UMass Memorial, Harrington to join behavioral health forces
Nathan Fiske
Harrington HealthCare System's President and CEO Ed Moore stands in front of some of the new equipment at the Oxford site during a tour.
Responding to concerns from the state about access to inpatient psychiatric care in Central Massachusetts, UMass Memorial Health Care announced a formal partnership with Harrington HealthCare in Southbridge.
UMass Memorial will shuttle patients twice a day to various hospitals, including Harrington, where they can receive inpatient psychiatric services if UMass Memorial is at full capacity, according to a letter to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health written last week by a lawyer for the Worcester healthcare network.
UMass Memorial plans to close 13 of its 27 inpatient psychiatric beds in its 8 East Unit and convert them for medical/surgical use on June 1, as scheduled.
In its letter, UMass Memorial maintained despite the bed closures, it will be able to care for medically-complex psychiatric patients. About 70 percent of patients admitted to the unit do not require complex medical care, and can get what they need at a freestanding psychiatric facility without medical supports, according to the letter.
UMass Memorial doesn’t intend to transfer any medically complex psychiatric patients to its listed alternative sites, the letter said. It estimates 1.2 patients per day will have to be transferred elsewhere.
Harrington HealthCare has two existing behavioral health units -- a 14-bed unit at its main campus in Southbridge, and a 16-bed unit at a satellite location in Webster. On average, Harrington has 8-10 open beds per day, according to UMass Memorial.
The shuttle, which will run twice a day for six months, will also run to TaraVista Behavioral Health Center in Devens -- which has a 14-bed agreement with UMass Memorial -- and to a new facility opening this summer in Westborough.
“When coupled with the 14-beds we previously formalized with TaraVista, we are extremely confident in the ability of hospitals in Central Massachusetts to care for patients in need of psychiatric services,” UMass Memorial said.
Plans to close the 13 beds were announced in February. DPH is concerned about the bed closures, saying in a May 8 letter that UMass Memorial failed to show how it would meet the region’s behavioral health needs without the 13 beds. UMass Memorial previously said it would shuttle patients to and from TaraVista twice a week.
The Massachusetts Nurses Association opposes the bed closures, as does the Worcester City Council. David Schildmeier, director of communications for the Massachusetts Nurses Association, said that the plan forces patients to travel long distances, which is particularly difficult for poor people or those who don’t have adequate transportation.
Both TaraVista and Harrington’s main campus are roughly 30-40 minutes away, and Harrington’s Webster campus is a 25 minute drive.
The amount of shuttle service available is the only improved part of the latest plan from UMass Memorial, he said.
"We continue to believe this is an appalling response, and a dangerous plan for the psychiatric community,” he said.
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