and CEO, Baystate Health; Nancy Shendell-Falik, senior vice president of Community Hospitals, Baystate Health; Jennifer Endicott, senior vice president of Strategy and External Relations, Baystate Health; and Michael Moran, interim president and chief administrative officer of the Baystate Health Eastern Region, which includes Baystate Mary Lane and Baystate Wing hospitals.

Baystate Health has filed requests with the state Department of Public Health and the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission seeking to operate the facilities currently operating as Baystate Wing Hospital in Palmer and Baystate Mary Lane Hospital in Ware under one hospital license. Pending regulatory approval, this change would lead to the transition of Baystate’s regional inpatient services to Baystate Wing Hospital in Palmer. On average, Baystate Mary Lane Hospital has fewer than 10 patients a day who remain in the hospital overnight. Baystate Mary Lane will continue to provide a range of medical services on an outpatient basis, and Baystate’s primary-care network is not affected by this change.

“Over the past several years, only about 20% of the care delivered at Baystate Mary Lane Hospital has been inpatient care, and that is the portion we seek to consolidate at Baystate Wing Hospital to ensure the highest-quality and most effective care for all our hospitalized patients,” said Moran. “Eighty percent of the care we now provide on the Baystate Mary Lane campus is outpatient care. Services not affected by the proposed change include the care provided in our emergency department, outpatient surgery, cancer services, radiology and lab services, and medical practices.”

The meeting is open to the public, and representatives from Baystate will answer any questions that area residents may have about the proposal and the future of services in the region. For more information, call Michelle Holmgren, Public Affairs and Community Relations manager for Baystate Health’s Eastern Region, at (413) 967-2296.