Home Search results for Spiros Hatiras

Sending a Message

By
Health Care Sections
Holyoke Medical Center Works to Raise Its Profile in the Community

Spiros Hatiras

Spiros Hatiras says Holyoke Medical Center isn’t changing what it is and what it does — it’s just doing a better job of communicating it.

John Morris starts off by explaining that he’s a lighting technician and concert roadie by trade, and that if he doesn’t work, he doesn’t eat.

He goes on to note that he was a five-pack-a-day smoker and had long battled chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). His life changed, he implied, when a hospitalist at Holyoke Medical Center intervened.

“She just said, ‘you can fix this.’ You just felt like someone cared,” Morris said into the camera. “If it wasn’t for Holyoke Medical Center, I wouldn’t be going on tour with the Stones this fall.”

And with that 30-second message, now airing on several area television stations, Morris became part of an ambitious new marketing campaign launched by HMC this fall. This spot, like all the others, ends with another voice saying, “Holyoke Medical Center: experience the new standard in patient care.”

It’s not exactly a new standard, in the sense that the staff at HMC has always been caring and compassionate, said Spiros Hatiras, the system’s president and CEO. But it is new in the sense that many from this region, including some living in Holyoke and adjacent communities, are not familiar with the hospital.

This simple fact convinced Hatiras, who took the helm at the medical center 14 months ago, and others at HMC that they had to become more aggressive, and pointed, in their branding efforts.

“We’re not necessarily changing who we are — we’re just doing a better job of communicating it,” said Hatiras, who prefers the phrase ‘brand definition’ to ‘rebranding’ to describe what the system has undertaken. “The basic elements are still here — we are a solid, quality provider, and we’re a hospital of a size that is conducive to personalized care because it’s not very big and intimidating and confusing; we’re located in a great area, and we’re easily accessible. And at the same time, we’re big enough to have the services that most people would need.”

Elaborating, Hatiras said the basic goal of the campaign is to drive home the point that, in most cases, people in the Greater Holyoke area don’t have to drive past HMC on their way to Springfield, or anywhere else, to get the kind of quality care they want and need.

“There’s absolutely no reason, in my mind, why a resident of Holyoke, Chicopee, South Hadley, or Easthampton needs to go far away to another provider to receive the kind of care they can get here,” he explained. “Ultimately, what this campaign is aiming to do is let people know of the things we do and do well and what they can expect here, and keep people in the community.”

The marketing campaign includes a new logo (see page 29), television spots such as Morris’s, print ads (many of them in Spanish), billboards, banners within the hospital, and a revamped website. It’s all part of a multi-faceted initiative to raise HMC’s profile and increase volume, which also includes $2 million in upgrades to the Emergency Department and a new strategic plan.

HMClogoOverall, the system’s efforts are focused on putting out a new, stronger message, and then making sure it can back up those words ‘new standard in patient care,’ said Hatiras.

As for that logo, Hatiras told BusinessWest that it says different things to different people. To him, it speaks of both the region — through the use of the colors blue and green, representing water (Holyoke’s canals and the Connecticut River) and nearby mountains, respectively — and also a new beginning through its use of yellow.

“It’s a like a dawn, a new beginning, a bright day — that kind of feel,” he said. “That’s what we wanted to communicate.”

For this issue, BusinessWest takes an indepth look at this new beginning and the many forces that will shape it.

Ad Infinitum

“I’ve always looked at my patients, and cared for my patients, with the thought that that could be my mother, or that could be my grandmother, and I’ve always treated them as if they were mine, and I’ve treated them as I would want my family to be treated. I love being a nurse.”

That’s another of the 30-second spots airing on area television stations. It stars Lorimar Crus, a registered nurse who has been at HMC for three years. The sentiments she expresses reflect those of the system as a whole, said Hatiras, and sum up nicely both the message that is being sent through these various marketing vehicles, and the current focus of the system.

“While we’re not reinventing ourselves, I will say that we’re enhancing what we do and we’re focusing more on the experience that people have here,” he explained. “On the quality side, we do very well; we’re rated very highly. So what we’re really focusing on are those other qualities of the patient experience, or what people sometimes call the ‘softer skills’ — are we treating people with respect? Are we treating them with compassion? Are we treating people with empathy? Do we really care for people when they come in on a deeper human level?”

Hatiras said the work to revamp the system’s marketing efforts began almost immediately after he arrived last summer, because it was apparent that something needed to be done.

“We started talking about rebranding right away — at least started to think about how we needed to do significantly better in terms of communicating who we are, what we do, and what we do best,” he told BusinessWest, adding that these initiatives are being undertaken simultaneously with efforts to enhance (that’s a word Hatiras would use repeatedly) a culture of caring and compassion.

He said a market survey revealed that HMC’s primary problem wasn’t that people had a negative opinion of it, but that they didn’t have much of an opinion at all. Meanwhile, there was confusion, or ignorance, about the system.

“There were gaps in what people knew about us and about what we did; we still get confused with Holyoke Health Center, and frankly, there were people who didn’t know if we delivered babies here,” he went on, adding that the base of knowledge was broader in Holyoke, but much less so in surrounding communities such as Chicopee and South Hadley.

Hatiras believes HMC’s prior marketing efforts fell short for many reasons. For starters, there wasn’t enough of them, he said, adding that there was a also a lack of cohesion among messages sent by the medical center and its affiliates, River Valley Counseling Center, Holyoke VNA & Hospice Life Care, and Western Mass. Physician Associates, with each entity having its own logo, type style, and marketing strategy.

“No one could ever put it all together — no one really quite understood that the VNA was part of our system and River Valley was part of our system,” said Hatiras. “If your ads don’t all have a certain feel and look, they don’t resonate … if there’s nothing that ties it all together with the whole, it doesn’t make an impact.”

Part of the new branding initiative is broader outreach, especially to the Hispanic community, said Hatiras, adding that ads in Spanish are only a part of this effort.

For example, HMC was the lead sponsor of Holyoke’s annual Puerto Rican Parade in July. The hospital did not have much involvement with the event previously, he noted, and, ironically, Baystate Health was lead sponsor in recent years.

Care Package

But more aggressive marketing and greater outreach are only part of the equation, said Hatiras, returning to that phrase ‘softer skills’ and a recognized need to raise HMC’s game still higher.

“Even these have been core qualities of Holyoke Medical Center,” he said, referring to compassion, respect, and empathy. “What we’re doing now is putting a very significant internal focus on enhancing these qualities and making sure that we develop them further.”

The medical center is working with Pensacola, Fla.-based Studer Group, which, according to its website, “works to bring structure and focus to healthcare organizations through the creation of cultures in which people hold themselves accountable and help set them up to be able to execute quickly.”

HMC has ben working with the company for nearly a year now, and will continue to do so for at least three years, said Hatiras, adding that it takes time to make the kinds of fundamental changes the system is undertaking.

And there are several points of focus within this initiative, said Hatiras, listing everything from private rooms for all patients to revamped food service to valet parking for visitors. A common theme is to provide patients with a greater sense of control over their care.

“We started with some simple things, such as patient amenities,” he explained, “so that when people come here they feel safe, they feel they get treated the right way, and it’s a comfortable environment for them and their families.

“We’re converting all our rooms into private rooms so that there’s space for the family to visit and privacy, and we’ve revamped our food service so that people have choices in what they’re going to eat,” he went on. “When they get admitted, people have very little control over things, in general, and giving them the ability to have control is very important.”

Beyond these initiatives, HMC is also focusing on how the team administering care relates to patients and families.

“Studies have shown that, if physicians take the time to pull up a chair and sit next to the patient at eye level and communicate with them at that level, the interaction is much more meaningful, they get better information out of the patient, and the patient feels they’ll be listened to and understood a lot better than if someone stands at the foot of their bed,” he told BusinessWest. “By giving them that feeling of empathy, compassion, and respect, they heal better and faster.

“It’s just hard science — healing takes good medicine, and it takes good care,” he went on. “But it also takes that human touch, the compassion, the feeling of reducing the patient’s anxiety and making them feel safe.”

One priority for HMC is improving the environment in its Emergency Department, Hatiras noted, adding that the hospital was recently awarded $3.9 million by the Mass. Health Policy Commission to undertake renovations to the ER, and will launch a capital campaign to raise the balance of the projected $6-7 million project.

“The physical environment is very limiting and uninviting,” he said of the current emergency room. “It was built for 15,000, maybe 18,000 visits a year, and we’re doing 45,000.”

Brand Definition

Once the rebranding effort and other initiatives have gained traction, Hatiras said, HMC will conduct another market survey to see if attitudes, and overall awareness of the system and its services, have changed.

He suspects that they will change, and that verification will come in the numbers involving inpatient volume and, overall, the number of people driving elsewhere to receive care.

“The proof is in the pudding,” he said, adding that, while inpatient volume is down across the state, Holyoke’s rate of decline has been greater than in other areas. Reversing this outmigration, as he called it, will require a system-wide focus on not merely branding, but enhancing the patient experience.

And that’s what the system means by a ‘new standard in patient care.’

George O’Brien can be reached at [email protected]

Course of Action

By
Health Care Sections
Spiros Hatiras Set to Take the Reins at Holyoke Medical Center

Spiros Hatiras

Spiros Hatiras is slated to take the helm at Holyoke Medical Center in September, succeeding long-time president and CEO Hank Porten.

Spiros Hatiras likened it to being homesick.

That’s how he chose to describe his mindset during what would become the latter stages of his tenure as chief executive officer of NIT Health in New York, a health-informatics company that specializes in the implementation of electronic medical records for hospitals and healthcare systems.

He enjoyed the work and found it rewarding in some respects, but the more he was in that position, the more he realized just how much he missed what he would later describe as his passion — leading a small community hospital.

“I really missed hospital administration,” said Hatiras, who joined NIT after a two-year stint as president and CEO of Hoboken University Medical Center (HUMC), where he also served as chief operating officer, vice president of Administration, and many other positions during a 19-year tenure. “I missed that sense of community, that relationship building that goes on when you’re part of a team.”

So Hatiras eventually put the word out to executive search firms that he would be interested in returning to that realm. But there were some caveats, or conditions under which he would like to do so, he told BusinessWest, adding that he set out what he called a “profile.”

The institution in question had to be in a good location, preferably the Northeast, he explained, adding that he preferred a community hospital with 200 to 300 beds in a small to mid-sized community (the situation at HUMC), and one with a good staff and a reputation for quality. The facility also had to be in “good shape,” which in this case meant the soundness of both the physical plant and the fiscal bottom line.

“I didn’t want to walk into a dire situation — I’ve been involved in those, and while it’s rewarding when you can pull out of one, I didn’t want to get back in a situation where, from day one, you’re struggling to keep your head above water,” he said, adding that one institution he was asked to consider could check all those boxes and thus fit that profile — Holyoke Medical Center, which was seeking a successor to Hank Porten, who announced he was stepping down after nearly 30 years at the helm of that facility.

Fast-forwarding a little, Hatiras eventually prevailed in a nationwide search for HMC’s new director; he is slated to start in early September. He spoke with BusinessWest late last month about why he chose to accept this challenge at this stage of his career, while also touching on the challenges moving forward — for all community hospitals, and especially HMC.

At the top of that list is fiscal stability, he said, noting that ‘survival’ is too strong a word for a facility that is in decent condition financially, but still must fight for every dollar in reimbursements from payers and aid from the Commonwealth.

“This is simply a hospital that needs to keep its eye on the ball,” said Hatiras, noting that HMC is what’s called a “safety-net hospital” in Massachusetts, one that receives a combination of state and federal assistance to offset the large amount of free care that such facilities provide; Mercy Medical Center is also one. “We need to make sure we don’t miss an opportunity when it comes to grant money and other programs.”

There are other matters to contend with, such as updating a long-term strategic plan for the facility, and also improving visibility and awareness of a medical center that has a solid reputation and many quality programs, but remains too much of an unknown quantity in this region.

“What I’ve heard loud and clear from everybody is that we do a lot of great things here — we’re the number-one stroke center in the state of Massachusetts for performance, and we have a lot of other great programs — but folks here think we don’t put it out to the community enough, and people don’t know about them,” he explained. “We need to figure out a way to get the message out, because if you do wonderful things and no one knows about them, you can’t get the recognition and the patients you need.”

 

Background — Check

Hatiras told BusinessWest that, unlike many hospital administrators today, he started out in direct patient care, as a physical therapist.

“I remember my first day on the job at St. Mary, which is what the hospital was called before it became University of Hoboken Medical School,” he said. “I got yelled at by the head nurse because, after I was finished with a patient, I left the bed rail down, and she was concerned about the patient falling out of bed.

“This gives me a good perspective; I’ve treated patients, I know what pain is like, especially in physical therapy, and know from a staff’s perspective what it takes every day to take care of patients,” he continued, referring to the many career stops he’s made and titles he’s held, ranging from corporate director of Rehabilitative Services to vice president of Post-Acute, Ancillary, and Support Services. “I started with patient care at the bedside, I’ve done home care, I’ve done nursing care and rehab — and my management style reflects all this. I’m easygoing, I can establish a rapport with patients and staff easily, and I’m personable. I like to walk around and talk to people, eat in the cafeteria, and chat with people; my door is always open.”

And at HMC, that door will be in the hospital, he went on, noting that Porten moved to what was supposed to be a temporary office in another building on the medical center’s campus during an extensive renovation and expansion project undertaken in the late ’90s, but that move turned out to be permanent.

“I’ll find space — I don’t care if it’s in a closet,” he explained. “For me, it’s very important for physicians, employees, and managers to easily access me, and for me to be close to patient-care areas.”

This is how it was at HUMC, which Hatiras led through a situation that could only be described as dire. Indeed, during his tenure, and while transitioning the hospital from municipal to private ownership, he implemented fiscal controls that resulted in a 50% reduction in operating losses, from a $22 million loss in FY 2008 to $11 million in FY 2009. He also achieved a balanced budget the next year, without a reduction in force, by negotiating concessions with employees, physicians, and vendors, which resulted in savings of more than $15 million for two years.

Other accomplishments at HUMC include implementation of an electronic-medical-records system, creation of a hospitalist program, and the securing of a number of grants for operational and infrastructure improvements.

The challenges at HMC will be different, as most all of the above, including financial stability, has been achieved. Looking ahead, he said, beyond finding space for his office, the immediate priorities are to meet with a host of constituencies — physicians, employees, the board of directors, business leaders, and Holyoke city officials — to get a better feel for how well the facility is serving the community, and where change and improvement is needed.

Hatiras said he’s already met with a number of employees and physicians during a few visits to the medical center for interviews, and a few others after he was hired. He came away impressed with the long tenures of many of those he met, but also somewhat intimidated by the notion that many will be retiring within the next decade or two.

“The longevity here is amazing,” he noted. “It seemed like everyone I met said they’d been here 30 years or more. That’s fantastic, but it’s also a challenge; we have to make sure we have good people to follow. That’s something we have to plan for.”

 

Let’s Get Fiscal

While he won’t have to contend with mass retirements any time soon, there are some matters that will need more immediate attention.

At or near the top of that list is being ready as a community hospital for what is still in many respects an uncertain future in the healthcare industry.

“This is a big unknown — I think healthcare reform is not done with us yet, not by a longshot,” he said, referring to payment reform — specifically, paying providers to keep people healthy, not just for treating them when they’re sick — and other issues. “Is there a formula under which community hospitals can survive? I think there is. I’m not of the opinion that you have to merge with someone or be affiliated with someone to survive, but it’s not an easy road, either.

“If you work with your community, if you work with your physicians, and if we’re heading in the direction of payment reform and population health, then I believe community hospitals have a better chance of leveling the playing field,” he continued. “If it continues to be simply a volume game in the future and a rates game, then that’s a harder game to win; the bigger hospitals get the bigger volumes, and they get the higher rates from private payers.”

Another issue moving forward is raising HMC’s profile in the region, he said, adding that this is a big part of the challenge of changing the perceptions, and habits, of people who believe they can get better care in Springfield, Hartford, or Boston than they can in Holyoke.

It’s a situation Hatiras said he faced in New Jersey, when he assumed management of the rehabilitation hospital within St. Francis Hospital (part of the Franciscan Health System of New Jersey), which operated in the shadow, figuratively and almost literally, of the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation, known for treating Christopher Reeve, among countless others.

“When they needed rehab, people automatically assumed that the best place to go, and the only place to go, was Kessler,” he said. “Here we were, the new kid on the block trying to attract those patients, and they would literally travel from our community 15 or 20 miles to the Kessler facility.

“Changing people’s perceptions is a lot of hard work,” he continued. “It’s relationship building, word-of-mouth referrals, and you have to make sure that people have a good experience and people feel good enough about it to tell others.”

At St. Francis, administration and staff did a lot of what Hatiras called “legwork,” which included everything from providing high-quality care to making sure that physicians in that area were aware of the outcomes, and that they were comparable, or better, than Kessler’s.

“That’s really the only way you can do it,” he went on. “Yes, you can put up a billboard, and you can put an ad in the paper — and those are necessary too — but the best advertisement, and the best marketing, is when people say, ‘I had a great outcome, the people were nice, I was in and out, I had a great experience.’”

Moving forward, HMC will try to use similar legwork, and perhaps some of those advertising vehicles, to make it known that it has a lot going for it, said Hatiras, from a location right off I-91 to a strong track record with regard to outcomes.

“We want to be the place for the immediate community, the neighborhoods right around the hospital,” he said, “but we also want to be the place for the people who choose to come here, because they’ve seen something good about it or heard something good about it, not just because they live next door. There is a lot to build on here.”

 

At Home with the Idea

In a month or so, Hatiras will no longer be homesick.

Instead, he’ll be home, in hospital administration, and presumably in an office in the main building at HMC not carved out of a closet.

As he talked with BusinessWest about the type of scenario he desired as he returned to hospital management, he said he didn’t want a dire situation, but certainly did covet a challenge.

“I get easily bored with routine,” he said with a laugh. “I need spice in my life. Healthcare in general provides enough of that, but if you’re in a small place that needs to fight for every dollar, that usually provides a little more spice.”

And that’s one more reason why HMC fit his ‘profile,’ and is now the next line on his résumé.

 

George O’Brien can be reached at [email protected]

Holyoke Medical Center to Unveil New ER This Spring

By
Health Care Sections

Meeting an Emergency Need

An architect’s rendering of Holyoke Medical Center’s new Emergency Department, set to open in May or June.

An architect’s rendering of Holyoke Medical Center’s new Emergency Department, set to open in May or June.

The numbers alone speak to Holyoke Medical Center’s need for a new Emergency Department, with the current ER designed for 25,000 visits per year but actually logging almost 43,000. But HMC’s new facility, set to open this spring, will do much more than better handle the traffic; it will also call on cutting-edge ideas in design and workflow — not to mention an innovative, dedicated behavioral-health area — to reflect a truly 21st-century vision of emergency care.

Running an emergency room is more than a numbers game for hospitals, involving a complex weave of triage and treatment to ensure that patients’ needs are met efficiently and effectively.

But the numbers at Holyoke Medical Center … well, they were simply unsustainable.

“The existing ER is designed to see about 25,000 patients per year,” said Carl Cameron, the hospital’s chief operating officer. “We saw almost 43,000 last year in that small area located in the back of the hospital, which is difficult to find.”

When Spiros Hatiras came on board as president and CEO of Holyoke Medical Center (HMC) in 2013, one of the first concerns brought to him by the board of directors was the existing Emergency Department, which desperately needed an overhaul and more space. They talked about expanding the existing ER, but the finances suggested building a new one would make more sense — not to mention that a construction project in a working ER would disrupt patients.

“We started the dialogue about what we are going to do with the ED in October of 2014,” Hatiras said. “We talked about the concept of expanding in place, but the exercise proved to be futile because we’d lose a lot of space with the construction. So we changed course and said, ‘maybe we need a completely new building.’”

The end result of those discussions will be unveiled this spring: A new Emergency Department that will expand the current space from 8,500 square feet to approximately 20,750 square feet. A second floor above the new ER will house a medical office building of 18,000 square feet.

List of Acute Care Hospitals in the region

The expansion will increase the ER’s treatment beds from 26 to 40, 12 of those designated as behavioral-health beds, part of a new Crisis Center for Psychiatric Services, segregated from the main ED to give those patients more privacy. The ED will also include two multi-patient trauma rooms, advanced life-saving equipment, six fast-track spaces, and a patient-navigation service as well. “It’s a large increase from where we’re currently at,” Cameron said.

Carl Cameron

Carl Cameron says capacity alone — the current ER is designed to see 25,000 patients annually, and saw almost 43,000 last year — is reason enough to build a new one.

The exterior space will be bigger as well, with room for four ambulances instead of the current two.

Meanwhile, the second floor will be the home of a comprehensive weight and health-management program, including services for bariatric surgery, general surgery, diabetes counseling, behavioral and nutritional education, as well as a patient fitness center.

“It’s a state-of-the-art space up there, with plenty of room,” Cameron said. “One of the rooms is a large auditorium where we can have sessions with bariatric patients.”

The weight-management program, launched last March, has “grown beyond anyone’s imagination,” Hatiras added, noting that it recently saw its 500th new patient. “It’s been amazing, and it continues to grow. This is the result of planning ahead, knowing we’re going to need more space for that program, and potentially more providers.”

With the new ED and medical office building ahead of schedule — the goal of cutting the ribbon in late June may be pushed up to late May — BusinessWest takes a peek into what is now a mesh of steel framing, but promises to become the state-of-the-art emergency area this community hospital has long needed.

Modern Design

Once the decision was made to build a new structure, Hatiras said, discussions began from a blank slate, incorporating current best practices in layout, workflow efficiencies, and design elements.

“Throughout the waiting area, we’re incorporating a lot of natural light and finishes that make it feel more like the lobby of a hotel than a medical space,” he told BusinessWest. “There’s a lot of glass. Most of the treatment rooms are going to have a window where the natural light comes in. And every single one of the treatment rooms is private — no more lying next to somebody else, separated by a curtain.”

Meanwhile, finishes in the behavioral-health area, including materials, colors, and lighting, are meant to promote a decrease in anxiety. “Behavioral-health patients come in to the hospital in an anxious state,” he explained, “and often the environment — the noise, light, colors ­­— amplifies that instead of toning it down.”

Planners convened a behavioral-health peer group, soliciting input from former patients, to improve their understanding of how behavioral health should be delivered, and those discussions influenced some of the design choices.

Speaking of design, there was also an effort to make the new building match architecturally with its surroundings, which include buildings that date back to the 1800s, so the exterior brick and metal façade will blend in with both HMC’s recently renovated front lobby and the older buildings on campus.

“Not only will this be a functional improvement,” Hatiras said, “but when we’re done, this will be the most beautiful campus in the Valley, and I can say that with confidence, because I know what it will look like, and I’ve seen the other ones.”

Of course, all this function and design costs money, which for years has been a stumbling block to progress, he went on. The current project began with a $13 million to $14 million price tag, which increased to $23.8 million when the second floor was added.

However, approximately $5.5 million is being provided through the federal New Markets Tax Credit program. Hatiras credits U.S. Rep. Richard Neal with helping secure those funds, which will reduce the hospital’s debt service on the project, allowing it to keep healthy reserves and invest in additional health programs.

Meanwhile, HMC also scored a Community Hospital Acceleration, Revitalization, and Transformation (CHART) grant, a state program that promotes care coordination, integration, and delivery transformation to enhance community hospitals in Masachusetts. The $3.9 million grant ­— the largest in CHART’s phase 2 round of funding — supports the integration of behavioral-health services in the Emergency Department. Additional financing partners for the project include Valley Health Systems, MassDevelopment, People’s United Bank, JPMorgan Chase, and A.I. Wainwright.

Spiros Hatiras

Spiros Hatiras says talk of expanding in place was quickly scuttled in favor of a plan that would provide more space, easier access, and no disruption of current emergency services.

“Our total cost is $15 million, which is fantastic because an independent community hospital doesn’t have access to capital,” Hatiras said. “So to be able to do this for 60 cents on the dollar with the rest being New Markets Tax Credits and grants is really fantastic.”

A recently launched capital campaign seeks another $3 million to further reduce the hospital’s project costs. More than $1 million has been raised to date, with campaign donations to support some of the new ED’s ancillary needs and additional equipment.

Raising the Bar

One of the late additions to the project, piling on some additional cost, is a second entrance from the main hospital via the second floor, which adds functionality and easier patient access to the new building, Hatiras noted. But the most innovative element in the new ED is the emphasis on behavioral health, which is a growing issue across Massachusetts.

“In our existing ED, we didn’t have enough capacity for private behaviorsal-health areas,” Cameron told BusinessWest. “The new location is going to include six private rooms and another six detox chairs. I can imagine those will be full on a daily basis.”

In addition to the new building and new equipment being purchased, Cameron added, the ER will employ a more efficient workflow system that moves patients more quickly through the triage station and into a treatment room. The nursing station will be centralized and have visibility to all the treatment areas, to better keep track of what’s going on with each patient and, again, promote better flow.

Parking has long been an issue at Holyoke Medical Center — really, at what area hospital is it not an issue? — and the new building took over a small parking lot. But at the same time, the hospital created 100 new spots elsewhere on campus and launched a valet service to get patients in and out quickly without having to look for parking, Cameron said. “All that has definitely improved parking for patients.”

Hatiras said hospital leadership is formulating some long-term solutions to the parking issue, but they’re solutions to a good problem — that is, how to create more access to a hospital that has been growing to meet the needs of its community. This fact, he said, should be considered by neighbors who might be annoyed at some of the parking spillover onto side streets while HMC strategizes to create more space on its campus.

“In the three years since we started the effort to revitalize Holyoke Medical Center, we’ve added more than $20 million in revenue and a couple hundred employees,” he said. “Even the neighborhood property values are affected positively by the new emergency room and a thriving hospital.”

That progress has been reflected in some of the hospital’s recent honors, he added, including a Top Hospital Award from the Leapfrog Group in two of the past three years, which is given to more than 100 institutions nationwide for their commitment to patient safety. Selection is based on many areas of hospital care, including infection rates, maternity care, and the hospital’s ability to prevent medication errors.

“We want to raise this institution to a level the neighborhood and the city can be proud of,” Hatiras said.

That the hospital earned such recognition while operating an ER in half its optimal space is a testament to the hospital’s providers, he noted, and the expansion will provide opportunities to further boost that performance.

Local Impact

Hatiras is proud that most of the construction has been subcontracted to local workers.

“We’ve made a huge effort so that most, if not everything, stays local,” he said. “That’s a big shot in the arm, an economic boost for the area, with that work flowing through here.”

There’s also a sense of pride that the expansion is on schedule and on budget, he added.

“We finished design plans in February 2015, and were bidding out to the general contractor and getting financing before Christmas 2015,” he said. “The whole thing was lightning-fast. Everyone worked really hard on something that can sometimes take a half-decade of planning before it even gets off the ground.”

That wasn’t an option at Holyoke Medical Center, where emergency patients had been feeling the squeeze for much too long.

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

BusinessTalk with Spiros Hatiras, president and CEO of Holyoke Medical Center

By
Business Talk Podcast Special Coverage

We are excited to announce that BusinessWest, in partnership with Living Local, has launched a new podcast series, BusinessTalk. Each episode will feature in-depth interviews and discussions with local industry leaders, providing thoughtful perspectives on the Western Massachuetts economy and the many business ventures that keep it running during these challenging times.

Episode 51: February 8, 2021

George O’Brien talks with Spiros Hatiras, president and CEO of Holyoke Medical Center

Spiros Hatiras

BusinessWest Editor George O’Brien talks with Spiros Hatiras, president and CEO of Holyoke Medical Center, recently honored as one oof the magazine’s Healthcare Heroes for 2020. The two discuss the state of the pandemic and current trends with cases and hospitalizations, as well as the many ways COVID is impacting the bottom line at this and other hospitals. The two also discuss HMC’s ongoing, and now changing, plans to add more behavioral health beds in a region that sorely needs them. It’s must listening, so join us on BusinessTalk, a podcast presented by BusinessWest in partnership with Living Local.

 

Also Available On

Briefcase

By
Briefcase Departments

Holyoke Medical Center Taps New Jersey’s Hatiras as New President, CEO
HOLYOKE — The board of directors of Valley Health Systems and Holyoke Medical Center have announced that Spiros Hatiras will become the next president and CEO of Holyoke Medical Center and its affiliates. Hatiras will succeed Hank Porten, who is stepping down after nearly 28 years in that role. “We are absolutely delighted to bring such an accomplished and passionate leader to our hospital and community,” said Priscilla Mandrachia, chairwoman of the board of directors of Valley Health Systems, the parent company of Holyoke Medical Center and its affiliates. “The search committee, after an exhaustive process, was particularly impressed with Mr. Hatiras’ understanding of our culture and love of community healthcare. He has expertise in reform initiatives and a deep commitment to physicians, staff, and quality services. Valley Health Systems and Holyoke Medical Center have been fortunate to have had the leadership of our present CEO, Hank Porten, for 28 years.  We expect Mr. Hatiras to build on Mr. Porten’s accomplishments and lead our healthcare system successfully into the future.” Hatiras previously served as president and CEO of Hoboken University Medical Center in New Jersey, a 333-bed facility with nearly 500 physicians and nurses offering a full range of medical services. During his tenure there, Hatiras cut operating losses in half over two consecutive fiscal years without reducing staff, and oversaw the implementation of electronic medical records. “We all know healthcare is going through some very complicated changes, and Mr. Hatiras has demonstrated the knowledge and ability to meet these challenges head on,” said Peter Connor, chairman of the board of directors at Holyoke Medical Center. “He is a proven leader who understands our mission as a community hospital and will help guide us through the complexities of healthcare reform while maintaining a focus on quality care and patient satisfaction.” Currently serving as chief operating officer of NIT Health in New York, specializing in the implementation of electronic medical records for hospitals and health care systems, Hatiras has had a distinguished healthcare career in New Jersey. In addition to his work at Hoboken University Medical Center amid a complicated transition to private ownership, he has also served as vice president of post-acute, ancillary, and support services for Bon Secours Health System and corporate director of rehabilitation services for Franciscan Health System of New Jersey. “I am extremely excited to join Valley Health Systems and Holyoke Medical Center,” Hatiras said. “It’s the best fit for both of us. I’m returning to do what I love the best, working in a community hospital and helping it succeed. And the hospital’s commitment to community health is exactly what healthcare reform should be embracing. I look forward to working with the entire organization to build upon the solid foundation that Hank has left for us. The hospital is positioned well for the future. I’m ready to go.” Hatiras is certified in healthcare management by the American College of Healthcare Executives. He has a master’s degree in health care management from New York University and a bachelor’s degree in physical therapy from the Athens Institute of Technology in Athens, Greece. He currently lives with his wife, Gwen, and two children, Ava and Zach, in New Jersey. “My wife and I are very excited about moving our family to Massachusetts,” Hatiras said. “It’s the perfect location for us.” He will assume leadership of Holyoke Medical Center in early September, at which time he will also move to the area. Hatiras’ wife and children will relocate after his daughter Ava’s graduation from high school next year. Holyoke Medical Center is a 198-bed facility with 1,200 employees, including more than 260 physicians and consulting staff.

Obama Administration Delays Healthcare Law’s Insurance Mandate
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Earlier this month, President Obama’s administration announced a one-year delay in his healthcare law’s mandate that larger employers provide coverage for their workers or pay penalties. The decision postpones the effective date beyond next year’s midterm elections into 2015. Employer groups welcomed the news of the concession, while Republicans made it clear that they would not cease to make the law a key campaign issue for the third straight election cycle. While the postponement does not affect other central provisions of the law, including those establishing health-insurance marketplaces in the states, known as exchanges, it throws into disarray the administration’s effort to put those provisions into effect by Jan. 1. Under the law, most Americans will be required to have insurance in January 2014, or they will be subject to tax penalties. The administration’s announcement did not address delaying that requirement or those penalties. Administration officials sought to put the action in a positive light. “We have heard concerns about the complexity of the requirements and the need for more time to implement them effectively,” Mark Mazur, assistant Treasury secretary, wrote on his department’s website. “We recognize that the vast majority of businesses that will need to do this reporting already provide health insurance to their workers, and we want to make sure it is easy for others to do so.” The Affordable Care Act, signed into law in 2010, originally required employers with more than 50 full-time workers to offer them affordable health insurance starting in 2014 or face fines. Some companies with payrolls just above that threshold said they would cut jobs or switch some full-time workers to part-time employment so that they could avoid providing coverage. Under the provisions to set up state-based marketplaces for coverage for uninsured Americans, subsidies are supposed to be available for lower- and middle-income people who qualify and are not insured through their employers. By delaying the mandate for businesses and its reporting requirements, the government may be unable to confirm before 2015 whether employers are offering insurance to their employees, making it difficult for the exchanges to know who is entitled to subsidies to help pay for policies. Enrollment in the exchanges is to begin Oct. 1, with insurance coverage taking effect Jan. 1. “We are on target to open the health-insurance marketplace on Oct. 1, where small businesses and ordinary Americans will be able to go to one place to learn about their coverage options and make side-by-side comparisons of each plan’s price and benefits before they make their decision,” Valerie Jarrett, Obama’s senior adviser and liaison to the business community, wrote on the White House website.

Economic Growth Remains Sluggish in Massachusetts
BOSTON — Even as the Massachusetts economy shows some genuine signs of strength, contractionary federal government fiscal policy is slowing economic growth in Massachusetts, according to a recent report by regional economists for MassBenchmarks. In the coming months, assuming these policies stay in place, a further retarding of economic growth can be expected. At the same time, the state’s labor market continues to be under considerable stress and faces profound challenges that are not fully reflected in the state’s headline unemployment rate. The strengthening of the state housing market is the most prominent sign of strength in the state economy. Residential house prices, sales, and building permits are all on the rise. As a result, employment in the construction sector is increasing, but it remains well below its pre-recession levels. The unemployment rate, despite a recent uptick, remains one percentage point below the national level. Strong state sales-tax collections reflect the willingness of households to spend, especially for new automobiles. But these signs of life are being undermined by federal tax and budget policies that have been implemented since the first of the year. On the tax side, income-tax rates were increased for upper-income households on Jan. 1. In addition, the temporary payroll tax cut, which had been implemented during the recession, was not extended. This has a more widespread impact, with a disproportionate burden being placed on low-income households. Had these tax increases been offset by increased federal investment, their impact would have been modest, but instead the federal government elected to adopt significant spending cuts. Federal budget sequestration, implemented in March, has an obvious impact on the state’s research-intensive enterprises and government contractors. But its impact also extends to Head Start and other educational programs, career centers, job-training services, and Community Development Block Grant funds, all of which have experienced significant cuts in recent months. The impact of these federal policies can be seen in the state’s recent economic performance. According to the MassBenchmarks Current Economic Index, growth in state gross domestic product slowed to a 1% annualized rate of growth in April and May. Employment growth in the state has virtually stalled, and state withholding tax growth reflects this. And growing international competition and the economic challenges facing the state’s major trading partners, including Canada, the European Union, and Asia, appear to be taking their toll on the Commonwealth’s export activity, which declined by 11.1% between April 2012 and April 2013. While labor conditions in Massachusetts appear to be better than those nationally, there are signs of considerable stress in the state labor market. Underemployment (those working part-time but wanting full-time work) has risen during the first five months of the year, and hidden unemployment (those who are out of work, have not looked for a job in the last four weeks, and would take a job if offered) is also on the rise. The plight of younger and less skilled workers is of particular concern, the report notes, as the extent of their disconnection from the labor market is troublingly high, and the longer it lasts, the more difficult it will be to remedy. For these workers, the improvement in headline unemployment is of little consolation, as their prospects for employment are being limited by a recovery that is being undermined by counterproductive federal policy choices.

Construction Industry Adds 13,000 Jobs in June
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In June, the nation’s construction industry unemployment rate fell to 9.8% for the first time since September 2007 with the addition of 13,000 jobs, according the July 5 report by the Department of Labor. Since June 2012, the industry has added 190,000 jobs, a 3.4% increase. Every major category of construction experienced gains in employment for the month. Non-residential building construction employment increased by 700 jobs for the month and has added 16,400 jobs, or 2.5%, during the last 12 months. Residential building construction employment inched up by 100 jobs in June and is up by 13,100 jobs, or 2.3%, compared to the same time last year. Non-residential specialty trade contractors gained 2,100 jobs for the month and have added 47,100 jobs, or 2.3%, during the last 12 months. Residential specialty trade contractors have added 5,100 jobs since May and gained 77,100 jobs, or 5.2%, since June 2012. Heavy and civil-engineering construction employment increased by 5,600 jobs last month, and the sector has added 36,300 jobs, or 4.2%, from one year ago. Across all industries, the nation added 195,000 jobs as the private sector expanded by 202,000 jobs and the public sector shrunk by 7,000 jobs. However, the nation’s unemployment rate was unchanged from the previous month at 7.6% and remains lower than the 8.2% registered in June 2012. “Today’s employment report is positive news for the nation’s construction industry,” said Associated Builders and Contractors Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “While the economy continues to face a number of headwinds, including most recently in the form of higher interest rates, the wealth effect associated with rising equity markets and home prices dominates the recovery. The result has been steady expansion in consumer spending, which is associated with expanding job creation in closely aligned sectors of the economy. For construction contractors, the implication is that the volume of work associated with lodging and shopping-center construction will continue to march higher.” Basu noted that one-third of the construction jobs added last month were added by specialty trade contractors. “There was also evidence of more people falling into part-time work, and the broadest measure of unemployment, which includes discouraged workers and people working part-time for economic reasons, rose to 14.3% in June. Despite this increase, the construction industry’s diminishing unemployment rate shows that societal income tied to wages and salaries continues to expand slowly, which suggests the economy will only grow at a moderate pace. That should be enough to help drive nonresidential construction spending higher, but progress will remain gradual.”

Horace Smith Fund Awards $276,000 to Area Students
SPRINGFIELD — On June 13, The Horace Smith Fund staged its 114th corporators’ meeting and scholarship awards ceremony at Elms College. Samalid Hogan, chair of the board of trustees, announced 24 scholarship and three fellowship recipients this year. “Providing that students maintain at least a B average in college, each scholarship provides a total of $10,000 over four years, and each fellowship provides $12,000 over three years,” she told the audience comprised of the students, parents, trustees, and corporators. “Therefore, The Horace Smith Fund is happy to be able to grant a total award of $276,000 to area students this year.” The Horace Smith Fund was established in 1899 by a successful and generous philanthropist named Horace Smith, according to James Broderick, chair of the scholarship committee. “He and Daniel Wesson were the founders of Smith & Wesson, located in Springfield. Mr. Smith’s will provided that the residual of his estate, after several bequests to relatives and institutions, was to be used for public purposes at the discretion of his executors. They decided that it should be used to help deserving students finance their education.” The scholarships and fellowships are named for Walter F. Barr, a West Springfield businessman, whose widow left the bulk of the family estate to the Horace Smith Fund in 1950. Recipients must be residents of Hampden County. The keynote speaker at the awards ceremony, attorney Michael Gove, was a past recipient of the Walter S. Barr Scholarship and Fellowship.

New Hospital Guidance Clouds Importance of Seeking Medical Care

By
Mercy Medical Center
Health Care Special Coverage

When It Can’t Wait

Mercy Medical Center

Mercy Medical Center, like all area hospitals, has seen a series of COVID surges over the past two years, including the current one.

Last month’s DPH guidance to hospitals, telling them to postpone all non-essential procedures that could result in an inpatient stay, is a challenge on multiple levels, local hospital leaders say. One, it’s not so easy to simply redeploy personnel from one department to another. Two, there’s no one-size-fits-all definition of ‘non-essential.’ But most important, it’s critical that patients seek out the care they need and let doctors make the judgment calls — and the fear is that this new guidance will chase those patients away. It wouldn’t be the first time.

It’s never good to put off necessary treatment, Spiros Hatiras said, whether that be cardiac screenings, lab tests, or cancer surgery.

“The outcome is not going to be good,” said the president and CEO of Valley Health Systems, which includes Holyoke Medical Center. Yet, that’s exactly what has happened over the past two years, due to a combination of people’s fear of public places and guidance from the hospitals themselves for people to stay home during the early height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

“People were initially scared; they wanted to stay away from the hospital,” Hatiras said. “Then we started reducing capacity and told people, essentially, ‘don’t come to the hospital.’ We started seeing people come back over the summer and fall, and now we’re back to telling people to stay away.”

He was referring to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s (DPH) guidance to hospitals concerning non-essential, elective, invasive procedures, which took effect Dec. 22.

“We started seeing people come back over the summer and fall, and now we’re back to telling people to stay away.”

“To preserve healthcare personnel resources, all hospitals are directed to postpone or cancel all non-essential elective procedures likely to result in inpatient admission in order to maintain and increase inpatient capacity,” the guidance reads. “Patients are reminded to still seek necessary care at their hospital or from their healthcare provider.”

The guidance comes as the Omicron variant has pushed hospitals to capacity limits with a new COVID surge.

Dr. Robert Roose

Dr. Robert Roose says treating all patients, urgent and non-urgent cases alike, is part of Mercy’s mission, but it will abide by the state’s guidance.

“Hospital capacity is stretched more than it has ever been since the beginning of the healthcare emergency,” Massachusetts Health & Hospital Assoc. (MHA) President and CEO Steve Walsh said in recent testimony to the state Legislature. “After two years of fighting this virus, our caregivers are simply exhausted.”

He acknowledged that “some of these pressures, we feel, are not COVID-related and may have also been mounting for several months.” Still, a strained healthcare workforce is facing a staffing shortage that has contributed to the loss of approximately 500 medical/surgical and ICU hospital beds since the beginning of the year.

Still, Hatiras questions the wisdom of simply assuming caregivers can be efficiently redeployed to other tasks.

“The idea is that, if we don’t do these surgeries, it opens up resources to redeploy in the hospital. But we know that’s not so easily done. You can free up nurse, but in a lot of cases, there’s not a whole lot they can do. It’s not like they can suddenly be an ER nurse or an ICU nurse. There are a lot of issues around that in terms of training and competencies. So the value of actually redeploying staff is somewhat questionable.”

He suggested what might work better is to issue the guidance as an advisory. “We can advise hospitals to find ways to create capacity. At the end of the day, there’s not a single hospital that would leave a patient untreated because they’re going to schedule a plastic surgery ahead of that patient. What we really need is more staff, which we don’t have.”

Dr. Robert Roose, medical director of Mercy Medical Center, said his team takes pride in caring for all the needs of the community, so the DPH guidance poses a challenge.

“Hospital capacity is stretched more than it has ever been since the beginning of the healthcare emergency.”

“It is important for us, from a mission perspective as well as from an operations perspective, to be able to be there when patients need us, whether for emergency care or non-emergency care,” he said. “All types of care across the continuum support individuals’ well-being and wellness.”

That said, “Governor Baker and the Department of Public Health have issued an executive order for hospitals to suspend non-emergency procedures that could result in an inpatient stay. In order for us to fulfill our obligations as a hospital, we are, of course, complying with those orders. We recognize this can be a concern for patients, as well as our providers and colleagues who wish to continue to provide the care they are so expertly trained to do. This is not an ideal situation, but one we find ourselves in, and we look forward to resuming all care in the very near future.”

 

What Is Non-essential?

To help redirect resources, Gov. Charlie Baker activated the Massachusetts National Guard on Dec. 22 to address the non-clinical support needs of hospitals and transport systems. Up to 300 of these Guard members will support 55 acute-care hospitals, as well as 12 ambulance service providers across the Commonwealth.

DPH surveyed hospitals and ambulance service providers and, in concert with the MHA, identified five key roles that non-clinical Guard personnel can serve in support hospital operations for up to 90 days: driving ambulances used to transfer patients between two healthcare locations, such as when patients are discharged from a hospital and transferred to a long-term-care facility; providing continuous or frequent observation of a patient who is at risk for harm to themselves; helping to maintain a safe workplace; bringing patients via wheelchair or, if needed, stretcher, from their patient room to tests such as X-ray or CT scan, or from the emergency department to their inpatient floor; and delivering patient meals to their rooms.

Spiros Hatiras says very few procedures can be deemed non-essential when one considers the health effects of delaying them.

But if resources are, indeed, being directed away from non-essential procedures, the question becomes what, exactly, constitutes a non-essential procedure. And the answer, in many cases, is complicated.

“The decision of what can be safely postponed, even for a week or three or four, is left to the discretion of the surgeon or clinical team,” Roose said. “That is an incredibly important fact because, ultimately, the providers are the ones responsible for the care of the patient, and we never want to see something untoward occur during the period of time when they could have been attended to. At Mercy, just like at other hospitals, those decisions are made by the treating providers and patients in collaboration, with their best interest in mind.”

Hatiras agreed. “When we talk about necessary procedures, first of all, there’s no particular approach; every individual is different. If you think about it, there are very few procedures where postponing it enhances one’s health. We’re talking about surgery here. When somebody gets to the point where they need surgery, it’s not like getting a haircut, where it can wait until next month.”

Exceptions to this rule might include discretionary plastic surgery and perhaps Lasik, where the worst-case scenario might be a few more months of wearing glasses or contacts.

“But that’s about the only things I can think of,” Hatiras said. “With other things, you’re doing it because you’re in pain or your health is deteriorating in some way.”

Take bariatric surgery, which some people might put in the non-essential category. Those patients start the process six months before surgery and tackle issues such as diabetes and blood pressure — “all the issues that make COVID deadlier,” Hatiras said. They typically have to lose a certain amount of weight before surgery and undergo psychological screening and counseling.

“When they meet all the milestones and the date approaches where they’re ready for surgery, should we now tell them, ‘guess what? We can’t do your surgery; we’ll let you know when we can.’ That would be wholly detrimental to the patient, who worked for six months to get to a point they might never get back to.

“Could you call that elective?” Hatiras added. “When you do the surgery, the diabetes gets better, the blood pressure gets better, the heart gets better. I take issue with what some people consider elective.”

Or take knee and hip replacements, he went on. “Is that really elective when there’s a risk of blood clots because they can’t walk or they’re risking other illnesses because they’re taking pain medications to cope with it?”

 

Call Your Doctor

Hatiras and Roose both hope the new state guidance doesn’t chase people away from seeking the care they actually need. That’s what happened last year, and hospitals and patients are still feeling the effects.

“At this point in the pandemic, our concern is that we have started to see the impacts of people in the community delaying care during prior waves of the pandemic,” Roose said. “We want to encourage members of the community to seek out important primary care, preventive care, and non-urgent care that can contribute to their health and wellness.”

In other words, let doctors and facilities decide what’s necessary — and how that care can be delivered.

“We have seen the pandemic shift many things in healthcare, including the way people seek care, which now is occurring far more through digital or virtual means than prior to the pandemic,” Roose said. “We’re seeing high demand for additional services in the home after a hospital stay, or in skilled nursing and other facilities. We are paying attention to how we can provide a service that delivers both in terms of convenience and excellence, because the pandemic has changed fundamentally the way care will be delivered for many years to come.”

The MHA, the DPH, and hospitals are united on one front: the unvaccinated far, far outnumber the vaccinated when it comes to taking up inpatient beds — and especially ICU beds — with COVID, in turn making it harder for hospitals to provide other services.

“When somebody gets to the point where they need surgery, it’s not like getting a haircut, where it can wait until next month.”

According to the DPH, 97% of COVID breakthrough cases in Massachusetts have not resulted in hospitalization or death, and unvaccinated individuals are five times more likely to contract COVID than fully vaccinated individuals and 31 times more likely to contract COVID than individuals who have a booster.

The MHA’s executive committee recently released an “urgent plea” for Massachusetts residents to do five things if they haven’t already: get vaccinated for both COVID-19 and the flu, and get boosted when eligible; always wear a mask when in public and when social distancing isn’t possible; get tested for COVID-19 if you develop symptoms or if you come into close contact with someone who has tested positive; keep up with regular medical appointments, “as we are now seeing the devastating effects of delayed care from the first waves of the pandemic”; and seek care from a doctor or urgent-care center when appropriate.

“When in doubt, you should never hesitate to visit your local emergency room,” the committee noted. “But for many medical situations, these settings can provide you with more timely and efficient care.”

It’s notable that, along with the expected advice to vaccinate and mask up, these medical professionals would warn against delaying care, even amid the DPH’s guidance to hospitals to postpone some procedures.

“Cumulatively, I think we’re dropping the health status of individuals,” Hatiras said, noting that people have put off colonoscopies, mammograms, and other procedures that are key to detecting issues early, before they develop into health crises. Holyoke Medical Center has responded with a public campaign to bring patients back, so they don’t keep delaying important visits.

“Don’t put something off. Don’t make that decision yourself,” he added. “To me, there is no safer place than a hospital. To me, a hospital is a lot safer than a restaurant, a lot safer than the mall, whatever you want to compare it to, because we have personnel aware of infection-control issues. We wear masks indoors, we hand sanitize, we know how to avoid infection.”

And don’t put off behavioral-health needs, either, Hatiras added, noting that isolation and anxiety have soared during the pandemic. “We see a lot of people deteriorating, in both their physical health and mental health, and that combination is never good.”

Roose agreed that it’s critical for individuals to seek the care they need, no matter what the state is saying, and let their doctor guide their next steps.

“There’s a lot of attention on capacity in hospitals, but we would not want anyone to delay care for important business, like mammograms, colonoscopies, lab tests, or emergency or urgent care,” he told BusinessWest. “We are here to take care of you, and we want to continue to send that message.”

 

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

 

Healthcare Workforce Shortage Has No Easy Solutions

By
Cover Story Health Care

Critical Condition

Workforce challenges are common to virtually every industry these days — in fact, it’s the dominant economic story of our time, affecting everything from wages to employee relations to damaged supply chains. In healthcare, the pandemic has only exacerbated workforce issues that were already present. Hospitals, nursing homes, and other providers have to keep providing their services, of course, but the stress, burnout, and soaring costs resulting from the talent crunch have many saying the current environment is simply unsustainable.

While workforce shortages in healthcare are not a new story, Spiros Hatiras said, COVID-19 certainly didn’t help the situation. Far from it.

“We had some challenges even before, but really, the pandemic has created a sort of crisis situation,” said Hatiras, president and CEO of Holyoke Medical Center and Valley Health Systems, noting that industry estimates peg current healthcare vacancies around a half-million jobs nationally. “There’s a mixture of reasons why they left, and a lot of them had to do with the pandemic.”

Essentially, he explained, many nurses and specialists have re-evaluated what they want to do for a living, while others who were close to retirement anyway decided to make that transition earlier than they might have. Others who had been part of a double-income household stayed home with the kids during the pandemic and decided they wanted to continue to do so.

“You have people who got burned out dealing with acute illness and decided to stay in the profession, but looked for a setting where they weren’t dealing with acute illness,” he went on. “Then you had some people with an existential crisis, saying ‘healthcare is not for me.’ We certainly had some of those. Put it all together, and we had a lot of folks leave the profession on the clinical side.”

Entry-level, non-licensed jobs in healthcare, like housekeeping and dietary services, have been a struggle to fill as well, Hatiras said, but nowhere near as difficult as on the clinical side.

Adam Berman also recognizes that these issues predate COVID. Well before the pandemic — for several years before, actually — Berman, president and CEO of Legacy Lifecare, would attend trade-association panels and conferences and speak with state and national colleagues, and one topic would always be at the forefront.

“It was always workforce, workforce, workforce,” he said. “This was pre-COVID, and it’s what kept providers up at night.”

However, at Legacy’s two partner companies, JGS Lifecare and Chelsea Jewish Lifecare, Berman agrees with Hatiras that the pandemic took an already-worrisome problem and worsened it.

“We had some challenges even before, but really, the pandemic has created a sort of crisis situation.”

“When COVID came, many individuals who may have been considering careers in healthcare went for it, but for others, COVID gave them pause. And some people elected to retire earlier than they were otherwise going to. For many people, there was the calculus of determining whether they’d stay at home taking care of somebody versus re-entering the workforce.

“That’s not just in healthcare; that’s in general,” Berman added. “You see it across every industry. There are fewer people overall than were previously in the workforce.”

The growing labor shortage in healthcare is starting to have serious bottom-line effects, as organizations boost wages to compete for scarce talent and swallow skyrocketing rates being demanded by travel-nurse agencies.

A recent study conducted by Premier, a national healthcare-improvement company, found that U.S. hospitals and health systems are paying $24 billion more per year for qualified clinical labor than they did pre-pandemic, and approximately two-thirds of hospitals’ current costs are from wages and salary.

Spiros Hatiras

Spiros Hatiras says hospitals like Holyoke Medical Center are feeling the bottom-line impact of soaring workforce costs.

As reported by the Massachusetts Hospital Assoc., Premier found that “overtime hours are up 52% as of September of 2021 when compared to a pre-pandemic baseline. At the same time, use of agency and temporary labor is up 132% for full-time and 131% for part-time workers. Use of contingency labor (or positions created to complete a temporary project or work function) is up nearly 126%.”

The Premier study follows a September study from Kaufman Hall projecting that hospitals nationwide will lose an estimated $54 billion in net income over the course of 2021, even taking into account the funding they received from the federal CARES Act.

Meanwhile, Moody’s Investor Services also predicted hospital margins will continue to fall. “Over the next year, we expect margins to decline given wage inflation, use of expensive nursing agencies, increased recruitment and retention efforts, and expanded benefit packages that include more behavioral-health services and offerings such as childcare. Even after the pandemic, competition for labor is likely to continue as the population ages — a key social risk — and demand for services increases.”

All of this results in what healthcare leaders are increasingly calling an unsustainable situation — one that’s necessitating a great deal of flexibility, creativity, and, yes, anxiety.

 

Heightened Competition

In the world of home care, COVID posed some very specific issues, said Mary Flahive-Dickson, chief development officer and chief medical officer at Golden Years Homecare Services and Golden Years Staffing Agency.

“We already had an ongoing issue with a shortage of healthcare providers, but with COVID, people were moving loved ones out of facilities and into their homes — getting them out of skilled nursing and assisted living, keeping them out of hospitals. But now they needed home care, and a lot of it — not just an hour here and an hour there. These were people with 24-hour needs.”

The government’s generous unemployment policies didn’t help, she added.

“When the government pays you to stay home, why the hell would you go to work? If you’re getting paid $15 or $16 an hour to potentially expose yourself to COVID by entering someone’s home, why not stay home and get paid $25 an hour to stay home? We had the same issues every other industry had: the government simply made it way too easy to stay home.”

All that became what Flahive-Dickson called a “perfect storm” of increased home-care needs when the worker pool was dramatically shrinking — a simple matter of supply and demand, really. She understands the reluctance to work last year — not just because of the unemployment benefits, but because it was unclear, especially early on, how COVID spread and how serious the risk was. But almost two years after the pandemic began, the workforce disruption still resonates.

Adam Berman

Adam Berman

“When COVID came, many individuals who may have been considering careers in healthcare went for it, but for others, COVID gave them pause. And some people elected to retire earlier than they were otherwise going to.”

This past year did bring some relief, she noted, from the end of the extra-large unemployment checks to the expedited vaccine rollout to healthcare workers in February and March. However, the tight labor market has also created a competitive situation in which nurses, certified nursing assistants (CNAs), home health aides, and others are willing to jump from job to job for a pay bump — and companies are, indeed, offering those bumps.

“If I work for company A and company B offers me a quarter more an hour, I’m going to company B,” she said in explaining the mindset. “Then, if company C offers more than company B, I’m going to company C. Competition for home-care workers and other healthcare workers is through the roof.

“The reimbursements haven’t gone up, but payouts have gone up,” she went on. “A lot of companies are just not able to do that; if you don’t have a certain volume, you’re out of business.”

Wearing her staffing-agency hat for a moment, Flahive-Dickson noted that Massachusetts is the only state in the country that puts a cap on what a staffing agency can charge a facility; in fact, it’s illegal to go over the cap.

“If you’re getting paid $15 or $16 an hour to potentially expose yourself to COVID by entering someone’s home, why not stay home and get paid $25 an hour to stay home? We had the same issues every other industry had: the government simply made it way too easy to stay home.”

“Everyone is trying to outbid each other, and these employees find themselves jumping from opportunity to opportunity simply because the opportunity is there. You can’t blame them for doing that, but it’s completely unsustainable.”

Agency nurses are causing financial problems for hospitals because of the pay they command, Hatiras said. As a result, nurses are leaving their employers, signing on with agencies as ‘travelers,’ and then often returning to the same hospitals at two or three times the pay.

“The staff is making significantly more money, and it enriches those agencies, but the hospitals and consumers are footing the bill,” he said. “That’s an additional problem for us, but we’re not alone.”

HMC offers stability of schedule, without the travel, that agencies can’t, he noted, and has been offering incentives — like bonuses for signing up and for staying on for a certain amount of time, as well as tuition reimbursement and loan forgiveness. “But we can’t match the $100 an hour agencies are paying.”

What all this means, Berman said, is that “employees have far more power to be very discriminating about their future employment. I think that’s wonderful — it does require employers to think differently than in the past. You can’t take for granted that people will show up at your door. You need to do a better job of messaging: ‘this is a good place to work; everyone is treated fairly.’”

And not just say it, but back it up, he added.

“Competitive providers are raising wages, which is one of the positive impacts. It’s tough on employers, but those employers are becoming more competitive in terms of working conditions and wages, and that should not be minimized.”

 

Priming the Pump

Hatiras said the lack of interstate licensing reciprocity doesn’t help efforts to boost nursing staff, and state-level efforts to create reciprocity have run into union resistance. But he added that any effort to put more workers in the pipeline locally would be welcome.

“I don’t know if the pandemic has discouraged people who ordinarily would want to get into nursing but are staying away from it,” he told BusinessWest.

Mary Flahive-Dickson says many people want to remain in healthcare

Mary Flahive-Dickson says many people want to remain in healthcare, but not in acute-care settings because of stress and burnout.

One step Holyoke Medical Center has taken is to reduce the volume of non-clinical work that its nurses do, like personal hygiene, handling phone calls, and procuring supplies. In that way, the workforce crunch is lessened not by hiring more nurses — which the hospital would do if it could — but giving them more time to do the clinical work they’re uniquely trained to do.

“We decided to go to a model where we add more more staff that acts in a support role — certified nursing assistants, phlebotomists, secretarial help. At times when staffing is down, those support functions will take some of those duties and responsibilities off nurses and give nurses more time to be able to do medication management, care documentation, all that.”

The goal in the past has been one CNA for each two nurses on a shift, but HMC is now shooting for a one-to-one ratio. “The feedback from nurses has been tremendous,” Hatiras said. “Given everything going on, we think this is a good solution.”

It’s a way to reduce the burnout factor, which is real and significant, Flahive-Dickson said. When it’s not chasing healthcare workers toward early retirement, she noted, it’s making others more picky about their work setting. Her staffing agency hears from some clients who want to stay away from high-stress hospital and acute-care settings, and ask instead about shifts in schools, clinics, camps, and the like.

Berman said his industry has long had to stay on message simply because the role of a nurse in a skilled-nursing facility has never been the most glamorous-sounding job. While some people have a passion and calling for it, others need to be persuaded that this is fulfilling work, he noted.

“I don’t think this is going to be a short-lived situation. It’s going to take a long time to dig out from under … you can’t refresh the pipeline immediately.”

“Everyone is looking for staff, and everyone is being bombarded with different messages recruiting people. That becomes more challenging for us.”

Some organizations have become creative in building their own talent pipeline. Faced with a shortage of CNAs in the region, Legacy Lifecare created its own school, covering the cost of training for several dozen individuals so far and hiring many of them.

Likewise, Golden Years offers a 75-hour home health aide certification course, a $1,200 to $1,500 value, for free. “We’re giving them an education and certifying them and, in return, ask them to sign on for six months,” Flahive-Dickson said. “It’s one of the ways we try to offset the incredible need that COVID posed.”

Hatiras understands that other industries are facing similar headwinds when it comes to the availability and rising cost of talent. “You’ve seen everyone struggle. Look at the restaurant industry. When I see McDonald’s advertising high pay rates and tuition reimbursement, you know how bad things are.

“I don’t think this is going to be a short-lived situation,” he added. “It’s going to take a long time to dig out from under … you can’t refresh the pipeline immediately.”

Steve Walsh, president and CEO of the Massachusetts Health & Hospital Assoc., took a similar perspective during a recent meeting of the Health Policy Commission’s advisory council.

“I get that people fully want to go back to some semblance of normal,” he said, “but our healthcare organizations don’t have that option.” u

 

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

Value Alliance Provides Buying Power for Independent Hospitals

By
Spiros Hatiras
Health Care

Leveling the Playing Field

Spiros Hatiras

Spiros Hatiras says the Massachusetts Value Alliance has created what he called a “virtual system” for the state’s independent hospitals.

Spiros Hatiras was asked about the Massachusetts Value Alliance and, more specifically, how it improves the buying power of its members, including the one he serves as president and CEO — Holyoke Medical Center (HMC).

He handled the assignment by referencing the hospital’s ongoing work to implement a new electronic medical record (EMR) system, and with an analogy that puts this concept in its proper perspective.

“Let’s say you went to Ford and asked them to build you a car, but told them that, instead of putting the power-switch buttons on the window side, you wanted them on the center console — the cost to customize the car the way you wanted it would be enormous,” he explained. “It’s the same with EMR; what hospitals used to do, and still do, is go to an EMR vendor and ask them to come in and build and install a system for that hospital.”

The Massachusetts Value Alliance, or MVA, as it’s called, is a coalition that is enabling its members to depart from that expensive scenario.

Indeed, several members of the alliance, which now includes 14 community hospitals, have come together to order an EMR system that will be customized for a group — with minor tweaks for each specific facility — and not one hospital. The savings will be substantial — in fact, Hatiras pegs the cost at roughly $5 million for HMC, close to half of what the cost might have been.

“Instead of us individually customizing, we get three hospitals to come together and say, ‘what are the features that make sense for all of us, and let’s build it one time and implement it in three locations.’”

“Our patients are not that different; in fact, they’re not different at all from the other hospitals, and the processes that we use are very similar — the order set, the treatment protocols, are all very similar,” he told BusinessWest. “So, instead of us individually customizing, we get three hospitals to come together and say, ‘what are the features that make sense for all of us, and let’s build it one time and implement it in three locations.’”

This is the very essence of the MVA, which was formed three years ago by founding members Emerson Hospital in Concord, Sturdy Memorial Hospital in Attleboro, and South Shore Health in South Weymouth. It has added new members steadily since then, and the alliance now also includes HMC, Berkshire Medical System, Harington Healthcare System, Heywood Healthcare, Lawrence General Hospital, Signature Healthcare, and Southcoast Health.

These are smaller, independent hospitals that enjoy the benefits of being independent and the ability that gives them to be focused on the needs of their respective communities, said Dr. Gene Green, president of the MVA board of trustees and president and CEO of South Shore Health. But they don’t enjoy the buying power and other cost-saving benefits of being in a larger healthcare system.

Dr. Gene Green

Dr. Gene Green says the MVA gives its members a very potent commodity in these challenging times — buying power.

The MVA, operating under the slogan “Health Care Is Better When We Work Together,” was created to level the playing field in at least some ways.

“There’s always greater bargaining power with numbers,” Green explained, adding that the MVA has helped its members reduce the cost of everything from laboratory services for their patients to health insurance for their employees. “Although a lot of people do group purchasing on common things, there are other things, especially within hospitals and healthcare systems, that are specialized, and so the question was, ‘how do we help each other bring our numbers together and help each have more bargaining power with third-party vendors?’”

The MVA was the answer to the question. It was in many ways inspired by a similar system in Connecticut called the Value Care Alliance (VCA), said Green, and today, the two alliances are collaborating to create additional economies of scale.

For this issue, BusinessWest takes an in-depth look at the Massachusetts Value Alliance and at how it is benefiting its members across the state during what remains a very challenging time for all hospitals, but especially the smaller, independent institutions.

Group Rates

Hatiras told BusinessWest that he was approached by the president of Sturdy Memorial not long after the MVA was created and encouraged to become part of the new group.

As he recalls the conversations, it wasn’t a very hard sell.

That’s because the value — yes, you’ll be reading that word a lot during this discussion — was readily apparent. And value is something these hospitals certainly need.

“We were quick to join — we’ve been a member almost from the beginning,” said Hatiras. “This is something we ought to be doing because, as independent hospitals, our resources are much more limited.

“This was a way to bring these hospitals together and join forces in terms of acquiring resources without merging assets or governance,” he went on, recounting two of the obvious downsides to becoming part of a large healthcare system. “We’re creating an almost virtual system.”

And within this virtual system, there exists that all-important commodity of businesses of all kinds, but especially hospitals that purchase a seemingly endless array of products and services — buying power. The alliance uses it with everything from laboratory services — there’s a contract with Quest Diagnostics — to elevator services, Green explained.

“The question was, ‘how do we help each other bring our numbers together and help each have more bargaining power with third-party vendors?’”

“It was a way for us to help each other find cost reductions and efficiencies to help drive down the cost of care, hopefully — unfortunately, revenues are declining at the same time we’re doing the cost cutting — and serve our communities.”

Hatiras agreed.

“We don’t have the benefits of a, quote-unquote, system,” he said, referring to the independent hospitals in the MVA. “But we replicated a lot of the those benefits with this alliance.

“We don’t have a mothership that can come to the rescue if one of its members isn’t doing so well — we don’t have that backup,” he went on. “But aside from that, all the other benefits of a system are there — the sharing of information, the sharing of best practices, collaboration, shared negotiation on resources, and more.”

And the alliance enables its members to enjoy greater buying power while also remaining independent, meaning decisions are made locally, a quality these hospitals covet.

“As independents, we’re very focused on our communities, and we’re very proud of that,” said Green. “That’s one of the reasons we came together — to see how we could help one another through cost-effective measures to be able to carry on our missions. We all have the same mission and focus on patient care, patient experience, and high quality.

“All of us are good at partnering with people in our own communities,” he went on, “which made us naturals to be able to partner with one another.”

Green said the group will collectively decide where opportunities to collaborate may exist, and then individual members have the opportunity to opt in or not, an operating mindset that provides members with a good deal of flexibility.

“We didn’t want to force anyone into doing something,” he explained. “If you had a contract that was good for five years, when that expires — and we have one — you can opt in, or you can stay with your own, depending on the relationship.

Which brings us back to that example of EMR that Hatiras mentioned. It’s a perfect example of just how and why the alliance works.

This is a project that involves HMC, Harrington Healthcare System, and Heywood Healthcare, all working with EMR-system designer Meditech.

“This allows to take advantage of tremendous economies of scale because we work on a common build and share common resources, which allows to do this build at a significantly lower cost than if we did it alone,” said Hatiras, adding that HMC will go first, with the other hospitals to follow, with an August 2020 ‘go live’ date for the system.

Bottom Line

Green told BusinessWest that, as reimbursement rates for care decrease, or hold steady, and as the price of technology and everything else hospitals buy continues to increase — the savings generated by the MVA are even more important.

“They enable us to stay afloat,” he said in a voice that clearly conveyed just how challenging these times are for all hospitals, but especially those who have chosen to remain independent.

That choice has left them without a safety net, if you will, but in the MVA, they have something that replicates a system in so many ways.

As that chosen slogan suggests, healthcare is better when people work together.

George O’Brien can be reached at [email protected]

New Inpatient Beds Will Meet a Long-time Regional Need

By
Health Care

Mental Block

The health anxieties, economic stresses, substance abuse, and feelings of isolation exacerbated by COVID-19 aren’t exactly new, Dr. Barry Sarvet says. And they won’t fade when the pandemic does.

“Prior to the pandemic — and it’s easy to forget this now — we had an enormous amount of stress in our communities related to poverty, homelessness, economic struggles … people just facing an enormous amount of stress in their lives,” said the chair of Psychiatry at Baystate Health. “We had underemployment, unemployment, an opioid epidemic. It’s a very distressed community with a lot of long-term struggles, a lot of psychosocial stress. Every psychiatric disorder is influenced by environmental stresses, and those aren’t getting better. We need to pay more attention to them after the pandemic.”

Well before COVID-19, Sarvet noted, the region’s mental-health needs laid bare a shortage of inpatient beds for patients who need more help than outpatient visits can provide. It’s why Baystate announced a joint venture with Kindred Behavioral Health last summer to build and operate a $43 million behavioral-health hospital for the region, set to open in 2022. The hospital will be located on the former Holyoke Geriatric Authority site on Lower Westfield Road in Holyoke.

Dr. Barry Sarvet

“Every psychiatric disorder is influenced by environmental stresses, and those aren’t getting better.”

Holyoke Medical Center (HMC) had revealed a similar proposal in March 2020 to build a $40.6 million, 84-bed behavioral-health facility on its campus. But when Baystate’s plans came online, and the threatened closure of 74 inpatient beds at Providence Behavioral Health Hospital were saved by a change in ownership, HMC reverted to an earlier plan, to repurpose two of its existing units for behavioral health.

“We were concerned about providing a solution to get beds online as the state was developing guidelines for all hospitals to incentivize an increase in behavioral-health beds,” said Spiros Hatiras, president and CEO of HMC and Valley Health Systems.

The process of converting two units to behavioral health — an adult unit and one with a likely geriatric focus — began in October and will be finished by late April, and will add 34 new beds to the existing 20 at the hospital, more than doubling the total to 54. In doing so, it provides a more immediate solution to regional bed shortages, avoiding the need for a lengthy construction period (HMC’s new hospital was also expected to open in late 2022).

The internal repurposing of units had been conceived as a stopgap measure, but when Trinity Health announced the sale of Providence to Health Partners New England (HPNE), which committed to keeping inpatient beds open — and Baystate moved forward with its project — the stopgap made sense as a longer-term solution, although HMC could revisit a standalone behavioral-health hospital at some point in the future, Hatiras said.

Baystate’s project, meanwhile, will include 150 beds — 120 of them part of the original plan. The system has also contracted with the state Department of Mental Health to operate a 30-bed, long-term continuing-care unit for chronically mentally ill people who need a longer time in the hospital to stabilize before returning to the community, Sarvet explained.

This state-funded program, not accessible to regular referrals, was launched after the closures of Northampton State Hospital and other facilities like it. “Some patients need longer-term care, and this offers a length of stay to support people who don’t benefit from short-term hospitalization,” Sarvet said, adding that the DMH unit will be physically connected to the new hospital, but offer its own unique resources.

“New beds will be needed over the long term,” he said, speaking of the project as a whole. “We have had quite a shortage for many years, prior to the potential closure of Providence and prior to the pandemic. This substantial increase in needs is reflected in emergency-room visits from patients with a mental-health crisis. And we certainly see evidence that this isn’t a short-term blip, but part of a longer-term trend that predated the pandemic.”

 

Multiple Pivots

The prospect of any additional behavioral-health beds in the region is certainly a turnaround from a year ago, when Trinity Health announced it would close 74 inpatient beds at Providence Behavioral Health Hospital.

However, two months ago, the health system sold Providence to HPNE, which provided some management services at the facility from 2011 to 2014, and will operate the facility under the name MiraVista Behavioral Health. In doing so, it will resume operations of numerous outpatient programs, as well as including up to 84 inpatient psychiatric beds.

Spiros Hatiras

Spiros Hatiras

“We were concerned about providing a solution to get beds online as the state was developing guidelines for all hospitals to incentivize an increase in behavioral-health beds.”

“At the time we put forth the plan to build a new behavioral-health hospital, everyone else had pretty much abandoned any behavioral-health expansion,” Hatiras told BusinessWest. “People were shrinking programs; Providence was closing down their campus, and Baystate had put their plans on hold indefinitely. We decided we needed to do something to service the region. Since then, Baystate resurrected their plan to develop the old Geriatric Authority site.”

The recent moves come as no surprise at a time when state health officials have been incentivizing hospitals to open up behavioral-health beds in the wake of a sharp increase in cases due partly to the pandemic.

However, “we had a concern that what seemed like no beds could potentally become too many beds,” Hatiras explained. He disagrees with Marylou Sudders, secretary of Health and Human Services for the Commonwealth, who has said there can never be too many beds because the state has so many needs. Rather, he noted, “demand may be greater now than it will be a year from now as we move away from the pandemic spike; we might see demand go down.”

Two other factors, both geographic, also played into the decision to scale down HMC’s behavioral-health expansion. One is that HMC, Baystate, and Providence would have been providing around 225 beds within a three-mile radius of each other, and though the need for services is great statewide, there’s only so far patients and families will be willing or able to go to seek access to treatment — not to mention the difficulty of recruiting more physicians, nurses, and ancillary staff to such a concentrated area.

“We might find ourselves very quickly in a situation where we might not be able to staff those beds. Can we attract staff to this area? That’s always been difficult for Western Mass.,” Hatiras said, another reason why a smaller-scale project makes sense right now.

“I’m optimistic about the units we’re building coming online quickly and providing some relief,” he said. “It’s a good project, and we have a good track record in behavioral health. We know we can run it well, and the state has been very enthusiastic about it. I think we’re in really good shape.”

While the standalone hospital proposal is ‘parked’ for the moment, not abandoned completely, HMC has to be sure something of that scale would be both necessary and practical before moving forward, Hatiras added. “We’re a small community hospital. A project can’t be something that may or may not succeed financially; we can’t take a $45 million risk.”

Baystate currently has 69 behavioral-health beds at three of its affiliate locations: 27 at Baystate Wing Hospital, 22 at Baystate Franklin Medical Center, and 20 at Baystate Noble Hospital. When the new facility opens next fall, these three locations will close. A fourth location, the Adult Psychiatric Treatment Unit at Baystate Medical Center (BMC), which accommodates up to 28 medically complex behavioral-health patients, will remain open. Kindred Healthcare will manage the day-to-day operations of the behavioral hospital.

Sarvet firmly believes Baystate will able to fully staff the new venture.

“We do have a nursing shortage, so this will present a challenge, but I don’t think it’s insurmountable,” he told BusinessWest. “We’ll work very hard to include people from the region and hire locally, but we might need a wider net to bring people in. We are very confident we’ll be able to be successful.”

 

Not Waiting Around

In fact, all the local players in the inpatient realm of behavioral health need to be successful, Sarvet noted. For example, suicide rates are increasing, as are instances of anxiety and depression, including in young people (see story on page 4). Meanwhile, the workforce of psychotherapists and clinicians in outpatient settings haven’t been operating at full capacity — again, partly due to the pandemic and the shift to remote treatment settings.

Like HMC, Baystate isn’t waiting for a new building to expand certain aspects of behavioral care. It will open a 12-bed child unit at Baystate later this month, which will expand to a 24-bed unit in the new hospital next year, in response to a shortage of beds specifically for that population. “We see a large number of kids taken care of on medical floors, waiting for beds, up to several weeks,” Sarvet said.

All this movement is positive, Hatiras noted, though he does wish that leadership from HMC, Baystate, and Providence had engaged in deeper conversations about the region’s long-term behavioral-health needs and how to meet them before the recent rush of project launches and changes, bed closings, and ownership transitions.

“Let’s talk as a regional team and determine what makes sense for the region,” he said. “That still has purpose now. Let’s decide what makes sense in these areas before we build 250 beds and can’t staff them, or half of them sit empty.”

For his part, Sarvet agrees that the meeting the region’s inpatient behavioral-health needs is not a solo effort. “We don’t want to win the battle; we want all hospitals to be staffed. We’re in a friendly competition, and we want everyone to win.”

 

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

Roundtable Panelists Note Opportunities, Challenges for Year Ahead

By
Susan Kasa
Economic Outlook

Talking the Talk

As part of its annual Economic Outlook, BusinessWest put together a roundtable of area business leaders to discuss the issues facing the region and its business community and the outlook for the year ahead. The panel represents several sectors of the economy, and both small and large businesses. It includes: Harry Dumay, president of Elms College in Chicopee; John Falcone, director of Merchandising for Rocky’s Ace Hardware; Spiros Hatiras, president and CEO of Holyoke Medical Center; Susan Kasa, president of Boulevard Machine in Westfield; Tanzania Cannon-Eckerle, an attorney with the Royal Law Firm and co-owner of Brew Practitioners; and Tom Senecal, president and CEO of PeoplesBank. They were candid and, overall, cautiously optimistic in their answers to a series of questions about the economy and what comes next.

Watch the video of the roundtable here:

 

 

BusinessWest: What is your outlook for 2023?

 

Kasa: “We’re excited for 2023; we’ve really seen an uptick in military and defense work, so we’re really excited about where our year is going to go.”

 

Senecal: “Increased business confidence is the biggest thing, I think, with all the negative press we hear on the economy. Increased confidence is big, and in my industry, and with the people we do business with, lower interest rates will have a significant, positive impact on our environment.”

 

Cannon-Eckerle: “We’re excited about some of the fallout that we got legally from COVID; it has started to settle down a little bit — we’re starting to see those issues become isolated, and opportunities for us to create some guidance and counsel about preventive measures. On the employment side, instead of seeing people float from job to job, I think we’re going to see a little more staying power.”

Susan Kasa

Susan Kasa says the war in Ukraine, while bringing hardship to many, has helped the fortunes of her company, Boulevard Machine, which specializes in work for the defense, military, and aviation industries.

 

Falcone: “We really track consumer sentiment, and what we’re expecting is a really soft Q1, but then when Q2, Q3, and Q4 hit, we’re expecting that consumer sentiment will increase slightly, and that we’re going to have some sort of recovery come the back half of the year.”

 

Hatiras: “With ARPA funds drying up, we’re going to have pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. So our emphasis is on closing the staffing gap. If we can do that, and not bleed money on the expense side, I think we’ll be OK; I think we’re poised to have a good year, as long as we’re able to attract nurses here.”

 

BusinessWest: What are the major challenges facing businesses in the year ahead?

 

Kasa: “For us, it’s the same old, same old — trying to get people into manufacturing. We’ve dealt with the generation gap for years, and are getting more involved with the vocational schools and getting parents to understand that manufacturing is a viable option for young people. It’s not just manufacturing; they can be their own entrepreneur in plumbing or electrical, whatever it might be. Also, holding onto folks; ever since COVID came through, it just seems harder and harder to find people who want to work, and want to work the extra hours that we’re giving them. Workforce is key for us — building on the workforce.”

 

Hatiras: “In healthcare, there is a great deal of concern, and the most concerning part is the continuing shortage of personnel, which has created this market for temporary staffing at rates that are truly outrageous. To put things in perspective, we have about 20 nurses on temporary staff that we get through agencies. Those 20 nurses, on an annual basis, cost us $5 million; each nurse costs us $250,000, because the rates are exorbitant — the nurses get a lot of money, but there’s also a middleman that makes untold amounts of money from this crisis.

“As a nation, the federal government is doing a lot of things — they did some things with railroad workers, they’re helping Ukraine, they’re talking about a lot of things. They should have stepped in and regulated this and said, ‘the pandemic created a tremendous amount of shortage; we cannot allow private companies to go out and profit from that shortage of staffing and bring hospitals to their knees.’ With all this, it’s going to be very difficult for hospitals to cope, and that’s why all our strategy centers around finding a way to attract nurses here.”

 

Falcone: “Number one would be interest rates; we keep seeing interest rates increase, and not increasing at a rate that we would expect compared to supply chain. The supply chain is still not fully intact, so we’re still struggling to find those products that we want to make strategic investments in. Also, the job market is going to be difficult for us, primarily on the service, retail, restaurant industry. We very much struggle with our workforce.”

Tom Senecal

Tom Senecal notes that the Fed’s actions to boost interest rates have not yielded much improvement on the inflation front, something to watch in 2023.

Senecal: “I would agree with Susan on the labor force. We’re all in different industries, but we’re seeing the same challenges, whether it’s manufacturing, skilled labor, retail labor, banking and financial services … COVID killed the participation rate of how people want to work or, quite frankly, don’t want to work. It seems like it’s across all industries — the participation is so low, and people just don’t want to work. That’s a huge challenge for next year.

“Another one is inflationary pressures; the Fed has raised rates at unheard-of levels, and it’s having very little impact, which is kind of scary. The last increase wasn’t as high as the others, but it’s still unprecedented. They used to be a quarter-point; three or four 75-basis-point raises is a shock to the system, and it’s not having the immediate impact you might think it would have. That’s going to be a challenge for a lot of business, as well as for us in the banking industry.”

 

Dumay: “In higher education, there are many challenges related to enrollment and finances; we’ve been talking for a while about what is known as the ‘demographic cliff,’ which is the fact that there are fewer high-school graduates, fewer 18-year-olds that are ready to enroll in college, and this has been exacerbated during the COVID years. This is creating enrollment challenges for all higher-ed institutions. On the finance side, everyone here has mentioned the challenge of inflation, as well as the tight workforce. Higher education is also challenged by the fact that some of the stimulus funding that has helped during COVID is no longer available. All of these are going to create challenges for the higher-ed sector in general, and Elms College in particular. But they also present opportunities.

 

BusinessWest: What are the forces that will determine what will happen with the local and national economies in 2023 and what we’re all talking about a year from now?

 

Kasa: “For us, what’s happening in the world politically and the war in Ukraine; we’re really seeing an increase in military spending and orders for the military and defense. That’s going to be very helpful for us, and I do see that continuing. There’s a tremendous amount of talk about upgrades to engines, the F-35 … and being in the aerospace alley and having so many of these large OEMs right in the corridor, in the Hartford area, is beneficial for us. I do foresee things continuing to move up and onward for us.”

 

Cannon-Eckerle: “One of the things bubbling up in the legal sphere is something they call ‘litigation investment,’ which is essentially large companies investing in litigation against larger corporations that normally they wouldn’t be able to afford. It’s like a venture-capital-like investment, and we’re starting to see large companies spread their wings. I think that might have an effect on litigation down the line.”

Harry Dumay

Harry Dumay says COVID provided many important lessons that are serving Elms College well as it moves on from the pandemic.

Dumay: “I think some of those challenges that I spoke about that are related to enrollment will lead to some of the forces and trends that will shape things in 2023. I expect institutions to tailor their pricing and courses accordingly; there is a trend in higher education to look for shorter types of certificates to help max the credentialing needs of the workforce. I expect we’ll see that. But also, the workforce issues are providing a lot of opportunities for institutions to partner with businesses to address some of these workforce issues, and I expect that we’ll see more collaborations and partnerships between higher-ed institutions and businesses to address some of these workforce challenges.”

 

Senecal: “I see two things. One is supply chain; I think the pressure seems to be coming off, and if that trend continues, that will have a really positive effect on the economy. Two, I think higher energy prices are not going to go away. With the war in Ukraine and Russian energy and what is being supplied to Europe and all … many people don’t think it impacts us. I think it will have a huge impact going into 2023. When you look at the supply of energy in Europe, they have enough to get through the winter to sustain themselves. What they don’t have is the ability to replenish those supplies by next winter, and I think Russia knows this, and I think their strategy is to put a huge amount of pressure on to get to next year, because when you get to next winter, there’s not going to be any energy-supply reserves, and that’s going to have a huge impact worldwide on energy supplies, and that trickles throughout the economy.”

 

Falcone: I very much agree with Tom. The overall political and economic environment created by that war has affected our business dramatically, whether it’s fuel costs, energy costs that directly impact the supply chain and lead to inflation, or interest rates, because the overall cost of carrying our inventory is higher, and the cost of the product we’re procuring is higher. So with that, our overall cost of business has increased.”

John Falcone

John Falcone says supply-chain issues have improved in recent months, one of many reasons for optimism heading into 2023.

Kasa: “I agree with John. In manufacturing, our supply chain has really been impacted by this war; we’re not able to get material as we did some time ago, and those costs continue to rise. Being in manufacturing, we’re held to long-term agreements, master agreements, and it just continually squeezes the small guy.”

 

BusinessWest: How has your business or institution coped with the recent workforce challenges? Do you have a success formula?

 

Senecal: “Before COVID hit, we would never let an employee work from home; from a security perspective, from a collaborative perspective, it just wouldn’t work. Two weeks into the pandemic, we had 80% of workforce working from home without a hitch. I still think the collaboration, or culture, side of it has to occur within the office, but we’ve pivoted from that perspective, and we’re pushing the ability to work from home a whole lot more.

“To tackle the workforce issue and spread our wings and look beyond Western Mass., we are advertising positions as ‘80% work from home,’ something you would have never thought of or heard of in years past. We have an employee now who works 100% out of Chicago. As a local community bank, we would have never considered that. It’s increased our ability to attract talent, and we’ve found some success, but I know it’s still going to be a challenge moving forward.”

 

Kasa: “We’re looking for exposure, and being in our bright new building certainly helps. So does using social media to attract young machinists; we’re using Instagram and Facebook … it really does work with the young people that follow you. And being a family-owned business also resonates with many people; there have been so many capital acquisitions in recent times in this area.

“We spend a lot of time talking to parents about manufacturing and the opportunities that are available to young people. Manufacturing is coming back, and now parents are realizing that not everyone is meant for a college degree, and they don’t have to spend $100,000 or $200,000 on education; they are coming into machining and electrical and plumbing. The parents are really starting to see us as a viable option.”

 

Dumay: “We’re paying a lot of attention to employee morale and employee satisfaction, and being flexible where we can. Part of the promise of Elms College as a small, liberal-arts institution is that students will be in contact with people and one another, so having a presence on campus is important. But we’re trying to work creatively to include flexibility for employees in terms of where they can work and the time they can work, to the extent that this can be done.”

 

Hatiras: “We’re doing OK because we had to respond to what was going on in the market by creating even more attractive reasons for coming here — we raised our rates, we’re enhancing benefits, and at the same time, we’re looking at economic assistance for the lower-earning employees. Where it’s more difficult is with the professionals, because the dollars are significantly more, so competing just on price is difficult. The key for success — what keeps people here and makes them come here — is the culture of the place, so we put a tremendous amount of effort in the 10 years I’ve been here on creating a good culture. Now, it’s become a differentiator, and we’re pushing it even more. We’re an employer that listens to employees, responds to their needs, and cares. That’s what people want.”

Spiros Hatiras

Spiros Hatiras says the “truly outrageous” cost of agency nurses is one of the many stern challenges facing all hospitals today.

Falcone: “We put a big focus on our company culture. Right in our strategic plan, it says ‘invest in people, personally grow, and have fun.’ There’s no doubt about it … the people we have are our biggest asset, so what we want to do is make sure that we’re taking care of them. In this ever-competitive job market, it’s really easy to jump jobs for an extra dollar or two an hour, but for us, we really want to focus on employee engagement and employee satisfaction.”

 

BusinessWest: Provide us with at least one, and maybe a few, reasons for optimism regarding the year ahead.

 

Falcone: “The supply chain is becoming more intact. Two years ago, our fill rates as a company were about 60%; December marked the first time our fill rates recently broke the 80% mark. They’re still not back to 2019 levels of roughly 90%, but it’s slowly getting better, and I think the numbers will continue to increase. For the consumer, it’s the availability of product at a reasonable price. Also, we’re starting to see a little bit of deflation … I think we’re still going to have inflation, but it is going to level off.”

 

Kasa: “The war, which is terrible for the world, and the politics going on are only going to make more work for us because we’re military and defense-heavy. Meanwhile, space is another huge one for us, because it’s been years since the U.S. has gone to space. And with all the competition going on for space travel now between Blue Origin, SpaceX, and others … it’s a a market the U.S. hasn’t been involved in for years, and it bodes well for us.”

Tanzania Cannon-Eckerle

Tanzania Cannon-Eckerle says many converging forces will bring change to the employment-law scene in 2023.

Cannon-Eckerle: “Now that COVID is a little bit behind us … we have some clarity. I think there was a period of time when employers, employees, people who don’t work, everyone in this world went through a period of time when they just didn’t know what the future would hold. Now, people can start making decisions and moving forward, in whatever direction that might be. Also, green technology. I think that technology is getting a huge boost, even moreso than it had before, and I think we’re going to start making some big strides in green technology, and I’m really excited about that.”

 

Hatiras: One of the good things for Holyoke, and this is one of the reasons I’m optimistic about our path here, is that we have this new waiver in Massachusetts, a five-year waiver with Medicare, which puts a lot of emphasis on safety-net hospitals. So, despite the many challenges I mentioned — and we’re going to have to meet those challenges — I think we’re going to be in a very good position to continue to provide the services we do now, and even better; it’s a good deal for Massachusetts and safety-net hospitals.”

 

Dumay: “We had a Christmas party at the college recently, and everyone was shaking hands — no one was fist-pumping, no one was six feet apart. It’s easy to forget where we were a year ago. I’m encouraged when I look at what happened during the past semester, when students were happy to be with one another; this is the generation where students finished their high school on Zoom and already had some difficulty with social skills. This ability to come back together … people are appreciating that.

“Another reason for optimism is that we learned a lot of lessons during COVID. We endured considerable hardships, but we also learned some valuable lessons as well. In higher education, for example, we learned about online learning and providing students with maximum flexibility. This is something we were forced into by COVID, but now, those lessons are settling down and providing both flexibility and efficiency in terms of teaching and learning. From a human-relations perspective, we’ve learned some lessons that are becoming part of our operations, and for the better.”

 

Hospitals Create Some Momentum, but Stern Challenges Remain

By
Dr. Lynnette Watkins
Healthcare News Special Coverage

Building Blocks for the Future

Dr. Lynnette Watkins

Dr. Lynnette Watkins called 2023 a rebuilding year and a time for “getting back to basics.”

 

As she talked about the relative fiscal health of hospitals, and especially Cooley Dickinson Hospital (CDH) in Northampton, which she serves as president and CEO, and the outlook for the coming year, Dr. Lynnette Watkins looked back on 2023 and described it with phrases often reserved for struggling sports teams — yes, like the one in Foxboro.

“It’s been a very challenging year,” she told BusinessWest. “It was definitely a rebuilding year, with a lot of focus on getting back to basics, and getting to what I would call a new normal.”

While we’re used to hearing those terms in sports, they work in healthcare, and especially when it comes to hospitals, said Watkins and others we spoke with.

Indeed, hospitals are rebuilding from several years of turmoil, falling revenues, rising costs, and struggles with recruiting and retaining a workforce. Many of these issues predate the pandemic, to one extent or another, but COVID certainly exacerbated the problems.

Dr. Mark Keroack, president and CEO of the Baystate Health system, which includes four hospitals — Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Baystate Noble Hospital in Westfield, Baystate Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield, and Baystate Wing Hospital in Palmer — put things in perspective with some eye-opening numbers.

“It’s been a very challenging year. It was definitely a rebuilding year, with a lot of focus on getting back to basics, and getting to what I would call a new normal.”

He said the Baystate system, which also includes the health insurer Health New England, a range of physician practices, and a home-health agency (a $3 billion organization), essentially lost $61 million in the fiscal year that ended on Sept. 30 — $44 million from health delivery and $17 million from the health plan, which “had a bad year.”

And that’s a significant improvement over the previous fiscal year, when it lost $177 million.

And when it comes to workforce, the Baystate system has roughly 1,400 openings across several different departments, he said, noting that, again, this is an improvement from the peak of more than 2,000 in 2022.

Spiros Hatiras

Spiros Hatiras says HMC has taken aggressive steps on the workforce front, such as large sign-on bonuses and staffing ratios for nurses.

“It’s still more than double what it used to be before the pandemic,” said Keroack, who will be retiring next summer, adding that the system has nonetheless seen progress when it comes vacancy rates, turnover rates, and overall retention through strategies including flex scheduling, workforce-safety initiatives, upward movement on salaries and benefits, wellness programs, career counseling, and more — progress he expects will continue on these and other fronts in 2024.

Dr. Robert Roose, president of Mercy Medical Center in Springfield, agreed there was some improvement in 2023 on several of the fronts on which hospitals are battling, from overall volumes in the ER and with hospital stays (sometimes for the wrong reasons) to decreased use of travel nurses and their sky-high costs.

But there are still formidable challenges in the form of higher costs for everything from labor to equipment to medication; inadequate reimbursements for care (a problem hospitals have been dealing with for decades now); and, most recently, backlogs on the patient floors and the ER resulting from a shortage of nursing-home beds.

Overall, there are still many “mismatches,” as he called them, when it comes to demand in various settings and with specific needs, such as behavioral health.

“Hospitals are at a crossroads,” Roose said, noting that the pressures currently facing them will not likely abate in the years to come. “We have to think about how we focus on three main areas — health equity, system redesign and how we can do things differently, and workforce development.”

When it comes to getting back to basics, that phrase applies to everything to improving access, through initiatives such as an expansion of the ER at CDH (more on that later), to different strategies for recruiting and retaining employees — everything from greater flexibility with hours to a concert to celebrate nurses.

In that latter realm, there is certainly room for innovation and even what amounts to risk taking, said Spiros Hatiras, president and CEO of Holyoke Medical Center and Valley Health Systems, who said he and his team have certainly done so with some aggressive initiatives with bonuses for nurses, staffing ratios, and taking on nursing students right out of college.

“Hospitals are at a crossroads. We have to think about how we focus on three main areas — health equity, system redesign and how we can do things differently, and workforce development.”

Elaborating, he said HMC took some of the federal and state money funneled to hospitals in the wake of the pandemic and “invested” in programs to bolster the workforce through initiatives such as rising pay scales and benefits, ratios, and especially bonuses for nurses, both recent graduates and those with years of experience — initiatives that have generated strong results and eliminated the need for travel nurses, as we’ll see later.

For this issue, BusinessWest talked with these hospital administrators about the various forms of progress made in 2023 — and there were several — as well as the stern challenges that remain and the expectations for the year ahead.

 

Working in Concert

They called it Nurses Rock.

That was the name attached to a concert last spring featuring the local cover band Trailer Trash, staged in the former Colony Club space in Tower Square and orchestrated by Holyoke Medical Center. And that name speaks volumes about what this different kind of event was all about.

Indeed, this was a celebration of nurses, said Hatiras, noting that nurses from across the region, not just HMC, were invited. And more than 400 turned out.

Nurses Rock II is well into the planning stage, he went on, adding that the band Aquanett has been secured, and the event has been scheduled to coincide with National Nurses Week in early May.

Dr. Mark Keroack says 2023 was another difficult year

Dr. Mark Keroack says 2023 was another difficult year for hospitals, on several fronts, but it was a vast improvement over 2022.

Nurses Rock is just one example of rebuilding, going back to basics, being innovative, and, yes, thinking outside the box when it comes to the many challenges that are still confronting hospitals, which are, in many ways, still digging out from the fiscal turmoil created by, or exacerbated by, the pandemic.

With that, Keroack returned to those numbers he referenced earlier, such as the posted losses of $61 million system-wide in FY 2023, and put them into historical perspective.

“To really understand this, you need to turn the clock back to before the pandemic,” he said. “Before the pandemic, we would routinely generate margins of 2% to 3%, and we were generally stable; we were rated A+ by Standard & Poor’s, which put us roughly in the top quartile of health systems in New England.

“In 2020 and 2021, we were propped up by some generous federal subsidies from the CARES Act,” he went on, adding that these amounted to roughly $180 million. “They papered over some serious financial problems and enabled us to post 1% to 2% margins those two years.”

But that relief went away in 2022, and the system was still left with a huge bill for contract labor and overtime pay, he continued, adding that, when it comes to that $177 million loss in FY 2022, more than 70% of that came from higher labor costs.

In 2023, Baystate was able to make about $170 million worth of margin improvement, Keroack said, adding that much of this resulted from one-time grants from FEMA and ARPA monies, as well as some revenue-enhancement initiatives, efforts to improve supply-chain expenses, and a reduction of roughly 60 positions from the executive leadership ranks.

“We’re running an extraordinarily lean organization right now,” he told BusinessWest. For example, I used to have six direct reports, and now I have 12.”

What’s more, the system “turned the tide,” as he put it, when it comes to the use of contract labor, while also embarking on a number of joint ventures, such as the new behavioral-health hospital that opened recently in Holyoke, that help avoid capital expenditures, and exiting some small lines of business such as in-vitro fertilization and urgent care, areas where Baystate either couldn’t recruit talent or determined that these areas were not the core mission and were better left to others to handle.

Overall, volumes returned in 2023 across the board, Keroack said, meaning in the ER, surgeries, and discharges. But hospital stays or ‘days’ were considerably over budget because length of stay has increased, often because it’s more difficult to discharge a patient to a nursing home or home care.

“Hospitals are at a crossroads. We have to think about how we focus on three main areas — health equity, system redesign and how we can do things differently, and workforce development.”

“It’s causing a traffic jam,” he explained. “And it results in dozens and dozens of patients being stuck, waiting for a discharge to happen; that jams up the in-patient unit, causes backup in the emergency room, long waits, etc. It’s been stressful, but we’re beginning to get some progress on that.”

Watkins agreed, noting that more progress is needed in 2024 and beyond because there are many consequences as hospital stays lengthen, everything from greater potential for hospital-acquired infections and patient falls to further financial hardship for hospitals because insurers will not reimburse for those longer stays.

Much of the problem results from workforce issues, she went on, noting that “workforce drives access — access to our acute-care facilities, access to our ambulatory clinics, access to our VNA and hospice — and it really drives the value and quality of service that we offer.”

 

Work in Progress

Overall, there has been even more progress on the workforce front, although considerable challenges remain, said all those we spoke with.

Due to a heightened focus on various strategies regarding recruitment and retention, hospitals have greatly reduced their dependence on travel, or contract, nurses, who are paid at rates at least double what staff nurses receive, Watkins said.

At HMC, use of travel nurses has been eliminated altogether, said Hatiras, with a discernable dose of pride in his voice, noting that this was achieved through some rather aggressive risk-taking.

And, overall, the hospital has made itself a good place to work, he said, making it easier to recruit not only nurses but also doctors and other providers as well.

“The main theme in 2023 for us was to really leverage many, many years of work to create a great culture here,” he said. “That work, that culture, enabled us to attract physicians here where otherwise, we would have no shot. And it has essentially enabled us to solve our staffing problem. We have solved it for now — knock on wood.”

The most significant progress has come with attracting and retaining nurses and thus eliminating dependence on travel nurses, he went on, adding this has been accomplished through creation of that culture, but also through large bonuses and staffing ratios, initiatives launched in the early stages of the pandemic that are paying real dividends now.

“We gave the nurses something that no one else wanted to give them — something they really wanted, and something we fought for years not to give them: ratios,” he said. “None of my colleagues like my answer, but it has worked for us.”

Elaborating, Hatiras said that, pre-pandemic, his hospital, and all hospitals, fought hard against ratios demanded by nurses unions, primarily because there was no flexibility built into the equation, and penalties were imposed upon those who did not comply. HMC has injected some flexibility, keeping a 5-to-1 ratio whenever possible.

Meanwhile, rather than spend pandemic-related state and federal assistance on the “middleman,” meaning agency nurses for which the hospital paid $200 per hour, the hospital opted to put it toward retention bonuses and other initiatives for nurses and other providers of care.

“We basically said, ‘you’re here, and you work for us; we don’t want you to leave — so we’re going to pay you $20,000 over the next four years as a bonus, just to stay,’” he said, adding that very few nurses who accepted those terms have left.

Meanwhile, more recently, the hospital decided to make some additional investments, this time in recent college graduates, at a time when fewer hospitals were taking on such inexperienced individuals because of the high cost of training them. HMC offered them the chance to join the staff in May, after graduating, but not take on a full patient load until October.

On top of that, it offered something most “couldn’t say no to” — a $50,000 sign-on bonus for a commitment to stay five years.

“We said, ‘listen, we’ll cut you a check so long as you sign a note that says you’ll come and work for us,’” he said, adding that these bonuses were larger than most being offered and upfront in nature.

And they have worked, with many recent graduates signing on. And while many of his colleagues have questioned his math, Hatiras has told them, as he told BusinessWest, that, in the long run, it’s more cost-effective to incentivize nurses to stay in this aggressive fashion than it is to replace them when they leave. And that same guiding philosophy prompted him to put in place a similar program for experienced nurses, one that offers them $40,000 bonuses if they stay three years.

 

Reality Check

While there has been progress on workforce issues and other fronts, there are still a large number of pain points for hospitals, said Roose, adding that these will certainly continue in 2024.

“The pressures on hospitals have been increasing; they’ve been changing, and the needs of our community have been changing over the past several years, but the pressures have not relented,” he said, noting that the pandemic exacerbated the workforce crisis and compounded a financial crisis for hospitals across the country.

“Those various elements lead to pressures on everything from access to care for patients through traditional models that we’ve had for the past several decades, to having enough colleagues to provide care to meet the demands in different kinds of settings, to how to continue to invest in resources to innovate and grow to where healthcare is going.”

Moving forward, he said the healthcare system must continue to evolve to meet the changing needs of the public and continue to provide access to care, especially amid an ongoing shift toward more care being provided in outpatient settings.

“Hospitals and healthcare systems are evolving, but perhaps not quick enough to best meet those needs,” he went on. “We need to provide access points of care that are the most convenient, that are readily available, at the right level of care when needed, and with a high level of excellence.”

Watkins agreed, but noted that, while 2023 was certainly a time of ongoing challenge and duress for hospitals, it was also a period for rebuilding and, at CDH, celebrating such things as the 10th anniversary of the hospital’s partnership with Mass General Brigham, an expansion and renovation of the hospital’s labor and delivery suites, and the advancement of plans for expanding the ER, a project that will greatly enhance the delivery of care in that unit.

Ground will be broken on the new facility shortly, she said, adding that work to enlarge and redesign the ER brings into focus many of the pressing issues in healthcare today — everything from access to care to workplace conditions to retention of talent.

All are addressed in a design that adds 7,000 square feet of space but also improves safety through an overall configuration that enhances lines of sight while also improving staff satisfaction.

“They want to be in an environment that is pleasing to them, that they can move around in, because we spend a lot of the day at work,” Watkins said. “All of these things come back to workforce, which is going to be the key driver as we move into 2024.”

 

Bottom Line

As he talked briefly about his pending retirement and tenure at Baystate, Keroack joked that it has “never been dull.”

That’s an understatement and a rather polite way of summing up the past few years in particular.

It’s been a time of extreme challenge, but also intriguing and sometimes even exhilarating work to confront those challenges and find solutions.

As for what is to come and the outlook for 2024, hospitals will continue to rebuild and stress the basics. And, like any struggling sports team, they’ll look forward to the new year with optimism.

That’s the best you can do when you’re at a crossroads.

The Staff of Holyoke Medical Center

By
The Staff of Holyoke Medical Center
Healthcare Heroes

Amid the Crisis at the Soldiers’ Home, This Small Army Answered the Call

The Staff of Holyoke Medical Center

The Staff of Holyoke Medical Center

It was coming up to noon on Friday, April 4, and the staff at Holyoke Medical Center was frantically working to ready facilities there for the arrival of residents of the nearby Holyoke Soldiers’ Home, who needed to be relocated in the midst of a tragic COVID-19 disaster that would make headlines across the country.

Carl Cameron, HMC’s chief operating officer, who was overseeing that work, was on the phone with his boss, hospital President and CEO Spiros Hatiras, who was telling him that some promised National Guard personnel would likely soon be arriving from the Soldiers’ Home to help with the massive and complex undertaking.

Cameron’s response more than sets the tone for a truly inspiring story that most still haven’t heard, but certainly should.

“I told him that at that point not to bother,” he recalled. “Because we had our own army of people. And it was absolutely outstanding and amazing how that team came together and got this done.”

“We had our own army of people. And it was absolutely outstanding and amazing how that team came together and got this done.”

Indeed, HMC’s small army, which would grow in numbers in the coming days and weeks, as we’ll see, came together in every way imaginable to bring 39 residents of the home into a hospital that was in the early stages of the COVID-19 fight itself. An acute-care hospital, HMC was not in the business of providing long-term care. But, to borrow a phrase from hockey, it shifted on the fly, and essentially got into that business.

There was a learning curve — staff members were certainly not used to people in HMC’s beds making requests (better make that demands) for their favorite brand of beer — but they did learn, and they made the veterans/patients/residents feel at home at an extremely difficult time.

They decorated the hastily created living spaces with flags and red, white, and blue ornaments. They found the soldiers television sets. They provided much-needed information and comfort to those soldiers’ family members, many of whom had no idea where they were. They’ve helped a few of their guests celebrate 100th birthdays since their arrival. Outpatient physical therapists were taken off furlough to become veterans’ liaisons, helping the Soldiers’ Home residents with daily functions as well as helping them maintain connections with loved ones. Office assistants stepped in to assist with patient care.

Summing it all up, Hatiras said his staff came together, as perhaps never before, amid a crisis that tested the medical center on every level imaginvable — and earned the designation of Healthcare Hero for 2020 not only from BusinessWest, but from the Huron Studer Group, one of only four such awards that organization issued across the entire U.S.

Spiros Hatiras

Spiros Hatiras

“Everyone put their roles aside and said, ‘all hands on deck.”

“Everyone put their roles aside and said, ‘all hands on deck,’” Hatiras noted, summoning still more military language as he praised every department in the hospital, from Plant Operations to Communications to Environmental Services, for the specific roles they played. “And what we’ve learned, aside from all the bonding and being more comfortable in different roles, is that we’ve technically become much more astute. We’ve learned things from a technical standpoint that would allow us to respond to a second wave or other kind of pandemic, because now we’ve got it right; we know how to convert rooms under pressure, we know how to isolate people, we know how to shift things around, we know how to use alternative ways. We’ve learned so much by going through this.”

As several of those involved with this herculean effort talked with BusinessWest about it, much of the discussion focused on that first day and night — and for a reason.

The hard work of setting up spaces for the soldiers — an outpatient cardiac-services unit and a maternity unit that has seen declining volume for several years — had been completed by mid-afternoon — as noted, without the help of the National Guard.

As he talked about the mad dash to get the rooms ready, Angelo Martinez, a member of the Plant Operations team, spoke for everyone in the room when he spoke of those who be staying in those rooms.

“At end of the day, I was tired, but it was a good feeling,” he said. “Because these veterans did a lot for us, and we owe them for all they’ve done.”

Those units were ready by 3 p.m., the end of a shift for many of those involved. But just about everyone stayed until those soldiers finally started arriving by van in the early evening. And they stayed on until the last of them arrived around midnight. And still they stayed on until the soldiers were settled into their new quarters.

Kaitlyn Nadeau, a surgical technologist, was one of them. She told BusinessWest she was unaware that the hospital was taking on the veterans because it had been a busy day in the operating rooms. When she learned, around 3 in the afternoon, she and others went about setting out a welcome mat.

Korean War Veteran Richard Madura, seen here with recreational therapist Mary Argenio, is one of 39 veterans who found a new home at Holyoke Medical Center.

“We made hearts to put on the walls because … it’s a basement, and it’s white walls, and it’s kind of scary when you walk in,” she explained. “So we decorated it like we were going to stay there. Because if it were my grandparents coming in … most of these people are confused as is, and they’re coming to this facility they’ve never been to.

“So we decided we were going to stay there,” she went on. “Hours went by, and they still hadn’t arrived because it’s quite the process to get them here. Finally, I said, ‘let’s get more people down here.’ My boss just started grabbing people from everywhere; people from the command center showed up, and managers from other departments, and CNAs … everyone just came together, including people I’d never met before in my life, to welcome them here and get them settled in.”

This coming together as a team during that first 24 hours or so set the tone, but it was really only the first chapter in a story that, seven months later, is still being written.

Indeed, soon after the veterans arrived, some began showing signs of the virus, meaning more space would have to be readied for these guests, and single rooms would be needed to slow and hopefully stifle any spread.

Also, the hospital, and especially its nursing staff, had to pivot to providing long-term-care services.

“Being an acute-care hospital, we’re not normally planning things out for long-term-care residents,” Nurse Manager Christina Straney said. “But many of our nurses have worked in long-term care, so they stepped up and said, ‘let me take this, let me run with this, let me show you what we do in nursing homes and how we care for patients.’”

Meanwhile, some of the certified nursing assistants had worked at the Soldiers’ Home and recognized some of the patients, she went on, adding that this helped create a fluid, almost seamless transition for the veterans.

Likewise, the furloughed physical therapists stepped into their new roles as veterans’ liaisons, a role that came about out of necessity, Hatiras explained.

“We had the matter of individual preferences,” he said. “I would get on a Zoom call, and I would have family members say, ‘remember, Ed doesn’t eat eggs, and he doesn’t like mayo, and he takes his tuna fish this way, and he likes his newspaper every morning’ … and I’m like, ‘whoa, how am I going to remember all this stuff?’”

The solution was to assign liaisons to each of the veterans. Jeff Ferriss is one of them. He was furloughed on a Friday and called back to work the following Monday to serve in this unique role.

“My father was a veteran — he spent 20 years in the Air Force. My brother spent four. And I’m also a veteran — I was in the National Guard and the Air Force Reserves,” he said. “So this was the perfect transition for me; I was happy to come back and help out. Our job was to keep the family members informed, but being therapists, we tried to goad them into therapy too. Some of them may not have wanted to do that, but over time, they needed to — they were stuck in their rooms, and we were trying to keep their minds going and keep them going physically. It’s been an honor to serve these people.”

Veterans like Richard Madura. A Korean War vet, he will tell you (without much prodding, by the way) that, through his 85 years, he’s been fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time — on most occasions.

Indeed, the long-time Chicopee resident arrived in Korea just as the truce between the warring factions was being signed. And when it looked like he was ticketed for taking up a gun and maintaining the peace along the DMZ, an officer who noticed on his résumé that he had musical experience and had been part of some polka bands, let him take up a clarinet in an Army band instead. To make a long story shorter, his band entered a string of talent contests, ultimately won first prize, and wound up on The Ed Sullivan Show.

Madura told BusinessWest that this habit of being in the right place extends to his current, but certainly not permanent, mailing address at Holyoke Medical Center.

“They take really good care of you here,” he said, not wanting to compare the facilities to those he left just up the hill at the Soldiers’ Home, although he did hint that the desserts are better — and larger — at HMC. “I’m fortunate to be here; we all are.”

Indeed they are. A small army answered the call last April, and it is still answering the call, making the staff at HMC a true Healthcare Hero in a year when there are many to celebrate.

 

George O’Brien can be reached at [email protected]

Hospitals Challenged by Rising Costs, Falling Revenues

By
Health Care Special Coverage

Critical Condition

 

 

An “inflection point.” 

That’s what Dr. Robert Roose says hospitals have reached when it comes to their bottom lines and the ongoing challenge of making ends meet at a time when revenues continue to fall and expenses continue to rise. 

Hospitals have perpetually struggled from a fiscal standpoint amid continually rising prices, the need to constantly upgrade technology and innovate, and reimbursement rates from payers that have historically been below 80 cents on the dollar, Roose said. But trends and conditions that existed before the pandemic have only been exacerbated over the past three years, and now, hospitals are at a critical, and extremely challenging, crossroads. 

“There’s no way to sugarcoat it — hospitals and health systems across Massachusetts, and across the majority of the country, are finding themselves struggling in many regards, and at an inflection point where there are going to need to be continued efforts to support hospitals, or there will continue to be systems and hospitals that remain in distress,” said Roose, chief administrative officer at Mercy Medical Center in Springfield, part of Trinity Health Of New England. 

He quantified the situation by noting that Mercy is on a path to lose roughly $25 million for the fiscal year that will end in June, about the same amount as last year. 

“There’s no way to sugarcoat it — hospitals and health systems across Massachusetts, and across the majority of the country, are finding themselves struggling in many regards, and at an inflection point where there are going to need to be continued efforts to support hospitals, or there will continue to be systems and hospitals that remain in distress.”

Dr. Robert Roose

Dr. Robert Roose

“It will be challenging to persist with the current models that are in place in the same ways that we have in the past,” Roose went on. There are a multitude of reasons for that, but the challenges remain significant, and the pathways forward are going to require multiple initiatives and ongoing support from a variety of different angles. 

Dr. Lynette Watkins, president and CEO of Cooley Dickinson Hospital, an affiliate of Mass General Brigham, agreed, noting that COVID put the challenges that all hospitals are facing under a brighter spotlight. 

“The past three years have been particularly challenging,” she said, citing everything from staffing issues to the aging of the population and the pressures they put on hospitals. “What COVID laid bare is that all of these issues are there, and that it’s incumbent on us to be creative, accelerate the solutions, and leverage a lot of the tools that we were in many ways reticent to use, such as telehealth and virtual visits. 

“While this situation has challenged us, it has also provided us with an opportunity to think differently, to treat patients differently, to engage differently — with our patients and with the community,” Watkins went on, adding that she and her team at CDH are working to taking full advantage of that opportunity. 

Spiras Hatiras, president and CEO on Holyoke Medical Center (HMC), concurred. In remarks made to BusinessWest for its annual Economic Outlook, he spoke of both challenge and opportunity, on several fronts, but especially when it comes to workforce issues. 

The ongoing workforce crisis, while it has impacted all sectors, has put healthcare providers, and especially hospitals, at an extreme disadvantage, especially when it comes to nursing and the need to fill vacancies with contract or ‘travel’ nurses, which can cost two or three times what a staff nurse might, Hatiras noted. 

“In healthcare, there is a great deal of concern, and the most concerning part is the continuing shortage of personnel, which has created this market for temporary staffing at rates that are truly outrageous,” he said. “To put things in perspective, we have about 20 nurses on temporary staff that we get through agencies. Those 20 nurses, on an annual basis, cost us $5 million; each nurse costs us $250,000 because the rates are exorbitant — the nurses get a lot of money, but there’s also a middleman that makes untold amounts of money from this crisis. 

“As a nation, the federal government is doing a lot of things — they did some things with railroad workers, they’re helping Ukraine, they’re talking about a lot of things. They should have stepped in and regulated this and said, ‘the pandemic created a tremendous amount of shortage; we cannot allow private companies to go out and profit from that shortage of staffing and bring hospitals to their knees.’ With all this, it’s going to be very difficult for hospitals to cope, and that’s why all our strategy centers around finding a way to attract nurses here.” 

For this issue, BusinessWest takes an in-depth look at the fiscal challenges facing hospitals today, and what must happen for these institutions to weather this severe storm. 

 

Dollars and Sense 

When asked how hospitals arrived at this inflection point, as he called it, Roose said it was a combination of factors, but, as he and others noted earlier, it comes down to an exacerbation of, to borrow an industry term, some pre-existing conditions. 

These include a trend toward outpatient, rather than inpatient, care, which certainly impacts overall revenues, and also shortages on the workforce front, which increase the cost of doing business in many ways, and sharp rises in prices of … well, just about everything, from medications to PPE. 

“What COVID laid bare is that all of these issues are there, and that it’s incumbent on us to be creative, accelerate the solutions, and leverage a lot of the tools that we were in many ways reticent to use, such as telehealth and virtual visits.”

Dr. Lynette Watkins

Dr. Lynette Watkins

“We’ve been dealing with the aftershocks of one of the most significant public-health crises of our time,” Roose explained. “And it occurred at a point where many shifts in healthcare were already underway, including a shift from inpatient care toward the delivery of care in a lower-cost outpatient, ambulatory setting where the trends of consumers, our patients, were beginning to change, but where the reimbursement for those services had not been able to keep up with those changes. This was layered on top of an existing healthcare-workforce shortage. 

“So, the pandemic caused a significant challenge amidst what was already several headwinds that were providing stiff challenges for smaller hospitals across the country to overcome,” he went on, “forcing them to transform, to look differently, to meet those challenges and the needs of our community.” 

Elaborating, he turned the clock back to late 2019 for perspective. He said that there was already significant movement in how healthcare was being delivered. More services were being provided in settings outside hospitals, he explained, with surgeries taking place in outpatient, ambulatory settings. Meanwhile, insurance companies were adjusting as well, covering certain types of procedures, such as joint replacements, only if they took place in those lower-cost settings. 

“With that, inpatient volume was beginning to decline by a few percentage points,” Roose said, adding that those shifts were beginning to accelerate when the pandemic hit. Overall, there has been movement away from the fee-for-service model that had dominated healthcare delivery for decades and a shift toward promoting wellness, he explained, but not enough movement to shelter hospitals, especially smaller community hospitals, from those headwinds he described earlier. 

“It has certainly not kept pace with the dramatic impact on volume and the lack of reimbursement for fee-for-service care that has occurred to make up that gap,” he went on, adding that staffing shortages already existed before the pandemic, but they, too, were exacerbated by COVID and its many side effects. 

Watkins agreed, and, like others we spoke with, she said revenues have certainly improved since the depths of the pandemic, but they are still not at pre-COVID levels. 

And there are many other forces at play that are challenging hospitals, she added, including a shortage of workers at post-acute facilities such as nursing homes, which often leaves patients who are otherwise ready for discharge with no place to go, putting more pressure on hospitals. 

“We have two, three, or sometimes more patients who are ready for medical discharge, but when we don’t have a place to send those patients, so they stay with us,” Watkins said. “And that means that some patients who need to in an acute-care facility are in the emergency room or cannot get in; that’s been a huge, huge challenge.” 

 

Work in Progress 

One of the factors greatly impacting hospital finances is the ongoing workforce crisis, which has certainly increased the cost of providing care. Roose told BusinessWest that, while Mercy’s overall workforce is down perhaps 20%, due to a variety of factors, its workforce costs are still 7% to 8% higher than before the pandemic. 

Indeed, with many positions, not just nurses, hospitals have had to rely on contract employees, which are considerably more expensive than those on staff. 

“In healthcare, there is a great deal of concern, and the most concerning part is the continuing shortage of personnel, which has created this market for temporary staffing at rates that are truly outrageous.”

Spiros Hatiras

Spiros Hatiras

But there are other factors as well, said Watkins, including additional overtime, bonuses needed to attract job candidates, shift bonuses, and more. 

“It’s a huge challenge, and it significantly affected our financial performance, as well as that of other systems in the Commonwealth and across the country,” she said. “And we have to make sure that we are staffed to take care of the patients here that are sicker and that are staying longer.” 

Elaborating, she explained that Cooley Dickinson used very few contract nurses prior to the pandemic, but the need for such personnel has risen dramatically due to retirements, burnout, and individuals simply leaving the profession to do something else. 

These forces have left hospitals to fill the gaps as best they can and, for the long term, focus energies — or even more energies, as the case may be — on attracting and retaining personnel across the board. 

Indeed, Hatiras told BusinessWest that closing the staffing gap is critical because it will bring down the overall cost of doing business and help hospitals cope with lower amounts of COVID relief and revenue levels still below those from before the pandemic. 

“With ARPA funds drying up, we’re going to have pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. So our emphasis is on closing the staffing gap,” he said. “If we can do that, and not bleed money on the expense side, I think we’ll be OK; I think we’re poised to have a good year, as long as we’re able to attract nurses here.” 

Elaborating, he said closing this gap involves making HMC a preferred place to work, one where applicants with choices will want to go — and hopefully stay, thus reducing the high cost of continually filling vacancies. 

“We’re doing OK because we had to respond to what was going on in the market by creating even more attractive reasons for coming here — we raised our rates, we’re enhancing benefits, and at the same time, we’re looking at economic assistance for the lower-earning employees,” he said. “Where it’s more difficult is with the professionals because the dollars are significantly more, so competing just on price is difficult. The key for success — what keeps people here and makes them come here — is the culture of the place, so we put a tremendous amount of effort in the 10 years I’ve been here on creating a good culture. Now, it’s become a differentiator, and we’re pushing it even more. We’re an employer that listens to employees, responds to their needs, and cares. That’s what people want.” 

Roose concurred, and told BusinessWest that the recent challenges that hospitals have faced have put even more emphasis on the importance of people in the overriding task of providing quality care to patients — and the overall success of a provider. 

“Never has it been more apparent, and critical, to realize that people are the vehicles through which we deliver healthcare,” he said. “We do not deliver services that can be provided by machines; we’re reliant upon the great skills of care providers — and we don’t take that lightly.” 

 

Bottom Line 

Moving forward, Roose said, as hospitals cope with these various challenges — and, again, there are many of them — state and federal governments need to step up and continue to provide needed support. 

“The ARPA funding and other sources of relief through the pandemic and beyond, which is greatly appreciated, is not enough to close the gap from the challenges that we have encountered,” he noted. “The cost structure for delivering care has increased so dramatically, the models for fee-for-service care have not shifted quick enough, and the rates from commercial and other payers has not kept up with inflation. 

“So even with all that support, hospitals like Mercy Medical Center are expected to lose about $25 million this year, which is very similar to what it was the year before, and Trinity Health Of New England lost $65 million in fiscal 2022 from operations,” he went on. “And that puts incredible stress on hospitals.” 

Indeed, it does, and these losses, and the forces behind them, explain why hospitals are at an inflection point, and why change is needed if they are to move from critical condition fiscally to something far more sustainable.

Chamber Corners: Upcoming Events

By
Chamber Corners Departments

1BERKSHIRE
www.1berkshire.com
(413) 499-1600

• Jan. 27: BYP Winter Ball, 7-11 p.m., hosted by Country Club of Pittsfield. Let’s take an evening to dress up and enjoy a ball together. It’s an inexpensive way to enjoy an elegant evening with music, heavy hors d’oeuvres, elegance, and an excuse to dress to the nines — and much more — with friends. Cost: $25 for members, $35 for non-members.
• Feb. 27: Entrepreneurial Meetup, 8-10 a.m., hosted by Dottie’s Coffee Lounge, Pittsfield. Join us for networking and share what you’ve been working on in an open-mic format. 1Berkshire’s Entrepreneurial Meetups are free events that gather entrepreneurs together to network, learn, and engage. They provide small-business owners, or people interested in starting a business, opportunities to have casual, organic conversations with peers and resource providers.
• Feb. 28: Good News Business Salute, 4:30-6:30 p.m., hosted by Zion Church, Pittsfield. Come celebrate Jacob’s Pillow, IS183, and more. This event recognizes major milestones, including anniversaries, expansions, and new product lines of Berkshire businesses, and gives us a chance to come together to applaud their efforts. Member cost: $35 for individual, $140 for table of four, $280 for table of eight. Non-member cost: $45 for individual, $180 for table of four, $360 for table of eight.

AMHERST AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
www.amherstarea.com
(413) 253-0700

• Feb. 8: After 5, 5-7 p.m., hosted by Bistro 63, 63 North Pleasant St., Amherst. Sponsored by Greenfield Savings Bank.

GREATER CHICOPEE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
www.chicopeechamber.org
(413) 594-2101

• Jan. 23: B2B Roundtable, 8-9 a.m., hosted by Polish National Credit Union, 923 Front St., Chicopee. Sponsored by CHH Engraving Inc. An opportunity to connect and increase your contacts, generate leads, and establish relationships with other businesses. Cost: free to chamber members, but limited to one representative per business industry. Call Sarah Williams at (413) 594-2101, ext. 103, for more information or to sign up.
• Jan. 31: ChamberMaster Training, 9-11 a.m., hosted by Hampton Inn Chicopee, 600 Memorial Dr. This is a brief presentation on how to use ChamberMaster for chamber members. This is a great tool for all chamber members for some free advertising. Cost: free to chamber members. Sign up online at chicopeechamber.org/events.
• Feb. 9: Business After Hours, 4:30-6:30 p.m., hosted by Berchmans Hall Rotunda, Elms College, 291 Springfield St., Chicopee. Network with chamber members at this annual event. Meet with students who are learning about the importance of networking and share your insights with them. Hors d’oeuvres, cash bar, and raffle prizes. Cost: $10 for members, $15 for non-members.
• Feb. 15: CEO Power Hour Luncheon with Spiros Hatiras, 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m., hosted by Collegian Court, 89 Park St., Chicopee. Sponsored by Westfield Bank. Come enjoy lunch and listen as Hatiras talks about his journey as president and CEO of Holyoke Medical Center. Cost: $30 for members, $35 for non-members.
• Feb. 21: February Salute Breakfast, 7:15-9 a.m., hosted by Castle of Knights, 1599 Memorial Dr., Chicopee. Sponsored by Insurance Center of New England. Cost: $23 for members, $28 for non-members, $250 monthly sponsor.

GREATER EASTHAMPTON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
www.easthamptonchamber.org
(413) 527-9414

• Feb. 8: Networking by Night, 5-7 p.m., hosted by the Boylston Rooms, 122 Pleasant St., Suite #112, Easthampton. Sponsored by Tanya Costigan Events. This is a great networking opportunity and an opportunity to tour the new Boylston Rooms.
• Feb. 27: Strengths-based Leadership, 7:45-10 a.m., hosted by Innovative Business Systems, Mill 180, 180 Pleasant St., Easthampton. In the first of a two-part series, Colleen DelVecchio, a certified CliftonStrengths coach, will lead us into our strongest selves as leaders via our personnel Gallup StrengthFinder assessment and insight reports. For more information, visit www.easthamptonchamber.org or call the chamber office at (413) 527-9414.

GREATER HOLYOKE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
www.holyokechamber.com
(413) 534-3376

• Jan. 24: Candidate & Elected Officials Reception, 5-7 p.m., hosted by Gary Rome Hyundai, 150 Whiting Farms Road, Holyoke. Sponsored by Dowd Insurance, the Republican, Marcotte Ford, Comcast Business, Holyoke Medical Center, and Ferriter Law. Join the Greater Holyoke business community in congratulating newly elected officials and rubbing elbows with local legislators. Featured keynote speaker: U.S. Rep. Richard Neal. Guest speaker: Spiros Hatiras, president and CEO of Holyoke Medical Center. Cost: $40, which includes appetizers, food stations, and an open bar. Sign up online at holyokechamber.com.
• Jan. 31: ACE, Ask a Chamber Expert: Social Media Strategic Plan, 8:30-10 a.m., hosted in the executive conference room of the Holyoke Chamber of Commerce, 177 High St., Holyoke. The chamber welcomes chamber expert Heather Turner, chief log roller at Forfeng Designs and Media, who will share her expertise on how to design a winning social-media strategy. Cost: free for chamber members, $15 for non-members.

GREATER NORTHAMPTON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
www.explorenorthampton.com
(413) 584-1900

• Feb. 7: February Arrive @5, 5-7 p.m., hosted by Christopher Heights, 50 Village Hill Road, Northampton. A networking event. Cost: $10 for members.

GREATER WESTFIELD CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
www.westfieldbiz.org
(413) 568-1618

• Feb. 5: Mayor’s Coffee Hour, 8-9 a.m., hosted by Holiday Inn Express, 39 Southampton Road, Westfield. Join us for our monthly Mayor’s Coffee Hour with Westfield Mayor Brian Sullivan. This event is free and open to the public, but registration is requested at (413) 568-1618 so we may give our host a head count.
• Feb. 13: After 5 Connection, 5-7 p.m., hosted by ReStore Westfield (Greater Springfield Habitat for Humanity), 301 East Main St., Westfield. Bring your business cards and make connections. Refreshments will be served. A 50/50 raffle will support the chamber’s Scholarship Fund. Cost: free for chamber members, $10 for general admission.

SOUTH HADLEY & GRANBY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
www.shgchamber.com
(413) 532-6451

• Jan. 23: Annual Meeting, 5:30-8:30 p.m., hosted by Willits-Hallowell Center, Mount Holyoke College, 26 Park St., South Hadley. An opportunity for chamber members to socialize with old friends in the business community and make new ones. A cocktail hour will be followed by dinner. The brief meeting will introduce the board of directors, describe the chamber’s various committees and their functions, and open discussion of 2018 calendar/plans/suggestions for the coming year.

SPRINGFIELD REGIONAL CHAMBER
www.springfieldregionalchamber.com
(413) 787-1555

• Jan. 23: C-Suite Conversations & Cocktails, 5-7 p.m., hosted by CityStage, One Columbus Center, Springfield. Members-only event. Cost: $25 in advance, $30 at the door. To make a reservation, visit www.springfieldregionalchamber.com, e-mail [email protected], or call (413) 755-1310.

WEST OF THE RIVER CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
www.ourwrc.com
(413) 426-3880

• Feb. 7: Wicked Wednesday, 5-7 p.m., hosted by Carrabba’s Italian Grill, West Springfield. Wicked Wednesdays are monthly social events, hosted by various businesses and restaurants, that bring members and non-members together to network in a laid-back atmosphere. For more information, contact the chamber office at (413) 426-3880, or register at www.westoftheriverchamber.com.
• Feb. 13: Lunch & Tour at the Bistro LPVEC – West Springfield, noon to 1:30 p.m. Join fellow members and non-members for a networking lunch at the Bistro at Lower Pioneer Valley Educational Collaborative, followed by an informative discussion on the value of gaining skills in the trades industry and how we can promote to fill local jobs. Sponsorships are available for this event. Register online at [email protected].

Beset by Wasteful Spending, American Healthcare Needs an Overhaul

By Contributor
Health Care

What’s Next for Hospitals

By Spiros Hatiras

The year is 2020, in the midst of an unprecedented pandemic, and the subject is the U.S. healthcare system — more specifically, the average U.S. hospital. Is it alive and well, or is it ailing?

I will argue that all is not well with our healthcare system, and that the average U.S. hospital is facing tremendous challenges now and for the foreseeable future.

It is important to establish that, while the healthcare-delivery model has been shifting to less hospital-centric models, the acute-care hospital remains solidly in the center of our delivery system and, in my opinion, will continue to do so. Any notion of a more decentralized model with less emphasis on hospitals has been pushed many years into the future, in part as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the accelerated growth of telemedicine during the pandemic, the need for hospital bed capacity, specialized equipment, and personnel — including the ability to ‘surge’ when needed — has all but ensured that the trend toward a smaller hospital footprint will slow down if not entirely reverse.

Shouldn’t that be good news for the future of hospitals? Well, not quite. While we may have a new appreciation for the need of readily available inpatient hospital care, we have also not solved any of the problems that hospitals have been facing for many years. In fact, the pandemic laid bare one of the most fundamental problems facing the industry, especially for smaller community hospitals. At the very onset of the pandemic, it was immediately clear that many hospitals, suffering from years of underfunding, faced immediate financial threat and would not be able to survive without a financial bailout, while private insurance companies reported record profits.

“I will argue that all is not well with our healthcare system, and that the average U.S. hospital is facing tremendous challenges now and for the foreseeable future.”

Why is this the case in a country where healthcare demands the highest per-capita expenditure of all developed countries? According to a study published in January 2019 by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the U.S. topped the ranking of healthcare spending among developed countries in 2016 at $9,982 per capita per year, a figure that is more than double the median of $4,033.

The reason for this disconnect is that most of that money is spent not on actual care, but on administrative costs. A recent study by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services found that, of the $3.5 trillion spent on healthcare in 2017, 33%, or $1.1 trillion, was paid to hospitals. Unfortunately, a significant portion of that money covered unnecessary costs to process bills and get paid by insurance companies, meaning the total spent on actual hospital care was far less. The same is also true for doctors’ offices.

In a study published in 2017 in Annals of Internal Medicine, Steffie Woolhandler and David Himmelstiein noted that the administrative cost of our healthcare system was estimated to be $1.1 trillion, of which the vast majority is excess and unnecessary spending. We are spending vast sums of money on a deliberately confusing and complex insurance system.

Trying to navigate the onerous billing requirements, denied-claims management, pre-authorization requirements, and a host of other administrative hurdles unique to the U.S. healthcare system is wasteful and frustrating to hospitals, doctors, and patients alike. We spend more money administering the system than we spend on care. This should alarm each and every one of us and prompt us to look a little more carefully at proposals for a single-payer system.

It is time to ignore private insurers who portray a single-payer system as the boogeyman, or the end of healthcare as we know it, and recognize their argument for what it really is: a reluctance to part with huge profits being made from a broken system at the expense of our health.

 

Spiros Hatiras is president and CEO of Holyoke Medical Center.

Hospitals Bleed Millions in Revenue from Lost Volume During Pandemic

By
Guy DiStefano
Health Care Special Coverage

Critical Condition

Guy DiStefano

Guy DiStefano says the non-urgent procedures that were shut down in March typically support the rest of what hospitals do, leading to major revenue shortfalls this spring.

Back in March, when COVID-19 was just starting to crest, hospitals took steps to brace for a potential surge of patients. But while COVID-19 surged, revenues slowed to a trickle.

“Early on, we realized we needed to build capacity for a surge of patients so we didn’t get overwhelmed like they did in New York City, so we shut things down early in March — which blew a hole in everybody’s finances,” said Mark Keroack, president and CEO of Baystate Health. “We’ve been gradually returning to prior operations. We always remained open, of course, but it was only a week or two ago that we resumed more elective kinds of cases.”

Many hospitals are doing the same, but the overall losses to the state’s hospital industry are, as Keroack put it, “staggering” — expected to total between $5 billion and $6 billion by the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. “It’s a big stress test, if you will, for hospitals. And some have been hit more than others.”

All area hospitals have taken a financial blow.

“This has been very challenging, with the reduction in services,” said Guy DiStefano, vice president of Finance at Mercy Medical Center. “All our outpatient services — what are termed non-urgent cases, which usually help feed and support what a hospital does in its normal, day-to-day business — has been shorted, leaving us with a great revenue shortfall.”

At the same time, he added, “we still have all our expenses in place, just like any other business. Look at restaurants — the doors were closed, but they still had rent, utilities, all the other expenses, and the employees.”

Through May, Mercy saw a $25 million reduction in revenues due to pandemic-related reductions in services — and plummeting volume in the ER, a development that surprised hospital officials nationwide. At Mercy, daily Emergency Department cases dropped from a typical average of between 225 and 250 to around 100 to 120.

“Those slowly crept back up — we’re at 150 to 180 on a daily basis, so we’re not at full capacity, and there’s a lot of pent-up demand. Our business is coming back, but we lost a lot of revenues.”

“All our outpatient services — what are termed non-urgent cases, which usually help feed and support what a hospital does in its normal, day-to-day business — has been shorted, leaving us with a great revenue shortfall.”

Joanne Marqusee, president and CEO of Cooley Dickinson Hospital, said the hit has been significant. Through May, the facility recorded a loss of $18 million, partly due to COVID-related costs, but mostly because of lost volume. That number would be worse if not for $5.5 million in federal support.

“But that in no way covers our losses,” she added, noting that Cooley Dickinson Health Care could see a revenue shortfall of well above $30 million for the fiscal year ending on Sept. 30.

“We’re now planning for a fiscal-year 2021 budget and considering a number of measures to mitigate some of this — things like hiring freezes and reducing a lot of discretionary expenses. Everywhere we can hold off on spending, we have,” she went on, noting that service hours could be temporarily curtailed in some services, while employees making more than $26.50 per hour will forgo raises for the time being.

While that move shaves some costs while protecting lower-paid employees, it doesn’t make nearly enough of a dent, Marqusee noted. “So we’re looking at ways to further reduce expenses. But the work we’re doing already will certainly have an impact.”

DiStefano said Mercy has also had to take steps like furloughs and reducing hours to mitigate the losses. “We did everything we could to help employees keep their benefits in place. But employees are the number-one cost of a typical hospital — about 50% to 60% of the cost structure.”

Holyoke Medical Center has been losing roughly $6.5 million per month since services were curtailed back in March, President and CEO Spiros Hatiras said. But the community hospital did take some steps early on to gird against the damage.

“We were probably the first hospital in the area to furlough folks; we didn’t hold off because we saw it was absolutely important to be financially viable because we don’t have a parent company to spot us money,” he told BusinessWest, adding that many furloughed employees took advantage of the $600 federal boost in unemployment and wound up bringing in more than they did while working.

Joanne Marqusee says she hopes patient volume returns

Joanne Marqusee says she hopes patient volume returns not because of the revenue issue, but because patients shouldn’t forgo necessary care.

“That helped reduce expenses significantly,” he added, noting that almost 170 of 250 furloughed employees were back at the start of July, with another 80 to 90 expecting to return at month’s end. “Then MassHealth stepped in and allocated $11.8 million over four months to cover some of the losses, and we got a one-time payment from the feds of about $3 million. Add it all up, and through May, our losses were roughly $3 million — not insignificant, but we were able to survive it.”

Dollars and Sense

Baystate is surviving, too, Keroack said, emphasizing the importance the health system has not only on its 12,000 employees, but on the region, where it has an annual economic impact of some $4.2 billion.

When the fiscal year ends on Sept. 30, he expects Baystate to have lost about $160 million in revenues due to volume losses, but the system was able to secure about $75 million in federal relief and another $23 million state aid.

“The rest of that will likely be covered by reserves,” he added, noting that Baystate is fortunate to have both reserve funds and a broad service model.

“The smaller hospitals that have cash-flow problems got hit very hard because they didn’t have much in the way of reserves, but the other group is bigger hospitals that are highly specialized, like Mass General, where their revenues really depend on that elective surgical volume. Hospitals that are jacks of all trades and have good size, like Baystate, were hit less hard. Not to say it was pleasant what we’ve been through.”

Calling a $160 million revenue loss a ‘less hard’ hit may speak in some ways to the financial clout of the healthcare industry as a whole; it’s certainly one of the Commonwealth’s key economic drivers. And as patient volume continues to ramp back up, hospitals will be on safer ground when it comes to budgeting.

“At Baystate Medical Center, we’re at 80% to 90% capacity, so I would say people are mostly back.” Keroack said, noting that, while patients are returning gradually for routine care and procedures, current volume is still affected by social-distancing and sanitization measures that have slowed the pace of treatment. “In the community hospitals, they’re a bit further behind — more like 60% of former volume.

“In the long run, the question is, will volumes be permanently depressed?” he went on. “We’ve tried to convince people you really don’t want to put off stuff you know is worthwhile — you don’t want to ignore symptoms that might be serious. We have seen a number of people lately whose illness is much more serious than it would have been in pre-COVID days.”

Cooley Dickinson Hospital’s Emergency Department has seen a 100% increase from its COVID lows, during the height of the pandemic locally, when it was handling 35 to 45 patients per day. Now, ED providers are seeing 70 to 80 patients per day, which is still about 20% below the organization’s typical ED volume.

“We are seeing people with chronic illness who have waited too long to seek medical attention and are sick,” Emergency Department Nurse Director Sara McKeown said. “We have also seen an uptick in people seeking mental healthcare; patients presenting with substance-use issues and trauma are also increasing.”

Patient volume is bouncing back at Holyoke Medical Center and its community-based practices, but ED visits still lag, Hatiras said. “Anecdotally, we’ve heard of people putting off heart conditions and other things, and that can lead to bad outcomes. People shouldn’t stay home with serious conditions.”

That said, “I don’t blame the government for being overly cautious with closing down elective surgeries,” he added, noting that the elimination of many procedures over the past two months was, more than anything else, about preserving beds to treat an unpredictable pandemic.

“We’re now planning for a fiscal-year 2021 budget and considering a number of measures to mitigate some of this — things like hiring freezes and reducing a lot of discretionary expenses. Everywhere we can hold off on spending, we have.”

Now that the infection rate is being effectively controlled, he explained, hospitals are trying to communicate the message that they are safe places to visit — with plenty of strict protocols in place, from masking to social distancing to constant sanitizing — for patients who need to be seen.

DiStefano said the challenge has been ramping services back up — and bringing back furloughed workers — to match what is proving to be pent-up demand, but in a measured way. “It’s a delicate balance — how do we do this to best serve the community?”

It’s a long road back from the volume lows of the spring, when physician revenue dropped by 50. They’re now back around 65%, and inpatient beds are at about 80% of capacity. But people with serious health concerns should not put off care, he stressed, especially since the hospital has been diligent about infection protocols and keeping COVID-suspected patients separated from the rest.

“We take great pains to keep this environment safe,” he said. “The message to the community is, ‘if you are hurt, if you have a condition, this is a safe place to come.’” It helps, he added, to be affiliated with a larger system, Trinity Health, and while Mercy has rarely seen the kind of financial deficit it faced this spring, its leaders are still doing what they can to meet community health needs.

“We are the fabric of the community; there are no concerns about Mercy’s future,” DiStefano told BusinessWest. “We are going to be here for many years to come. Fortunately, we have the backing of a larger organization, and that helps a lot.”

Distance Learning

If there is an upside to navigating the pandemic, he said it might be the growing importance of telehealth, which became not just a convenient tool for providers and patients over the past few months, but a critical one — and one that seems to be on track to be covered by insurance payers in the future much more consistently than before.

“This has become more of a platform that allows us to reach out to patients,” said DiStefano, whose background in telemedicine goes back to the 1990s. “I hope it’s a bigger part of healthcare going forward. Obviously, you have to do some testing in the office, but you can do preliminary or follow-up appointments with telehealth, and that reduces the volume of patients in the waiting room and the physical office, which allows us to have a much cleaner, COVID-free environment to keep those people safe.”

In short, it’s a way to boost volume — and revenues — while making patients who do go to the hospital feel more secure.

Hatiras agreed. “We had to switch on the fly to do more telehealth, but what we saw was care being delivered even more efficiently,” he said. “We saw no-show rates completely drop. So it’s an effective way to provide care, and there will certainly be more pressure on insurers to reimburse appropriately for telehealth.”

Indeed, Marqusee added, “what has been stopping us from doing more telehealth has been reimbursement; I hope we never go back to the days when we were so underpaid for telehealth. It has been a terrific model.”

In the meantime, she sees volume slowly returning to Cooley Dickinson — perhaps reaching 90% of a typical season come October. “But the reason we welcome those numbers is because people need to get care — it’s not because we need the volume. We know from national studies and anecdotally that people have been afraid, and they’re forgoing care, and that can really have health impacts for people.”

That’s why her facility, like the others BusinessWest spoke with, is not only maintaining strict protocols around infection control, but is communicating what it’s doing with the community.

“People have to believe that and feel confident. It’s really important that people don’t stay home in pain with issues that will just get worse. People aren’t coming with heart attacks, or appendicitis, or they power through a head injury, and it turns out they had a brain bleed. People need to come for care, and they should know this is a place they can come and feel comfortable.”

Not so comfortable, however, that they neglect the behaviors that have reduced infection rates in Western Mass. and allowed hospitals to increase their non-COVID-19 services.

“We’re in a good place; there isn’t a high level of COVID in our community. But that can change quickly,” Marqusee said. “I want people to always remember the reason we have low levels of COVID is because of the efforts everyone is making to social distance, wear masks, and practice hand hygiene. We shouldn’t take the reopening as a sign they we don’t need to do those things, but to do it even more. That allows us to provide needed care to all our communities.”

Keroack says he expects some patients to enthusiastically return to care providers, while others will be stragglers who need more convincing — while others will continue to embrace telehealth as the best option.

“We may not return to our former volumes until we have a vaccine and everyone feels totally comfortable,” he told BusinessWest. “I think it’s going to be a process.”

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

Doctors Urge Caution in a Season of Flu, RSV, and COVID

By
Health Care Special Coverage

Riding Out a ‘Tripledemic’

[email protected]

 

Two years ago, flu took a vacation.

Dr. Mark Kenton remembers those days — but they were no vacation for emergency doctors, who had dealt with almost a year of COVID-19 and the hospitalizations and deaths that it caused, with vaccines just beginning to emerge.

But influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus, also known as RSV? There was almost none to be found, mainly because masking and isolating had become the norm, cutting off the potential for spreading these common viruses.

“With COVID, we had people masking, home from school, and we had no flu; there was no RSV,” said Kenton, chief of Emergency Medicine at Mercy Medical Center in Springfield. “In fact, Mercy didn’t have one ICU case of flu. Then, when we started to normalize, these viruses made their way back.”

So much that the prevalence of flu and RSV this year, combined with a still-lingering COVID threat — albeit one that has been muted by vaccinations — has combined for what has been called a ‘tripledemic’ this winter.

“It seems like the RSV population this year is much larger than in the past, which complicates things,” Kenton said. “We’re definitely seeing a lot of influenza, even in patients who have been vaccinated, and we’ve actually been seeing a lot of pneumonia. There are a lot of respiratory complaints this time of year, because it spreads through schools with kids at the end of the term, and parents may not want to keep the kids home.”

Because COVID still has a presence, he explained, when somebody comes in with a respiratory complaint, they’re tested for that as well as for influenza and RSV, a common respiratory virus that usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms, but can be more severe in certain patients.

“With COVID, we had people masking, home from school, and we had no flu; there was no RSV. Then, when we started to normalize, these viruses made their way back.”

Dr. Mark Kenton

Dr. Mark Kenton

“We were seeing a lot of RSV a few weeks ago, but it seems that may be tapering off now,” Kenton added, noting that Mercy has seen both children and adults with RSV, a condition that can be especially precarious for infants. “We worry about them getting RSV; a lot of local hospitals have been inundated with pediatric RSV.”

Indeed, RSV is the most common cause of bronchiolitis and viral pneumonia in children under age 1. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that approximately 58,000 children under age 5 are hospitalized each year with the infection. Most infants are infected before age 1, and virtually all children have had an RSV infection by age 2. RSV can also affect older children, teenagers and adults.

Spiros Hatiras says he’s not sure who came up with that phrase ‘tripledemic.’ He’s quite sure, though, it wasn’t someone in healthcare.

“It had to be someone in the media — they’re the ones who like to attach names to things like this,” said Hatiras, president and CEO of Holyoke Medical Center.

But it’s as good a term as any to describe a convergence of COVID, flu, and RSV. In some parts of the country, this convergence is filling hospitals and putting additional strain on staffs already taxed by shortages of nurses and other healthcare professionals. But Hatiras told BusinessWest he hasn’t really seen much of any of the above at his hospital — from the individual ailments to the additional strain on people and resources.

Indeed, he reported very few, if any, COVID cases, noting that there isn’t anyone in his hospital solely because of COVID, though some are there for another reason and test positive for COVID. Meanwhile, he reports few cases of RSV, and flu numbers that are similar to previous years and nothing out of the ordinary.

The Emergency Department is crowded, he acknowledged, but not because of this tripledemic; rather, it’s because fewer staff members — a result of the ongoing workforce crisis, especially in healthcare — are tending to what would be considered a normal amount of patients.

“Because there were so few cases of RSV in the first two years of the pandemic, most infants and toddlers did not get the natural immunity that their body would have produced if they had natural illness. That left a larger number of children more vulnerable to getting RSV illness, which is what we are seeing now in the community.”

Dr. John O’Reilly

Dr. John O’Reilly

Kenton has observed the same phenomenon in the workforce. “So many nurses in this profession are either retired or gone on to something else,” he said. “This is everywhere, across the board. Every hospital is dealing with staffing issues. Even with [patient] volumes overall being down, when you get the tripledemic, it’s become a significant strain on resources within the hospital.”

 

What Is RSV?

Flu is a common term, and most people are now well-versed in COVID, but not everyone knows what RSV is, and how it deviates from other respiratory ailments.

While RSV results in mild, cold-like symptoms for most — a runny nose, nasal congestion, cough, and fever — for some, especially infants and older adults, it can lead to serious illness, though only a small percentage of young patients develop severe disease and require hospitalization, said Dr. John O’Reilly, chief of General Pediatrics at Baystate Children’s Hospital.

“Those hospitalized often have severe breathing problems or are seriously dehydrated and need IV fluids. In most cases, hospitalization only lasts a few days, and complete recovery usually occurs in about one to two weeks,” he explained.

Those who have a higher risk for severe illness caused by RSV include premature babies, very young infants, children younger than age 2 with chronic lung disease or congenital heart disease, children with weakened immune systems, and children who have neuromuscular disorders. Other at-risk groups include adults age 65 and older, 177,000 of whom are hospitalized and 14,000 of whom die from RSV each year in the U.S.; people with chronic lung disease or certain heart problems; and people with weakened immune systems, such as from HIV infection, organ transplants, or certain medical treatments, like chemotherapy.

The COVID pandemic has had a big impact on the normal pediatric respiratory illness cycles, O’Reilly noted. “Early in the pandemic, masking and social distancing helped to limit the spread of respiratory viruses such as RSV. Because there were so few cases of RSV in the first two years of the pandemic, most infants and toddlers did not get the natural immunity that their body would have produced if they had natural illness. That left a larger number of children more vulnerable to getting RSV illness, which is what we are seeing now in the community.”

There is no vaccine yet to prevent RSV infection, but there is a medication, called palivzumab, that can help protect some babies at high risk for severe RSV disease, O’Reilly noted. Healthcare providers usually administer it to premature infants and young children with certain heart and lung conditions as a series of monthly shots during RSV season.

“Don’t go out or attend gatherings if you are sick. Take COVID-19 tests if you think you have COVID-19 symptoms. Frequent hand washing can also help prevent the spread of respiratory infections. Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 15 seconds and consider carrying a hand sanitizer with you at all times. Open windows for ventilation. Practice proper cough etiquette. And, because there is more sickness at this time of year, refrain from sharing utensils or drinking cups.”

The severity of symptoms can vary depending on the age of the child and whether he or she has any chronic medical problems, such as asthma or premature birth. Bacterial infections such as ear infections and pneumonia may develop in children with RSV infection.

At first, it’s all about symptom management for young children with RSV, O’Reilly said, including keeping the child hydrated and the fever under control. “If a child is having high fevers without relief for multiple days, or increased difficulty with breathing, such as wheezing, grunting, or ongoing flaring of the nostrils is observed along with a child’s runny nose and cough, then a call to your pediatrician is warranted.”

Part of the reason why RSV is a common virus in children is the fact that it can be easily transmitted. It can spread directly from person to person — when an infected person coughs or sneezes, sending virus-containing droplets into the air, where they can infect a person who inhales them, as well as by hand-to-nose, hand-to-mouth, and hand-to-eye contact. The virus can be spread indirectly when someone touches any object infected with the virus, such as toys, countertops, doorknobs, or pens, and can live on environmental surfaces for several hours.

The CDC’s advice on limiting the spread is the same as any virus-prevention measure: covering coughs and sneezes with a tissue or sleeve, washing hands often with soap and water, avoiding touching one’s face, disinfecting surfaces, staying home when sick, and avoiding close contact with sick people, as well as kissing, shaking hands, and sharing cups and utensils with others.

“The good news,” O’Reilly said, “is that most infants and children overcome RSV infections without any long-term complications, as RSV infections can often be relatively asymptomatic and even go unnoticed.”

 

Safety First

After almost three years of COVID, it’s easy to push those common-sense cautions aside, but that would be a mistake, said Dr. Vincent Meoli, Massachusetts regional medical director at American Family Care, which operates urgent-care clinics in Springfield and West Springfield.

“We know there is a significant amount of COVID fatigue as we enter our third year of the pandemic, but vigilance is still important, both to protect those most at risk of developing complications and to minimize the impact on our healthcare system,” he said, noting that area hospitals saw high rates of RSV admissions early in the season.

“We saw a tremendous reduction in flu cases during the height of the pandemic because people were wearing masks and isolating,” Meoli said. “Now that society has opened up again and masks are no longer required in most places, we anticipate the number of flu cases to increase.”

Kenton emphasized that, while flu and RSV might be more prevalent now, COVID hasn’t gone away. According to the CDC, about 350 people in the U.S. still die every day from COVID, and about six out of every seven of those are unvaccinated.

“I always say, vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate. It’s been proven that, with vaccination from COVID, you’re still able to get COVID, but you’re less likely to die,” he told BusinessWest. “Are you going to feel sick? Yes, absolutely. But you’re less likely to be hospitalized and die from it. It’s still present, unfortunately. I think it’s always going to remain present for us in combination with the flu and RSV. So definitely get the flu vaccine every year, too.”

Dr. Armando Paez, chief of the Infectious Disease Division at Baystate Health, said vaccination is a must, but it’s important to maintain other precautions as well during the tripledemic.

“Don’t go out or attend gatherings if you are sick. Take COVID-19 tests if you think you have COVID-19 symptoms,” Paez said, adding that, during the holiday season and after, people are traveling and potentially spreading viruses. “Frequent hand washing can also help prevent the spread of respiratory infections. Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 15 seconds and consider carrying a hand sanitizer with you at all times. Open windows for ventilation. Practice proper cough etiquette. And, because there is more sickness at this time of year, refrain from sharing utensils or drinking cups.”

Kenton said there’s nothing wrong with turning down an invitation to a gathering where people are sick — or if there’s a possibility of introducing sickness into that house. “If someone in your house is sick, don’t go to someone else’s house, especially if they have co-morbidity conditions; getting RSV on top of that can cause them to end up hospitalized or potentially die.”

He also reminds people that COVID has an asymptomatic period between infection and symptoms, so if someone in a household tests positive, not only should the infected individual isolate, but it’s a good idea for others in the house to avoid gatherings for a few days until they know they’re negative, to avoid spreading the virus to someone else.

Meoli noted that, for those who do plan to attend gatherings — especially with people at high risk for COVID, like the elderly, children, or people who are immunocompromised — testing for COVID the day before or the day of the gathering can provide some extra reassurance.

“Talk to a healthcare provider if you have any concerns about vaccines, symptoms, or testing,” he added. “COVID-19, flu, and RSV all have the potential for complications, hospitalization, or death.”

It’s certainly a triple threat, area doctors say, but taking simple precautions can help keep families safe and patients out of the hospital — or worse.

Holyoke Medical Center, Valley Health Systems Welcome New Chief Financial Officer

By
Daily News

HOLYOKE — Spiros Hatiras, president and CEO of Holyoke Medical Center and Valley Health Systems, announced the appointment of Dean Vitarisi as chief financial officer (CFO) at Holyoke Medical Center and Valley Health Systems.

“We are proud to welcome Dean to our leadership team here at Holyoke Medical Center and the affiliates of Valley Health Systems. He brings with him over 20 years of hospital finance experience and will play an integral part in the financial management of our organization,” Hatiras said.

Vitarisi’s prior experience included executive-level finance positions with Essen Health Care, Trinity Health Of New England, Yale New Haven Health, St. Mary’s Health System, and St. Raphael Healthcare System. He received his bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in accounting from Bryant University. He then completed an MBA from Quinnipiac University, followed by a master certificate in healthcare leadership from Cornell University School of Human Ecology.

“I am excited to join this organization, with its strong culture and commitment in providing the highest standards of quality, safety, and cost-effective care for all patients,” Vitarisi said. “One of my first goals will be to focus on the revenue cycle and reimbursement strategies, which are ever-changing due to legislation, regulation, and marketplace reform.”

People on the Move

By
Departments People on the Move
Dr. Jennifer Mark

Dr. Jennifer Mark

Spiros Hatiras, president and CEO of Holyoke Medical Center and Valley Health Systems, announced the promotion of Dr. Jennifer Mark to chief medical officer at Holyoke Medical Center. “Dr. Mark is a highly skilled physician with a proven track record and expertise in leading a team to success. Her focus on patient satisfaction, in conjunction with high-quality care and open communication style, will continue to be an asset to HMC as she enters this new role,” said Hatiras. “Dr. Mark’s knowledge of the culture within the organization will continue to be appreciated and allow for a smooth transition to this position.” Added Mark, “I really like the fact that Holyoke Medical Center is very focused on patient-centered care in terms of our overall strategy and how we make improvements in safety and quality. The administration is aligned with providers and other caregivers, all of whom want what’s best for our patients.” Mark, whose extensive background includes both primary and emergency care, has been with HMC since 2008, serving for the past five years as Emergency Department (ED) medical director. During that time, patient satisfaction has increased by 85% for overall care in the ED, and the length of stay for discharged patients has decreased by about 30 minutes. These changes have been made despite increasing patient volumes and severe space constraints, which should improve in the new ED that opened earlier this month. “It is a beautiful new facility that will be wonderful for our patients,” Mark said. As director, Mark worked closely with the ED nurse manager to direct operations of the facility that treats over 44,000 patients per year, with oversight of 14 doctors and 12 mid-level providers. She also went through intensive communication training and then helped teach those skills to her team in the ED in order to raise patient satisfaction. Previously, Mark, who graduated from Yale University School of Medicine, served in various emergency and adult-medicine physician roles throughout Massachusetts. She was also a founding partner of a private Emergency Department physician group where she served as assistant medical director for five years.

•••••

Michael Oleksak

Michael Oleksak

Westfield Bank announced that Michael Oleksak has joined the bank as vice president, commercial loan pfficer. Oleksak brings more than a decade of banking experience to his new role. He previously served as assistant vice president, business banker at United Bank, where he was responsible for managing and developing small-business customer accounts and establishing new customer relationships. Oleksak is a graduate of Southern New Hampshire University, where he earned a master’s degree in business administration. He also completed LEAD NY, a leadership program through Cornell University. He currently serves on the board of the West Springfield Boys and Girls Club, and was previously on the boards of the Cooperative Development Institute and the Charlene Ann Foundation. “I’m pleased to welcome Michael Oleksak to the Westfield Bank team,” said James Hagan, president and CEO of Westfield Bank. “Over his career he’s demonstrated real skill at serving the needs of local businesses by understanding what makes them unique in order to help them realize their potential, and by relating to every customer as an individual person. He knows that better banking for local businesses requires outstanding communication, responsiveness, and the imagination to seek out opportunities for our customers.”

•••••

Calvin Hill

Calvin Hill

Springfield College announced that Calvin Hill, vice president for Inclusion and Community Engagement, is one of 24 senior-level administrators in higher education nationwide selected by the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) to participate in the 2017-18 Executive Leadership Academy. Individuals chosen for the year-long program are vice presidents or cabinet officers in higher education who aspire to the presidency of an independent college or university. Starting this week, Hill will participate in two seminars in Washington, DC; the opening seminar will take place July 20-22, and the closing seminar will be held June 18-20, 2018. He will also engage in readings, webinars, and a mentoring program. In addition, he will develop and follow an experiential learning plan focused on specific areas of presidential responsibility. “Competition for the available places in the program was intense,” said CIC President Richard Ekman. “The review committee found the nomination materials to be most impressive. They (and I) believe that Dr. Hill has the potential for highly effective leadership as a college or university president.” In July 2015, Hill joined Springfield College as the vice president for Inclusion and Community Engagement. His responsibilities include promoting diversity and inclusion among all constituents of the college, and connecting and promoting the college’s resources to area communities. Hill arrived at Springfield College with more than 20 years of experience in higher education. Prior to his time in Springfield, he served as the university Diversity and Inclusion officer for the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn. Prior to that, he developed strong ties to higher education in Massachusetts working as assistant to the president and director of the Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Equal Opportunity at Worcester State University. He also has served as associate provost and chief Diversity officer for MGH Institute of Health Professions in Boston and assistant dean and director of Diversity Programs at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Hill is a consultant on diversity issues and presents nationally on issues of inclusion, where he focuses primarily on providing equal access to educational opportunities for underrepresented populations. Fifty-nine percent of participants in the first Executive Leadership Academy cohort (2009-10) have since advanced in the higher-education ranks, and 24% of participants in a recent cohort (2015-16) have already moved up in the ranks. “These indicators suggest that CIC is helping to meet the leadership needs of higher education by offering highly effective leadership development programs for modest fees to member institutions,” Ekman said.

•••••

John Henderson

John Henderson

The Employers Assoc. of the NorthEast (EANE) announced that John Henderson has joined the EANE team as director of Learning & Development, effective June 2017. John will lead a team to design, customize, and schedule the diverse array of more than 500 substantive training programs presented by EANE each year for members and non-members. Henderson brings more than 25 years of experience working for associations and nonprofits, much of it from a global, cutting-edge perspective. Most recently, was vice president of Industry Relations and Strategy for Fixation Marketing in Bethesda, Md. For more than seven years, he was vice president for Education, Training and Professional Development for the Alexandria, Va.-based International Assoc. of Amusement Parks and Attractions, the world’s largest amusement-industry trade association, representing more than 4,000 member facilities in 93 countries. In this position, he worked with the education committee to develop and launch a three-tiered, individual global certification program and continuously increased attendance at expo-education sessions. He also led the efforts of a task force to completely redesign the Institute for Executive Education. As an accomplished member-association executive, Henderson provides EANE with a proven track record of successful strategic planning and tactical leadership. His background in education and training includes a specific focus on communications skills. He has a bachelor’s degree in political science from Kent State University and a master’s degree in educational leadership from the University of Pennsylvania. He is a member of the International Assoc. of Exhibitions and Events and a past member of the American Society of Association Executives.

•••••

Christina Royal

Christina Royal

Holyoke Community College President Christina Royal has been appointed to the board of directors of the United Way of Pioneer Valley and the American Assoc. of Community Colleges’ Commission on College Readiness. Her appointment to the United Way board was unanimously approved at the regional nonprofit’s 95th-anniversary celebration and annual meeting on May 31. She began her three-year term on July 1. Her one-year appointment to the Commission on College Readiness also began July 1. The AACC, which is based in Washington D.C., is the principal advocacy group for community colleges in the U.S. Its Commission on College Readiness advises the AACC board and staff on matters related to preparing students for college-level academic work.

•••••

On the heels of a recent $1 million kitchen renovation, the Red Lion Inn recently welcomed new management and culinary talent with two strategic hires: Director of Food & Beverage Fabien Riviere and Sous Chef Jim Corcoran. Both will work with Vice President of Culinary Development Brian Alberg to continue to evolve the inn’s commitment to local sourcing and service excellence. “The continued success of the Main Street Hospitality Catering, with projects like Seeds Market Café at Hancock Shaker Village, calls for bringing in additional expertise,” said Sarah Eustis, CEO of Main Street Hospitality Group. “Fabien and Jim will help strengthen the Red Lion Inn, our culinary hub, and continue to heighten our quality, hospitality, and service.” With more than 20 years of restaurant-management experience, Riviere joins the Red Lion Inn from Studio Restaurant at the Montage Hotel in Laguna Beach, Calif. This marks his return to the Red Lion Inn, where he was sommelier from 2003 to 2005. Working stateside and abroad, Riviere’s résumé includes Felix Restaurant at the Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong, Mix Restaurant by Alain Ducasse, and Restaurant Aureole at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nev. In his new role as Director of Food & Beverage, Riviere will manage all aspects of food and beverage operations, as well as the supervision and direction of all restaurant staff, among other responsibilities. Corcoran joins the Red Lion Inn culinary team from Allium Restaurant + Bar in Great Barrington, where his seasonal menus reflected his passion for locally grown ingredients and the diversity of his background. Corcoran has worked at restaurants throughout New York, including Manhattan’s Delmonico’s Restaurant, Brinkley’s Broome Street, Angolo SoHo, and April Bloomfield’s Breslin, before becoming lead chef of Allium Restaurant + Bar.

HMC Promotes Dr. Jennifer Mark to Chief Medical Officer

By
Daily News

HOLYOKE — Spiros Hatiras, president and CEO of Holyoke Medical Center and Valley Health Systems, announced the promotion of Dr. Jennifer Mark to chief medical officer at Holyoke Medical Center.

“Dr. Mark is a highly skilled physician with a proven track record and expertise in leading a team to success. Her focus on patient satisfaction, in conjunction with high-quality care and open communication style, will continue to be an asset to HMC as she enters this new role,” said Hatiras. “Dr. Mark’s knowledge of the culture within the organization will continue to be appreciated and allow for a smooth transition to this position.”

Added Mark, “I really like the fact that Holyoke Medical Center is very focused on patient-centered care in terms of our overall strategy and how we make improvements in safety and quality. The administration is aligned with providers and other caregivers, all of whom want what’s best for our patients.”

Mark, whose extensive background includes both primary and emergency care, has been with HMC since 2008, serving for the past five years as Emergency Department (ED) medical director. During that time, patient satisfaction has increased by 85% for overall care in the ED, and the length of stay for discharged patients has decreased by about 30 minutes. These changes have been made despite increasing patient volumes and severe space constraints, which should improve in the new ED that opened earlier this month. “It is a beautiful new facility that will be wonderful for our patients,” Mark said.

As director, Mark worked closely with the ED nurse manager to direct operations of the facility that treats over 44,000 patients per year, with oversight of 14 doctors and 12 mid-level providers. She also went through intensive communication training and then helped teach those skills to her team in the ED in order to raise patient satisfaction.

Previously, Mark, who graduated from Yale University School of Medicine, served in various emergency and adult-medicine physician roles throughout Massachusetts. She was also a founding partner of a private Emergency Department physician group where she served as assistant medical director for five years.

Former HMC President Pays Back $860,000 for Overcompensation

By
Daily News

HOLYOKE — Hank Porten, former president of Holyoke Medical Center, paid back $860,000 to the hospital this week to cover overpayment for consultant services and other errors over the past three years, hospital officials told the Republican.

Current President and CEO Spiros Hatiras, who took over for Porten in October 2013, said the hospital had an agreement to pay Porten for three years as a consultant, which Hatiras soon decided was necessary. As of March, Porten had been paid $151,356, but “no work product was produced,” according to the Form 990 the hospital files annually with the Internal Revenue Service. “Additionally, the balance of the agreement has been cancelled, and no future payments will be made under this agreement,” the Form 990 said.

A review by hospital officials determined Porten had also been overpaid for his pension ($395,336), cost-of-living increases ($121,781), and vacation time ($175,737) from 2011 to 2013.

Holyoke Medical Center, which employs 1,193 people, including 380 physicians, has an annual operating budget of $124 million. About 73% of its patients receive Medicare, Medicaid, or another government-payer benefit.

Holyoke Medical Center Promotes John Kovalchik to Director of ACO Operations

By
Daily News

HOLYOKE — Holyoke Medical Center (HMC) announced the promotion of John Kovalchik to director of ACO Operations. 

With extensive experience leading healthcare-management initiatives (most recently as manager of the Center for Behavioral Health at HMC), Kovalchik is well-positioned to bring the facility to the next level by improving quality of care, meeting measurable benchmarks, accurately reflecting the hospital’s population’s health risks, and maintaining lower overall healthcare costs — all mandates of value-based ACO models, said Spiros Hatiras, president and CEO of Holyoke Medical Center and Valley Health Systems Inc.

“We are thrilled to welcome John to this key role,” Hatiras said. “John brings a wealth of experience to this position and an enthusiasm for integrating the management of patient care and cost-saving initiatives which are vital to our community.”

ACOs, or accountable-care organizations, are provider-led organizations that support new federal and state initiatives to shift from the previous model of fee-for-service healthcare to a value-based system that puts more of the risk on the provider, Kovalchik explained. The overall goals of ACOs are to improve quality of care and patient health outcomes by meeting measurable benchmarks, ensuring patients are accessing healthcare at the appropriate levels, and controlling the overall costs of healthcare by working within population-based models.

In his new position, Kovalchik is overseeing management initiatives for the two ACOs in which HMC participates. The first is through a unique partnership with UMass Memorial Medical Center, involving 50,000 lives split among seven hospitals, four federally qualified health centers, and several private physicians’ offices, covering Central and Western Mass. The second is a statewide ACO participating in a major new demonstration to support a value-based restructuring of MassHealth’s healthcare delivery and payment system. For this initiative, HMC partners with the Boston Accountable Care Organization and BMC Healthnet Plan to form an ACO named the BMC Healthnet Plan Community Alliance. 

Kovalchik is also overseeing HMC’s $750,000 CHART grant from the Health Policy Commission, which provides medication-assisted treatment to patients struggling with opiate addiction with the goal of preventing recidivism and “helping patients to survive and thrive,” he said.

“System change is very exciting, and this is all in the service of providing great and more efficient healthcare,” said Kovalchik, who holds a master’s degree in social work from the University of Connecticut with a focus on healthcare administration, and has directed clinical programming and served in management roles at several local organizations. In his previous role as manager of Behavioral Health at HMC, he participated in ACO planning discussions and sees his new position as a natural transition.

“A significant portion of our patients fall into one of the public-payer buckets [Medicare and MassHealth]. We have a great team of dedicated nurses, patient navigators, quality/analytic professionals, community health workers, and physicians helping these patient populations on a daily basis,” he said. “We also help people with housing, nutrition, obesity, food insecurity … we’re trying to get people to the right levels of care at the right time, and control the ever-rising costs of healthcare.”

Jennifer Fischer Joins Holyoke Medical Center as Chief Experience Officer

By
Daily News

HOLYOKE — Spiros Hatiras, president and CEO of Holyoke Medical Center and Valley Health Systems, announced the appointment of Jennifer Fischer as chief experience officer at Holyoke Medical Center.

“Jenny brings over 15 years of healthcare experience with a specialty in increasing operational excellence and patient satisfaction through evidence-based processes,” Hatiras said. “We are excited to have her join us and to further develop our culture and commitment to providing patients with the highest level of quality and compassionate care.”

Most recently, Fischer served as an account leader and coach for the Studer Group, an outcomes-based healthcare-consulting firm. In that role, she had a track record of six years of leading healthcare organizations in their service-excellence journeys, achieving targets for patient experience across multiple service lines, creating and sustaining leadership-development programs, and helping executive teams manage change.

Fischer’s prior experience included director-level positions at Wuesthoff Health Systems in Rockledge, Fla., and Door County Memorial Hospital in Sturgeon Bay, Wis. She received her bachelor’s degree from Ripon College in Wisconsin, a master’s degree in arts management from Columbia College in Chicago, and her bachelor’s of science in nursing degree from the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. She also received a juris doctor degree from the John Marshall Law School in Chicago.

“I had the pleasure of working with Holyoke Medical Center as a consultant and am honored to have been recruited to join a great team with such dedication and commitment to continuously improve the experience of every patient,” Fischer said.

Valley Health Systems Appreciates Employees by Supporting Locally Owned Eateries

By
Daily News

HOLYOKE — Valley Health Systems Inc., which consists of Holyoke Medical Center, Holyoke Medical Group, Holyoke VNA Hospice Life Care, and River Valley Counseling Center, will express appreciation to employees by providing a voucher to use at locally owned food establishments.

“Normally, we would celebrate the season by serving a holiday meal with all the trimmings to employees in our cafeteria,” said Spiros Hatiras, president and CEO of Holyoke Medical Center and Valley Health Systems. “Because of the challenges presented this year due to COVID-19, we are unable to carry out this tradition. However, we wanted to recognize staff for their tireless efforts by giving each employee this voucher. Not only will they be able to enjoy a well-deserved meal, we are also supporting locally owned establishments.”

Each $50 voucher can be redeemed at one of the participating food establishments which were selected based on employee feedback. The custom vouchers are printed on special Holojet paper donated by Holyoke-based Hazen Paper Co.

“These are difficult financial times for many, and we are pleased to be able to support our local businesses,” Hatiras added.

Michael Koziol Joins Holyoke Medical Center as CFO

By
Daily News

HOLYOKE — Spiros Hatiras, president and CEO of Holyoke Medical Center and Valley Health Systems, announced the appointment of Michael Koziol as chief financial officer at Holyoke Medical Center (HMC).

“Mike has over 30 years of experience in nonprofit organizations, including several hospitals throughout New England,” said Hatiras. “His knowledge and successful contributions to organizational financial stability and improved operating efficiencies have already proved to be an asset to the leadership team of Holyoke Medical Center and Valley Health Systems.”

Koziol has served as interim CFO at HMC since April 2017. His prior experience includes executive-level finance positions with Southcoast Physicians Group in Fairhaven, Mass.; MaineGeneral Health in Augusta, Maine; South County Hospital Healthcare Systems in Wakefield, R.I.; Massachusetts Eye & Ear Associates in Boston; Rhode Island Hospital in Providence; and Memorial Hospital of South Bend in South Bend, Ind. He received his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Illinois State University and completed his MBA at the University of Illinois.

“I have spent the past six months as interim CFO with Holyoke Medical Center, and I am very happy to be a part of this organization,” said Koziol. “The people who work here are wonderful, and enable a bright future in continuing to provide high-quality, cost-effective care to the community.”

Carl Cameron Named COO at Holyoke Medical Center

By
Daily News

HOLYOKE — Spiros Hatiras, president and CEO of Holyoke Medical Center, announced the promotion of Carl Cameron to chief operating officer of Holyoke Medical Center (HMC).

In his new role, Cameron will lead implementation of important changes to the institution, which includes transforming patient rooms and the expansion of the Rehabilitation unit, including Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Cardiac Rehab, and Pulmonary Rehab. Cameron most recently served as vice president of Operations and was also chief information officer at HMC.

“Over the past 14 years, Carl has continued to guide Holyoke Medical Center in an innovative direction, especially in the area of information systems,” said Hatiras. “He has helped bring HMC to the forefront of electronic medical records, enabling HMC to be of the first in the state to have a health-information exchange and connect to the Mass HIway, securing the sharing of patient medical records with healthcare providers throughout the Commonwealth. His guidance and expertise are key to moving our organization forward in transforming healthcare delivery in the Pioneer Valley and surrounding areas.”

Cameron earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Western New England University and an master’s degree in information systems from WNEU. He also earned a certificate in Lean Healthcare from the University of Michigan. Prior experience includes serving as director of information technology for the city of Holyoke and at Lennox Healthcare, a long-term healthcare company with 150 nursing homes throughout the U.S.

Holyoke Medical Center Welcomes Dr. Simon Ahtaridis as Chief Medical Officer

By
Daily News

HOLYOKE — Spiros Hatiras, president and CEO of Holyoke Medical Center and Valley Health Systems, announced Dr. Simon Ahtaridis as the new chief medical officer at Holyoke Medical Center.

“I want to partner with staff members and find ways to support them to provide better patient care,” Ahtaridis said. “Medicine has become more team-oriented. The best doctors and nurses require coordination of care.”

Before joining Holyoke Medical Center, Ahtaridis was the national clinical advisor and chief medical officer for Sound Advisory Services. In this role, he oversaw the overall clinical performance of Sound’s onsite and remote advisory services.

His prior experience also includes serving as the chief medical officer for Mercy Medical Center in Springfield, where he also served as the chief of Hospitalist Service and chief of Medicine. Additionally, he has been an instructor in medicine, first at Harvard Medical School and most recently at the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine. His main focus has been improving utilization management in the inpatient setting and population-health programs, including improved documentation, reduced length of stay, readmissions, and appropriate utilization of resources.

Ahtaridis received his medical degree from the Temple University School of Medicine. Prior to graduation, he took two years off to serve as the Legislative Affairs director for the American Medical Student Assoc. in Washington, D.C., and also received his master’s degree in public health from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health with a focus on health systems. He completed his residency in internal medicine at Cambridge Health Alliance, where he received several teaching awards. He was also a chief resident and chief of the hospitalist service at Cambridge Health Alliance.

“We are very excited to have Dr. Ahtaridis join Valley Health Systems,” Hatiras said. “His extensive background and commitment to strengthen hospital performance will support the continued alignment between our medical staff and the important performance and quality-improvement initiatives we are working on to fulfill our vision of becoming the best place for care and the best place to work.”

People on the Move

By
Departments People on the Move
Michael Houff

Michael Houff

Spiros Hatiras, president and CEO of Holyoke Medical Center, announced the appointment of Michael Houff as director of Physician Services for HMC Specialty Practices as well as Western Massachusetts Physician Associates. Houff brings more than 20 years of extensive healthcare leadership experience in executive-level physician-group management, project consulting, revenue-cycle management, hospital outpatient operations, managed-care payer and provider operations, and IT implementations. He most recently served Meridian Medical Management in Windsor, Conn. as director of operations and, previously, Hampden County Physician Associates, LLC in Springfield as chief operating officer, vice president of operations, and director of operations. “Mike brings the leadership necessary to help Holyoke Medical Center and Western Mass Physician Associates provide the highest levels of patient care and satisfaction,” said Hatiras. “His experience in managing physician services will be an asset to ensuring that our providers and office staff continue to deliver high-quality and compassionate care to our patients.” Houff graduated from American University in Washington, D.C. with a bachelor’s degree in international affairs and received a master’s degree in general administration health care management from the University of Maryland in 1996. From 1988 to 1992, he served as active duty combat arms officer in the U.S. Army and then worked for Kaiser Permanente in Rocky Hill, Conn., Tulane University Hospital and Clinic in New Orleans, and GE Healthcare. “I really wanted to get back to the patient-care-delivery side of the business of healthcare,” said Houff of choosing to work at HMC. “It’s a much more meaningful mission to know that what you’re doing every day in outpatient operations has a real impact on people’s lives — helping people who are going through very difficult times with their health issues and being able to help them have one good day among many bad ones is a really good motivation.”

•••••

The Hampshire Mall management team recently welcomed Lynn Gray as general manager. Gray has extensive knowledge of the shopping-center industry. She is a graduate of Holyoke Community College with an associate degree in business administration. She returns to Hampshire Mall after holding the positions of marketing assistant, assistant marketing director, and marketing director within Pyramid Management Group from 1995 to 2005. Prior to her return, she held various roles within General Growth Management over the past 10 years, most recently as director of field marketing for the East Region. During her time there, she received the MAXI Award for innovative contributions made to Natick Mall. She is a lifelong resident of the Western Mass. area and actively involved with several community and nonprofit organizations, including Alex Scafuri’s Benefit Fund, Harper Yucka Benefit Fund, Chicopee Youth Football Assoc., and CHERUBS. “We are pleased to have Lynn return to Pyramid Management Group,” said Joe Castaldo, Pyramid Management Group’s director of Shopping Center Management. “With her vast experience in the shopping-center industry, she will be a tremendous asset in the development of Hampshire Mall.”

•••••

Melissa Provost

Melissa Provost

HUB International New England, a division of HUB International Limited, announced that Melissa Provost has joined HUB International New England as a personal lines account manager, responsible for assisting clients with their home, auto, and personal-liability umbrella coverages. She will be based in the South Hadley office. Provost joins HUB International with several years of customer service experience in the insurance industry, and has held previous positions with Liberty Mutual Insurance, most recently as a senior customer service representative. At HUB International, her role includes assisting in the day-to-day needs of clients, handling client requests, preparing quotes, reviewing and updating policies and certificates, maintaining existing client relationships, generating new business, and keeping abreast of the changing market. “Over the past few months, we have hired several talented individuals as we continue to expand into one of the largest agencies throughout New England,” said Timm Marini, president of HUB International New England. “Melissa is a perfect fit for our agency as she is clearly a ‘people person’ who will focus on providing extraordinary customer service.”

•••••

Greater Springfield Habitat for Humanity (GSHFH) announced that Bob Perry — a donor, volunteer, partner, and friend who has supported the organization for more than 15 years — will join the team as the new volunteer donor relations manager. “Greater Springfield Habitat for Humanity is thrilled to be able to welcome back Bob Perry as our new volunteer donor relations manager,” said Jennifer Schimmel, the organization’s executive director. “Even with his new title, he’ll still be known by many as Habitat’s chief hugging officer!” Greater Springfield Habitat for Humanity is a housing ministry dedicated to strengthening communities by empowering low-income families to change their lives and the lives of future generations through home ownership and home-preservation opportunities. This is accomplished by working in partnership with diverse people, from all walks of life, to build and repair simple, decent, affordable housing. GSHFH has helped 70 local families, as well as 90 international families, over the past 27 years.

Houff Named Director of Physician Services for HMC Specialty Practices, WMPA

By
Daily News

HOLYOKE — Spiros Hatiras, president and CEO of Holyoke Medical Center, announced the appointment of Michael Houff as director of Physician Services for the HMC Specialty Practices as well as Western Massachusetts Physician Associates.

Houff brings more than 20 years of extensive healthcare  leadership experience in executive-level physician-group management,  project consulting,  revenue cycle management, hospital outpatient operations, managed care payer and provider operations, and IT implementations.

He most recently served Meridian Medical Management in Windsor, Conn. as director of operations and previously, Hampden County Physician Associates, LLC in Springfield as chief operating officer, vice president of operations and director of operations.

“Mike brings the leadership necessary to help Holyoke Medical Center and Western Mass Physician Associates provide the highest levels of patient care and satisfaction,” said Hatiras. “His experience in managing physician services will be an asset to ensuring that our providers and office staff continue to deliver high quality and compassionate care to our patients.”

A native of Enfield, Conn., Houff graduated from American University in Washington, D.C. with a bachelor of arts in international affairs and received a master’s degree of General Administration Health Care Management from the University of Maryland in 1996. From 1988 to 1992 he served as active duty combat arms officer in the U.S. Army and then worked for Kaiser Permanente in Rocky Hill, Conn., Tulane University Hospital and Clinic in New Orleans, and at GE Healthcare.

“I really wanted to get back to the patient-care-delivery side of the business of healthcare,” said Houff of choosing to work at HMC. “It’s a much more meaningful mission to know that what you’re doing every day in outpatient operations has a real impact on people’s lives — helping people who are going through very difficult times with their health issues and being able to help them have one good day amongst many bad ones is a really good motivation.”

Chamber Corners: Upcoming Events

By
Chamber Corners Departments

1BERKSHIRE

www.1berkshire.com

(413) 499-1600

• Feb. 27: Entrepreneurial Meetup, 8-10 a.m., hosted by Dottie’s Coffee Lounge, Pittsfield. Join us for networking and share what you’ve been working on in an open-mic format. 1Berkshire’s Entrepreneurial Meetups are free events that gather entrepreneurs together to network, learn, and engage.

• Feb. 28: Good News Business Salute, 4:30-6:30 p.m., hosted by Zion Church, Pittsfield. Come celebrate Jacob’s Pillow, IS183, and more. This event recognizes major milestones, including anniversaries, expansions, and new product lines of Berkshire businesses, and gives us a chance to come together to applaud their efforts. Member cost: $35 for individual, $140 for table of four, $280 for table of eight. Non-member cost: $45 for individual, $180 for table of four, $360 for table of eight.

AMHERST AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

www.amherstarea.com

(413) 253-0700

• Feb. 8: After 5, 5-7 p.m., hosted by Bistro 63, 63 North Pleasant St., Amherst. Sponsored by Greenfield Savings Bank.

• March 15: After 5 – YPA/AACC, 5-7 p.m., location to be announced.

GREATER CHICOPEE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

www.chicopeechamber.org

(413) 594-2101

• Feb. 9: Business After Hours, 4:30-6:30 p.m., hosted by Berchmans Hall Rotunda, Elms College, 291 Springfield St., Chicopee. Network with chamber members at this annual event. Meet with students who are learning about the importance of networking and share your insights with them. Hors d’oeuvres, cash bar, and raffle prizes. Cost: $10 for members, $15 for non-members.

• Feb. 15: CEO Power Hour Luncheon with Spiros Hatiras, 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m., hosted by Collegian Court, 89 Park St., Chicopee. Sponsored by Westfield Bank. Come enjoy lunch and listen as Hatiras talks about his journey as president and CEO of Holyoke Medical Center. Cost: $30 for members, $35 for non-members.

• Feb. 21: February Salute Breakfast, 7:15-9 a.m., hosted by Castle of Knights, 1599 Memorial Dr., Chicopee. Sponsored by Insurance Center of New England. Cost: $23 for members, $28 for non-members, $250 monthly sponsor.

• March 2: Shining Stars Awards, 6:30-10 p.m., hosted by Castle of Knights, Chicopee. The chamber will recognize Interstate Towing Co. as Business of the Year, Dawn Creighton of Associated Industries of Massachusetts as Citizen of the Year, Karen Hansmann as Volunteer of the Year, and Valley Opportunity Council as the Nonprofit Organization of the Year. This event is sponsored by diamond sponsor Westfield Bank; platinum sponsors Polish National Credit Union and PeoplesBank; gold sponsors the Arbors Kids, Holyoke Medical Center, and BusinessWest; and bronze sponsor United Personnel. To register to attend, call the chamber at (413) 594-2101 or visit www.chicopeechamber.org and sign up in the Calendar of Events.

GREATER EASTHAMPTON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

www.easthamptonchamber.org

(413) 527-9414

• Feb. 8: Networking by Night, 5-7 p.m., hosted by the Boylston Rooms, 122 Pleasant St., Suite #112, Easthampton. Sponsored by Tanya Costigan Events. This is a great networking opportunity and an opportunity to tour the new Boylston Rooms.

• Feb. 27: Strengths-based Leadership, 7:45-10 a.m., hosted by Innovative Business Systems, Mill 180, 180 Pleasant St., Easthampton. In the first of a two-part series, Colleen DelVecchio, a certified CliftonStrengths coach, will lead us into our strongest selves as leaders via our personnel Gallup StrengthFinder assessment and insight reports. At the end of the two breakfast sessions, you will understand the keys to be a more effective leader, unveil your strengths, learn to invest in the strengths of others, get people with the right strengths on your team, and understand and meet the four basic needs of those who look to you for leadership: trust, compassion, stability, and hope. For more information, visit www.easthamptonchamber.org or call the chamber office at (413) 527-9414.

GREATER HOLYOKE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

www.holyokechamber.org

(413) 534-3376

• Feb. 9: Legislative Coffee Hour, 7:30-9 a.m., hosted by Summit View Banquet and Meeting House, 555 Northampton St., Holyoke. Sponsored by Marcotte Ford, bankESB, and Holyoke Medical Center. Guest Speakers:  state Rep. Aaron Vega, Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse, and Holyoke City Council President Todd McGee. Join us for a casual conversation about 2018 issues affecting the city of Holyoke and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Cost: $20 for members, $25 for non-members and walk-ins. Price includes a buffet breakfast. Sign up online at holyokechamber.com.

• Feb. 21: Chamber After Hours, 5-7 p.m., hosted by the Holyoke Community College Center for Culinary Arts, 164 Race St., Holyoke. Sponsored by Holyoke Community College. Join us for a casual networking experience at HCC’s new culinary facility. Cost: $10 for members, $15 for non-members. Sign up online at holyokechamber.com.

• Feb. 28: Ask a Chamber Expert: How to Attract Customers to Your Marketing Table, 8:30-9:30 a.m., Greater Holyoke Chamber of Commerce Executive Conference Room, 177 High St., Holyoke. Get ready for the upcoming multi-chamber Taste of Business by learning how to successfully attract customers to your table. Presented by Francie Richardson of Art Craft. Cost: free for chamber members, $15 for non-members. Price includes a continental breakfast. Register at holyokechamber.com.

GREATER NORTHAMPTON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

www.explorenorthampton.com

(413) 584-1900

• Feb. 7: February Arrive @5, 5-7 p.m., hosted by Christopher Heights, 50 Village Hill Road, Northampton. A networking event. Cost: $10 for members.

n March 7: March Arrive @5, 5-7 p.m., hosted by 50/50 Fitness, 251 Russell St., Hadley. Sponsored by Applied Mortgage, a division of Merrimack Mortgage Co. A networking event. Cost: $10 for members.

GREATER WESTFIELD CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

www.westfieldbiz.org

(413) 568-1618

• Feb. 5: Mayor’s Coffee Hour, 8-9 a.m., hosted by Holiday Inn Express, 39 Southampton Road, Westfield. Join us for our monthly Mayor’s Coffee Hour with Westfield Mayor Brian Sullivan. This event is free and open to the public, but registration is requested at (413) 568-1618 so we may give our host a head count.

• Feb. 13: After 5 Connection, 5-7 p.m., hosted by ReStore Westfield (Greater Springfield Habitat for Humanity), 301 East Main St., Westfield. Bring your business cards and make connections. Refreshments will be served. A 50/50 raffle will support the chamber’s Scholarship Fund. Cost: free for chamber members, $10 for general admission.

SPRINGFIELD REGIONAL CHAMBER

www.springfieldregionalchamber.com

(413) 787-1555

• Feb. 7: Business@Breakfast, 7:15-9 a.m., hosted by Carriage House, Storrowton Tavern, 1305 Memorial Ave., West Springfield. Featuring political consultant Anthony Cignoli, sharing his insights into the upcoming November elections. Cost: $25 for members ($30 at the door), $35 general admission ($40 at the door).

• Feb. 15: Leadership Institute, first session. Runs through March 29. Presented in partnership with the Springfield Regional Chamber and Western New England University at the TD Bank Conference Center. Applications must be received by Feb. 8.

• Feb. 15: Fire & Ice Craft Cocktail Competition and Fundraiser, 5:30-8 p.m., hosted by Springfield Country Club, 1375 Elm St., West Springfield. Sponsored by Florence Bank, the Republican, and MassLive. Cost: $40 for members in advance, $50 general admission in advance, $50 at the door.

• March 7: Business@Breakfast, 7:15-9 a.m., hosted by Chez Josef, 176 Shoemaker Lane, Agawam. Cost: $25 for members ($30 at the door), $35 general admission ($40 at the door).

• March 8: After Hours with Springfield Regional, Greater Easthampton, Westfield and West of the River Chambers, 5-7 p.m., hosted by Mill 180, 180 Pleasant St., Easthampton. Cost: $10 for members, $15 general admission.

• March 9: Outlook 2018, 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., hosted by the MassMutual Center, Springfield. Featuring keynote speaker Gov. Charlie Baker and Eric Rosengren, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. Cost: $60 for members in advance; $80 general admission in advance.

• March 13: Lunch ‘n’ Learn, details to be announced.

• March 20: C-Suite Conversations & Cocktails, 5-7 p.m., hosted by CityStage, One Columbus Center, Springfield. Members-only event featuring MGM President Mike Mathis. Cost: $25.

• March 29: Speed Networking, 3:30-5 p.m., location to be determined. Cost: $20 for members in advance ($25 at the door), $30 general admission in advance ($35 at the door).

Reservations for all chamber events may be made by visiting www.springfieldregionalchamber.com, e-mailing [email protected], or calling (413) 755-1310.

WEST OF THE RIVER CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

www.ourwrc.com

(413) 426-3880

• Feb. 7: Wicked Wednesday, 5-7 p.m., hosted by Carrabba’s Italian Grill, West Springfield. Wicked Wednesdays are monthly social events, hosted by various businesses and restaurants, that bring members and non-members together to network in a laid-back atmosphere. For more information, contact the chamber office at (413) 426-3880, or register at www.westoftheriverchamber.com.

• Feb. 13: Lunch & Tour at the Bistro LPVEC – West Springfield, noon to 1:30 p.m. Join fellow members and non-members for a networking lunch at the Bistro at Lower Pioneer Valley Educational Collaborative, followed by an informative discussion on the value of gaining skills in the trades industry and how we can promote to fill local jobs. Sponsorships are available for this event. Register online at [email protected].

People on the Move

By
Departments People on the Move
Elizabeth Quick

Elizabeth Quick

Bulkley Richardson has named Elizabeth Quick its new executive director. In this position, she is responsible for overseeing all business operations including finance, human resources, information technology, business development/marketing, and facilities. “We are pleased that Elizabeth will be joining us,” said Peter Barry, chairman of the firm’s executive committee. “She has directed many programs and business systems for law firms throughout Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. Based on her experience and her abilities, we are confident that she will be a major contributor to continuing the firm’s success.” Quick said she is excited about her new opportunity. “I look forward to working with this talented group of professionals as we continue to serve Bulkley Richardson clients and the community. Continuous improvement of systems and management to foster the firm’s delivery of superior legal services is an important focus for me.” An experienced operations professional, Quick’s career spans more than 25 years as a legal-industry administrator. She has developed and implemented new processes, along with coordinating all administrative functions required to ensure smooth day-to-day operations. She has a strong network of colleagues and vendors which has allowed her to streamline tasks to bolster productivity and performance. Prior to joining Bulkley Richardson, she worked as a multi-location administrator for a law firm with offices in New York, Washington, D.C., and Connecticut. She was responsible for strategic planning, expansions and moves, human resources, budgeting, day-to-day operations, business lines of insurance, and cohesive interaction with the management group in benefits, finance, technology, recruiting, and marketing to forward the firm’s overall success and business operations. Quick earned her bachelor’s degree, summa cum laude, from Eastern Connecticut State University, and received her associate degree from Manchester Community College, and was honored with the David A. Greenberg Award for Academic Excellence and the Fred A. Ramey Jr. Award for Outstanding Business Student. She is a member of the Assoc. of Legal Administrators (ALA), and also a member of the Nutmeg and Capitol chapters of ALA. Quick is based in Bulkley Richardson’s Springfield office. She succeeds Patrick Hourihan, who retired in September after 36 years of service to the firm.

•••••

Jodie Gerulaitis

Jodie Gerulaitis

Country Bank President and CEO Paul Scully announced that Jodie Gerulaitis has been promoted to vice president of Community Relations. “Jodie’s commitment to the local communities we serve and her deep understanding of the bank’s mission made her the obvious choice for this new position,” Scully said. “Jodie will further enhance the bank’s long-standing commitment to helping those in need and work with local nonprofits on various events while managing the bank’s charitable-giving programs.” Gerulaitis has been with Country Bank for 24 years in various positions and holds several certifications from the Center for Financial Training. She is currently attending the New England School for Financial Studies, serves as a local treasurer of the Salvation Army, and is on the West Brookfield Elementary and Stanley M. Koziol school councils.  Annually, Country Bank partners with more than 500 local nonprofits to support their needs and was recently recognized as one of the Top 100 Charitable Giving Companies by the Boston Business Journal.

•••••

Pierre Joseph

Pierre Joseph

The Solidago Foundation, a national social-justice foundation, appointed Springfield native, Amherst College graduate, and Truman scholar Pierre Joseph to the newly created role of program associate. Within this role, Joseph will have a critical role in developing four new signature projects as well as researching, recruiting, and managing new national and state partners. “Pierre is joining our growing team at a pivotal time for the foundation,” said CEO Elizabeth Barajas-Román. “We are excited about the expertise and fresh perspective he’ll bring to our ongoing work.” Prior to working at the Solidago Foundation, Pierre worked as a policy analyst at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy. There, he staffed the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services and worked on many issues including two-generation approaches to child poverty, family implications of substance-use disorder, and linking health-systems transformation to the social determinants of health. “In this new role, I am very interested in how emerging financing strategies, blended funding streams, and democratized access to capital can build wealth, expand opportunity, and increase economic mobility in underserved communities throughout the United States,” he said. Joseph is also responsible for working with senior staff on supporting the team’s budgeting, financial analysis, and planning efforts. “I am thrilled to be working alongside Pierre,” said Jeff Rosen, CFO of the Solidago Foundation. “We are lucky to have a person who has gained so much experience in both local and national arenas to bring to the next phase of our work. Pierre offers the rare blend of practical focus and long-range vision. He will be an invaluable field and thought partner, and we look forward to working together on a host of new initiatives.”

•••••

Michelle Cayo

Michelle Cayo

Florence Bank, a mutually owned savings bank serving the Pioneer Valley through 10 branch locations, has hired Michelle Cayo of Granby in the position of vice president, Credit Administration manager. She brings nearly 20 years of commercial credit experience to her new role. Cayo studied at Bay Path University, where she received her bachelor’s degree in business with a concentration in finance, and her master’s degree in communications and information management. She completed the New England School for Financial Studies program and is in the process of completing the Graduate Banking Program from the American Bankers Assoc. Cayo serves her community as a member of the Jimmy Fund Council of Western Mass. In the past, she has also served as president of the Professional Women’s Chamber of Western Mass. In 2013, she was recognized by Western Mass Women magazine as Volunteer of the Year to recognize her work for children with pediatric cancer. She was also recognized by BusinessWest as a member of the 40 Under Forty Class of 2011, which celebrates young business and civic leaders in the Pioneer Valley. “We are thrilled to announce the addition of Michelle Cayo to our Florence Bank family,” said President and CEO John Heaps Jr. “She has an impressive background in commercial credit, and we feel she’s the ideal candidate to take on the role of VP/Credit Administration manager. I know we will be seeing excellent results from her in the years to come, and I look forward to watching her success.”

•••••

John Garvey

John Garvey

John Garvey, president of Springfield-based digital-marketing and public-relations firm Garvey Communication Associates Inc. (GCAi) recently completed a certificate program in corporate reputation management offered by the Public Relations Society of America. The eight-week program was taught by communications experts from global brands including Weber Shandwick, the Hershey Co., MasterCard, Revlon Inc., and Burson-Marsteller. The program included modules on “Reputation and the CEO,” “Key Performance Indicators,” “Digital Reputation,” and “Reputational Risks.” The program is designed to help communications professionals navigate the space between marketing, public relations, and digital, as well as to recognize the importance of reputation and the CEO’s impact on brand value. Garvey was also a keynote presenter at the 2017 Massachusetts Bankers Assoc. Executive Officers Conference, where he presented on “Managing the Media and Your Reputation in a Crisis.” He has close to four decades of public-relations and reputation-management experience, having worked as a consultant to a variety of corporations and nonprofits, as well as a political campaign consultant. Garvey earned a bachelor’s degree from Marquette University and has served as a guest lecturer at the university’s Diederich College of Communications. He earned a master’s degree in organizational development at American International College. He is also a judge and mentor for the Boston-based global startup accelerator MassChallenge, where he has worked with cohorts from Spain, Columbia, Morocco, France, and Mexico.

•••••

Ivonne Vidal

Ivonne Vidal

Ivonne Vidal, a staff attorney for the Committee for Public Counsel Services in Springfield, has been appointed to the Holyoke Community College board of trustees by Gov. Charlie Baker. Vidal holds a law degree from Boston University School of Law and a bachelor’s degree in International Relations and Economics from Brown University. As an undergraduate, she spent a year studying international relations and economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science. A native Spanish speaker, Vidal grew up in Cuba and has been living in the U.S. since she was 15 and in Western Mass. for the past six years. “As a public defender and an immigrant, I am keenly aware of the transformative role education plays in a person’s life,” Vidal said. “Holyoke Community College is at the forefront of this movement, finding innovative ways to engage and improve the lives of residents in Holyoke and Western Massachusetts. I am very excited to become a part of this institution, and I’m looking forward to helping advance its mission.” Before coming to New England for college, Vidal worked as an aide at the English Center in Miami, helping to teach classes in English as a second language and citizenship. She also spent summers during college in Miami working as an executive intern in the public defender’s office. As a law student at Boston University, she worked for Greater Boston Legal Services and as a legal intern with Masferrer & Associates, P.C. “Ivonne’s background in law and fluency in Spanish will strengthen our already-talented board,” said Robert Gilbert, board of trustees chair. “Our goal is to foster an environment where students can succeed not only academically in college, but in their lives as well. New trustees bring fresh ideas that will help guide HCC into the future and strengthen our connections with community partners.”

•••••

Shaun Jennings

Shaun Jennings

OMG Roofing Products has hired Shaun Jennings as digital marketing specialist. In his new role, Jennings is responsible for all digital marketing activities for OMG Roofing Products, including company websites, social media, and mobile marketing activities. He is based in Agawam and reports to Sam Everett, director of Marketing Communications. Jennings joins OMG Roofing from SABIC, a manufacturer of high-performance plastics, where he led digital platform development for the Specialties business unit in the Americas region, based in Houston. He holds a bachelor’s degree in interactive media advertising from Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Headquartered in Agawam, OMG Roofing Products is a manufacturer of commercial roofing products including specialty fasteners, adhesives, edge metal systems, drains, pipe supports, and advanced productivity tools.

•••••

Michael Koziol

Michael Koziol

Spiros Hatiras, president and CEO of Holyoke Medical Center and Valley Health Systems, announced the appointment of Michael Koziol as chief financial officer at Holyoke Medical Center (HMC). “Mike has over 30 years of experience in nonprofit organizations, including several hospitals throughout New England,” said Hatiras. “His knowledge and successful contributions to organizational financial stability and improved operating efficiencies have already proved to be an asset to the leadership team of Holyoke Medical Center and Valley Health Systems.” Koziol has served as interim CFO at HMC since April 2017. His prior experience includes executive-level finance positions with Southcoast Physicians Group in Fairhaven, Mass.; MaineGeneral Health in Augusta, Maine; South County Hospital Healthcare Systems in Wakefield, R.I.; Massachusetts Eye & Ear Associates in Boston; Rhode Island Hospital in Providence; and Memorial Hospital of South Bend in South Bend, Ind. He received his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Illinois State University and completed his MBA at the University of Illinois. “I have spent the past six months as interim CFO with Holyoke Medical Center, and I am very happy to be a part of this organization,” said Koziol. “The people who work here are wonderful, and enable a bright future in continuing to provide high-quality, cost-effective care to the community.”

•••••

Rachel Turgeon, a United Personnel employee who has worked in a variety of customer-service roles for the past five years, has been awarded the 2017 United Personnel Academic Merit Award. Turgeon received the $1,000 scholarship to defray student-loan payments related to her bachelor’s degree she received from Elms College last June. As an aspiring oncologist, Turgeon hopes to begin medical school next year. In addition to her work as a United Personnel contract employee, Turgeon is currently a women’s leader at Celebrate Recovery. In 2010, she suffered from an autoimmune disorder, and, in order to grow and heal from that occurrence, she began to counsel women in similar situations. She wanted women to see their beauty and worth beyond their physical impairments, such as hair loss. It was through this experience that she realized her calling and began taking steps to one day specialize in oncology, with the dream of traveling the world through Doctors Without Borders. “Working at United Personnel has taught me that hard work pays off,” Turgeon said. “United Personnel has been a blessing to work for. They have helped me during an extremely tough time in my life, and through them I found a job that has supported me and my long-term goals. I am extremely grateful to receive the United Personnel scholarship. Because of this scholarship, I can pay off a portion of my student loans and process quite a few medical-school applications. United Personnel has brought me one step closer to my goals, and I am so thankful for their support.” Each year, United Personnel identifies one contract employee, or the child of a United Personnel contract employee, who has worked at least 160 hours and is currently enrolled or is a recent graduate of an accredited college as the winner of its annual Academic Merit Award. This $1,000 award recognizes hard work both inside and outside of the classroom, and can be utilized to defray current costs or for loan forgiveness.

Holyoke Medical Center Welcomes 40 Soldiers’ Home Residents

By
COVID-19 Daily News

HOLYOKE — Holyoke Medical Center (HMC) has welcomed 40 Holyoke Soldiers’ Home residents in response to a request for assistance from the Executive Office of Health and Human Services. In order to accommodate this request, the Birthing Center and the outpatient Cardiovascular Center at HMC have been converted to house these residents.

Holyoke Medical Center maternity patients will temporarily be delivering at the Family Life Center at Mercy Medical Center in Springfield. The outpatient Cardiovascular Center has also been temporarily relocated to 2 Hospital Dr., Suite 203, Holyoke.

“We were asked if we could accommodate Soldiers’ Home residents in our facility and are responding to the request to assist in any way we possibly can,” said Spiros Hatiras, president and CEO of Holyoke Medical Center and Valley Health Systems. “These are unprecedented times, and we have a duty to help any and all that need our assistance and an additional level of duty to assist our veterans.”

The Soldiers’ Home residents transferred to Holyoke Medical Center have screened negative for COVID-19.

“This request has been an opportunity for the staff at Holyoke Medical Center to once again shine,” Hatiras added. “I am incredibly proud of their efficiency and dedication to rise to any occasion, including their ability to convert two patient units within hours, accommodating 40 people to receive care.”

The Holyoke Medical Group obstetrics doctors and certified nurse midwives will be closely coordinating with their colleagues at Mercy Medical Center to maintain continuity of care for their patients while temporarily delivering at this alternate location.

Questions regarding labor and delivery through the Birthing Center can be directed to the outpatient office, Holyoke Medical Group Women’s Services, at (413) 534-2826. For questions regarding the Family Life Center at Mercy Medical Center, call (413) 748-7400.

Holyoke Medical Center Proposes New Behavioral Health Hospital

By
Daily News

HOLYOKE — Holyoke Medical Center’s leadership team, recognizing the increased need for behavioral-health inpatient beds in Western Mass., has been planning for approximately one year to identify a way to address this need. This process has produced a proposal for a new, state-of-the-art, standalone inpatient facility.

In addition, in September, 2019, Holyoke Medical Center partnered with Signet Health Corp. to assist the hospital in the delivery of behavioral-health services by providing high-quality management and consulting services.

The current inpatient behavioral-health unit at Holyoke Medical Center has a capacity of 20 beds. The proposed new facility would have approximately 100 beds, including the 20 existing beds currently on the fifth floor of the main hospital building. It is designed to provide best-in-class care in a purpose-built facility specifically tailored to accommodate the needs of behavioral-health patients with all of the modern requirements, including secure outdoor space.

A letter of intent has been signed with the Leo Brown Group, a full-service healthcare real-estate development and solutions company, to design and build the facility. Holyoke Medical Center has identified a suitable location on the main hospital campus for the proposed building. In addition, the hospital will continue to work with Signet Health for management services within the proposed facility.

The conversations with appropriate stakeholders, including the Department of Mental Health, the Department of Public Health, and the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, will begin shortly and will continue in the following weeks as the hospital seeks to obtain local and state approval to move forward with the project.

“Holyoke Medical Center is eager to have conversations at the state level to expand the much-needed behavioral-health bed capacity in Western Massachusetts. This proposal is fully in line with the Commonwealth’s goal to increase investment in behavioral-health services,” said Spiros Hatiras, president and CEO of Holyoke Medical Center and Valley Health Systems.

It is estimated that, once approved, the new facility will take 18 months to complete and become operational.

For the past six years, Holyoke Medical Center has been growing and expanding services through recruitment and retention of doctors and advanced-practice providers, Hatiras noted, and the proposed project is aligned with the mission of the health system.

Holyoke Medical Center Proposes New Behavioral Health Hospital

By
HCN News & Notes

HOLYOKE — Holyoke Medical Center’s leadership team, recognizing the increased need for behavioral-health inpatient beds in Western Mass., has been planning for approximately one year to identify a way to address this need. This process has produced a proposal for a new, state-of-the-art, standalone inpatient facility.

In addition, in September, 2019, Holyoke Medical Center partnered with Signet Health Corp. to assist the hospital in the delivery of behavioral-health services by providing high-quality management and consulting services.

The current inpatient behavioral-health unit at Holyoke Medical Center has a capacity of 20 beds. The proposed new facility would have approximately 100 beds, including the 20 existing beds currently on the fifth floor of the main hospital building. It is designed to provide best-in-class care in a purpose-built facility specifically tailored to accommodate the needs of behavioral-health patients with all of the modern requirements, including secure outdoor space.

A letter of intent has been signed with the Leo Brown Group, a full-service healthcare real-estate development and solutions company, to design and build the facility. Holyoke Medical Center has identified a suitable location on the main hospital campus for the proposed building. In addition, the hospital will continue to work with Signet Health for management services within the proposed facility.

The conversations with appropriate stakeholders, including the Department of Mental Health, the Department of Public Health, and the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, will begin shortly and will continue in the following weeks as the hospital seeks to obtain local and state approval to move forward with the project.

“Holyoke Medical Center is eager to have conversations at the state level to expand the much-needed behavioral-health bed capacity in Western Massachusetts. This proposal is fully in line with the Commonwealth’s goal to increase investment in behavioral-health services,” said Spiros Hatiras, president and CEO of Holyoke Medical Center and Valley Health Systems.

It is estimated that, once approved, the new facility will take 18 months to complete and become operational.

For the past six years, Holyoke Medical Center has been growing and expanding services through recruitment and retention of doctors and advanced-practice providers, Hatiras noted, and the proposed project is aligned with the mission of the health system.

Holyoke Medical Center Names Kathy Anderson Director of Community Benefits

By
Daily News

HOLYOKE — Holyoke Medical Center announced the appointment of Kathleen Anderson as the hospital’s director of Community Benefits. She begins her new role on Aug. 27.

“We are thrilled to welcome Kathy to the Holyoke Medical Center team. She is an accomplished professional with over 20 years of networking experience in the city of Holyoke and regionally. Her extraordinary ability to build trusting relationships will be greatly appreciated in the role of director of Community Benefits,” said Spiros Hatiras, Holyoke Medical Center’s president and CEO.

Added Anderson, “throughout my career I have had the wonderful opportunity to get to know the needs of the community. This position will allow me to use the knowledge that I’ve gained over the years to best serve the current and future patients of HMC.”

The director of Community Benefits provides programs and services to improve health in communities and helps to increase access to healthcare. This is done to advance medical and health knowledge in the community and relieve or reduce the burden of government and other community efforts. Anderson will succeed Helen Arnold following her retirement after a 42-year career with Holyoke Medical Center.

Anderson most recently served as president of the Greater Holyoke Chamber of Commerce and its affiliated Centennial Foundation. Prior to that, she served as Holyoke’s Planning and Economic Development director, as well as chief of staff for two Holyoke mayors. She serves on the state Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development’s Economic Assistance Coordinating Council, and chairs both the Holyoke Salvation Army and Economic Development Partners of the Western Mass. Economic Development Council.

“I was born at Holyoke Medical Center, and I began my career at the hospital at the age of 14 in a volunteer position as a candy striper,” Anderson said. “This new role is a wonderful opportunity for me personally to go back to where I started. All of my family members have been cared for at the hospital, and I feel at home at Holyoke Medical Center.”

Holyoke Medical Center Earns Leapfrog Top Hospital Award for Quality, Safety

By
Daily News

HOLYOKE — Highlighting its nationally recognized achievements in patient safety and quality, Holyoke Medical Center was named a Top General Hospital nationally by the Leapfrog Group, a national watchdog organization of employers and other purchasers widely acknowledged as the toughest standard setters for healthcare safety and quality.

“Holyoke Medical Center is proud to once again accept the Top General Hospital award from the Leapfrog Group,” said Spiros Hatiras, president and CEO of Holyoke Medical Center and Valley Health Systems Inc. “With only 29 hospitals receiving this distinction nationally, it speaks volumes about our amazing team members. It is through their dedicated work and devotion to providing the best care and the safest environment for our patients that we receive this recognition.”

More than 2,200 hospitals were considered for the award. Among those, Holyoke Medical Center received a Top General distinction. A total of 105 hospitals were selected as Top Hospitals, including nine Top Children’s Hospitals, 29 Top General Hospitals, 19 Top Rural Hospitals, and 48 Top Teaching Hospitals.

The quality of patient care across many areas of hospital performance is considered in establishing the qualifications for the award, including infection rates, practices for safer surgery, maternity care, and the hospital’s capacity to prevent medication errors.

“Being recognized as a Top Hospital is an extraordinary feat, and we are honored to recognize Holyoke Medical Center this year,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of the Leapfrog Group. “Despite the extraordinary pressure and strain of the COVID-19 pandemic, Holyoke Medical Center has demonstrated an unwavering dedication to patients and to their community. We congratulate the board, staff, and clinicians whose efforts made this honor possible.”

Holyoke Medical Center also received the Top General Hospital recognition from the Leapfrog Group in 2014 and 2016.

People on the Move

By
Departments People on the Move
Lisa Pack

Lisa Pack

Holyoke Medical Center (HMC) announced that Lisa Pack has been named Nurse of the Year by the March of Dimes Massachusetts Chapter in the category of Labor and Delivery. This is the third consecutive year a Holyoke Medical Center nurse has received this elite distinction. “Lisa is highly deserving of this prestigious recognition,” said Spiros Hatiras, president and CEO of HMC and Valley Health Systems Inc. “Holyoke Medical Center prides itself on its exemplary team of professionals such as Lisa, who demonstrate consummate skill and deep compassion in providing critical nursing care.” Added Pack, “I am humbled to be recognized by the March of Dimes to be chosen for this award. I feel blessed to be a member of the Birthing Center staff, where I have now worked for 22 years since it opened. It is a job I love and where we work as a team to support and empower women to have the birth they desire. I am also deeply committed to MotherWoman and postpartum depression, for which I facilitate a weekly support group at Midwifery Care of Holyoke.” Pack will be honored at a reception in the Holyoke Medical Center lobby on Monday, Oct. 26 at 2 p.m.

•••••

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Inc. announced the promotion of Richard Marotta to president of Berkshire Bank and Sean Gray to chief operating officer of the bank. Marotta will be responsible for all aspects of administration, risk, and infrastructure, including people and systems, compliance, and credit. He has been serving Berkshire as executive vice president, chief risk and administrative officer since 2013. Gray will be responsible for the operating teams of the bank, including retail, commercial, small business, home lending, wealth management, and insurance. He has been serving Berkshire as executive vice president, retail banking since 2010. “Richard and Sean are results-driven, high-integrity leaders that have been integral to the growth of this company, and this promotion reflects their contributions. As we continue to execute on our strategic vision, their leadership and ability is increasingly important to our success,” said Michael Daly, CEO of the bank and the company. Additionally, the bank promoted three executives — George Bacigalupo, Josephine Iannelli, and Linda Johnston — to senior executive vice president, while promoting eight others to the executive team, broadening the responsibilities of these leaders and creating a more effective operating structure. They are Michael Carroll, executive vice president, chief risk and credit officer; James Curran, executive vice president, regional commercial leader, Central Mass. and Connecticut; Mark Foster, executive vice president, regional commercial leader, Eastern Mass. and ABL; Tami Gunsch, executive vice president, retail banking; Scott Houghtaling, executive vice president, regional commercial leader, New York; Allison O’Rourke, executive vice president, investor relations and financial institution banking; Deborah Stephenson, executive vice president, compliance and regulatory; and Gary Urkevich, executive vice president, IT and project management.

•••••

Miranda Rowe

Miranda Rowe

United Personnel announced the promotion of staff member Miranda Rowe. Formerly an administrative coordinator in United Personnel’s main office in Springfield, Rowe has been promoted to a recruiter. In her new role, she will be assisting United’s Light Industrial and Professional divisions in sourcing and interviewing candidates. She will also oversee community-outreach activities including off-site recruitment, attending job fairs, and working with training programs to place graduates.

•••••

St. Germain Investment Management announced the hiring of Richard Bleser as vice president and portfolio manager, and Thaddeus Welch as portfolio manager. Bleser manages investment portfolios, assists with trading, and performs analytical duties on both the fixed-income and equity sides. He brings experience and knowledge in fund analysis and portfolio management. He was previously the chief investment officer at Berkshire Bank in Pittsfield. While
at Meridian Capital Partners Inc., he was responsible for macroeconomic, S&P 500, and hedge-fund analysis. Prior to Meridian, Bleser was an equity analyst with Paradigm Capital Management Inc., where he generated long- and short-investment ideas in the small-cap specialty retail, leisure, and technology-distribution sectors. He began his career as a client analyst with Ayco Co., a Goldman Sachs Company. Active within the community, he has been involved with nonprofits and is also a trustee for the Berkshire Housing [401(k)] Plan. He holds bachelor’s degrees in economics and business administration from the State University of New York at Albany. Welch is responsible for managing trading activities and performing fundamental economic and sector research to assist in investment strategy development. He comes to the firm from Berkshire Bank in Pittsfield, where he managed portfolios in addition to providing analysis and research on market, corporate, and economic activities. Prior to Berkshire Bank, Welch was an assistant portfolio manager and a member of the investment committee at Spinnaker Trust in Portland, Maine. He received his bachelor’s degree in economics from Bowdoin College. He has completed all three levels of the CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) program.

•••••

Beetle Press, a public-relations and communications firm in Easthampton, recently welcomed Ruby Dillon to the team to serve as an editorial assistant. Dillon earned a bachelor’s degree in public relations this year from Champlain College in Vermont. While in college, she served as a PR intern for a mission-driven nonprofit that provides respite for cancer patients by giving them a therapeutic sail on Lake Champlain. Through this experience, Dillon realized her passion for standing behind a cause and has since worked to promote various nonprofits. Janice Beetle, principal of Beetle Press, said Dillon is a key Beetle Press partner, handling the development of press releases and overseeing internal writing and web projects as well.

•••••

Leesa Wallace

Leesa Wallace

Kevin Matheny

Kevin Matheny

The Employers Assoc. of the NorthEast announced that Leesa Wallace has joined EANE as its new director of Learning & Development, and Kevin Matheny will serve as the new controller. Wallace will spearhead the EANE learning and development offerings, designing and customizing a diverse array of more than 500 substantive training programs each year. She replaces Susan Miller, who served in the role of director of Learning & Development for more than 18 years. Wallace is a learning strategist, guiding individuals, teams, and organizations to help them identify their most critical needs and create solutions that have real impact. She helps strengthen the capacity of individual contributors, creates clarity and collaboration on teams, and teaches leaders how to engage and tap into the potential of their people. Matheny has more than 15 years of progressive management experience across a broad range of business functions and industry segments including manufacturing, property management, financial services, and not-for-profit. He guides EANE with a combination of talent, technical knowledge, and business acumen in all reporting, operations, internal controls, and compliance areas. He replaces Paul Correia, who will assume full-time responsibility for membership as the new director of Member Relations. With a focus on maximizing revenues via budgeting and other strategic initiatives, Matheny, a certified public accountant, is known for his ability to manage costs through improved efficiencies and the elimination of redundancies. He has increased profitability by seeking out lower-cost solutions, implementing stricter purchasing protocols, and reducing overhead costs.

•••••

Springfield Technical Community College (STCC) recently named Beth McGinnis-Cavanaugh the recipient of the Anthony M. Scibelli Endowed Chair and Gary Masciadrelli and Paul Thornton recipients of the Joseph J. Deliso Sr. Endowed Chairs. Each year, STCC faculty are nominated for an endowed chair by their colleagues and then invited to apply. Applications are reviewed by an award-selection committee composed of faculty and staff. Winners are then selected by the STCC Foundation executive committee. The awards include a $3,000 grant given to each recipient, half of which is applied to professional development for the recipient and half of which is given to the recipient’s academic department. The Anthony M. Scibelli Endowed Chair was established in 1992 to recognize and foster faculty excellence. McGinnis-Cavanaugh, professor of Physics and Civil Engineering, will donate her funds to STCC’s chapter of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) to fund service projects and cover event costs. She is the faculty advisor to the chapter, which she created last year. Established in 1993 by the family of industrialist Joseph J. Deliso Sr., the Deliso Endowed Chair is awarded annually by the STCC Foundation in recognition of excellence in teaching. Masciadrelli, a professor and department chair in Mechanical Engineering Technology, will use the award funds to update software in his department to an industry standard product called PC-DMIS for coordinate-measuring machines. Thornton, professor and tri-chair of Business Administration, said award funds will be used to purchase a new printer and flip charts for his department as well as a set of multi-walkers which will be used in team-building exercises with his students.

•••••

Dani Klein Williams, owner and lead photographer at Dani Fine Photography, was approached earlier this year by Amherst Media Publications about creating a book, set to be released in early 2016, focusing on the art and business of boudoir photography. Covering an array of topics in keeping with this theme, the book will comprise practical business advice as well as the step-by-step photographic techniques used by a successful professional photographer. For updates and more information on the progress of this project, follow the studio on Instagram and Facebook.

•••••

The Gilded Lily Florist, a Sixteen Acres business for more than 30 years, announced a new owner, Brian Grisel. A Springfield resident, Grisel began working in a flower shop during his teens and is currently a floral designer with more than three decades of experience. Previous clients include Katherine Hepburn, Andy Williams, Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King, Barbara Bush, Conan O’Brien, Mikhail Baryshnikov and Rudolph Nureyev, Lee Radziwill (sister of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis), the Baroness Philippine de Rothschild, Princess Maria Trubetskaya, Princess Irina Bagration, Countess Sophia Cheremteff, the Baroness Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza, as well as several previous governors of Connecticut and local politicians and corporate heads.

Lisa Pack Named March of Dimes Labor and Delivery Nurse of the Year

By
Daily News

HOLYOKE — Lisa Pack of Holyoke Medical Center has been named Nurse of the Year by the March of Dimes Massachusetts Chapter in the category of Labor and Delivery. This is the third consecutive year a Holyoke Medical Center nurse has received this elite distinction.

“Lisa is highly deserving of this prestigious recognition,” said Spiros Hatiras, president and CEO of HMC and Valley Health Systems Inc. “Holyoke Medical Center prides itself on its exemplary team of professionals such as Lisa, who demonstrate consummate skill and deep compassion in providing critical nursing care.”

Added Pack, “I am humbled to be recognized by the March of Dimes to be chosen for this award. I feel blessed to be a member of the Birthing Center staff, where I have now worked for 22 years since it opened. It is a job I love and where we work as a team to support and empower women to have the birth they desire. I am also deeply committed to MotherWoman and postpartum depression, for which I facilitate a weekly support group at Midwifery Care of Holyoke.”

Pack will be honored at a reception in the Holyoke Medical Center lobby on Monday, Oct. 26 at 2 p.m.

The Nurse of the Year Awards is a statewide event that recognizes exceptional nurses, creates awareness of professional excellence, and promotes the future of the nursing profession, while helping to advance the mission of the March of Dimes. The selection committee reviewed applications in the categories of Advanced Practice, Community Health, Public Health, Education, Neonatal, Nurse Researcher, Administration, Pediatric, Family Medicine, Women’s Health, Student Nurse, Maternal/Newborn, Labor and Delivery, and Antepartum. More than 75 finalists emerged, and 17 were chosen to receive top honors in the various categories.

News

Contact

Advertise

Events