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WORCESTER, Mass. - Worcester health leaders are urging masking, vaccination and other precautions as cases of the flu, RSV, and COVID-19 rise. 

They are also urging residents to take precautions to stay safe, avoid surges and prevent further strain on local and regional hospital systems. 

Dr. Larry Rhein said he used to be able to set his clock to spikes in respiratory syncytial virus, known as RSV. Cases used to spike in mid-October and all but disappeared by April. But Rhein, the head of pediatrics at Worcester's UMass Memorial Children’s Medical Center, says that seasonality seems to be shifting — and more kids are getting severely ill.

For years, Melissa Almeida, 48, managed her Type 2 diabetes by herself…Almeida turned to a diabetes care coach program from UMass Memorial Health, which helped her establish a plan to gradually improve her medication regimen.

Dr. Eric Dickson, chief executive of UMass Memorial Health, said three factors are driving up spending: administrative waste, drug prices and labor costs. “If we don't address those root causes, we will not do anything to the cost of health care in this country or in the state,” Dickson told the commission.

Worcester healthcare providers UMass Memorial Health and Reliant Medical Group, along with insurer Fallon Health, have been selected to four of the 17 MassHealth accountable care organizations, meaning they will be responsible for quality, cost, and member experience for MassHealth participants.

UMass Memorial Medical Center president Michael Gustafson said the hospital has about 800 beds and 500 of them are for adult med-surge patients. These additional 91 beds are about a 19% increase.

"91 beds are desperately needed," Gustafson said. "We have many days that we are starting days with patients waiting in our emergency departments waiting for beds. So this will provide a great relief and also the ability for us to get more patients transferred in to the medical center from outlying hospitals."

WORCESTER, Mass. - Sen. Ed Markey made a stop on the campus of UMass Chan Medical School Tuesday morning, where he toured the recently opened Veterans Administration Building.

The 48,000 square foot community-based outpatient clinic is equipped to serve more than 16,000 enrolled veterans in Worcester County.

An estimated 19,000 acute care jobs in hospitals are unfilled, according to the Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association...

The Federal Emergency Management Agency will be sending nearly $4.7 million to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to reimburse UMass Memorial Health Care, Inc. for the costs of testing, acquiring equipment and hiring temporary staff during the COVID-19 pandemic.