“This is actually not a surprise to me what’s happening,” said Richard Ellison, MD, an infectious disease specialist at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester. “Pretty much the entire world is saying that Covid has gone away. This remains a very contagious virus.”

At UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, President Michael Gustafson, MD, said the system is increasing the number of employees on its financial counseling team to assist patients who may see a loss of coverage. "This is a substantial amount of work that needs to be done," he told Becker's. "We are staying current with all communications from MassHealth [Medicaid], Mass Hospital Association and CMS.

The testing site on Front Street in Worcester run by UMass Memorial Health is among those set to close on March 31. The decision is due to a drop in demand for COVID-19 testing, the state DPH said. UMass said it will continue to offer free testing at the Front Street site through March 30 for anyone ages 6 months or older. No appointment is required.

DeAnna Pedro, a liaison between pediatrics and psychiatry at UMass Memorial Medical Center, reviewed Haley’s report and considered recommending time in a psychiatric unit. “She was doing a lot of high-risk things,” Pedro said. “So there was a lot of thought given to: Would we need to go to something extreme like a psychiatric admission?”

WORCESTER, MA — A COVID-19 and flu shot site at the Mercantile Center will no longer offer the vaccines starting this week, according to the Worcester Division of Public Health.

The UMass Memorial-run site was one of four main weekly vaccine clinics in Worcester. The Mercantile Center site will still offer free PCR testing for COVID-19. The cessation of vaccines will take effect Thursday.

UMass Memorial Health Care is the beneficiary of over $1.2 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Recently, FEMA announced UMass Memorial Health, which is headquartered in Worcester, had been awarded a $1,215,687 Public Assistance grant, for the steps the health care system took between November 2020 and March 2022 to keep patients, staff and the public safe.

In her role as secretary, Walsh will also sit on the state’s Health Policy Commission, and will have to navigate her ties to the hospital industry while the commission pursues price caps for the highest-priced providers — an effort to constrain health care spending growth.

Her knowledge of the industry won’t mean she will forgo pressing hospitals for change, said Dr. Eric Dickson, CEO of UMass Memorial Health.

“Every minute [without CPR] that goes by, survival drops 10 percent,” said Dr. Joseph Sabato Jr., an associate professor at University of Massachusetts Medical School, retired emergency physician, and medical director of 911 telecommunications for UMass Medical Center.

Forbes released its "America's Best Employers by State" list Aug. 24, and 262 hospitals and health systems made the cut. 

Fair pay, safe working conditions, inclusive culture, remote work benefits and diversity initiatives were among Forbes' criteria.