HealthAlliance Hospital

UMass Memorial Health of Worcester announced on Tuesday it helped create a new TeamBirth partnership with Wellesley insurer Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Boston health center Ariadne Labs to launch a new initiative at the UMass hospitals in Leominster and Worcester, aimed at improving maternal health and birth outcomes.

Heywood Healthcare and UMass Memorial Health Care are joining to help study the health needs of 29 cities and towns across northern Central Massachusetts.

Steve Roach, the interim president of UMass Memorial HealthAlliance-Clinton Hospital, which has its main offices in Leominster, has been named to the position on a permanent basis.

UMass Memorial Health Care, the largest employer in Central Massachusetts, plans to have all of its health providers vaccinated against coronavirus by mid-February, a period of roughly two months.

HealthAlliance's hospitals in Leominster and Clinton are outsourcing their cafeteria work but will keep all workers employed.

Four hospitals in Central Massachusetts received an A for safety in twice-a-year reviews by a national group on Monday.

Central Massachusetts hospitals generally struggled to reach a break-even point financially despite millions of dollars in federal aid meant to help during the coronavirus pandemic.

The coronavirus pandemic has been not only a health challenge to hospitals in Central Massachusetts and beyond, but also a financial one. Fortunately for the larger Central Massachusetts hospitals, they came into 2020 with healthy financials.

After a small spike in confirmed Worcester County coronavirus cases at the end of July and the start of August, the number of positive tests is again on the decline, falling for the last two weeks.

In Massachusetts, it's all but impossible to top any hospital ranking if you're not Massachusetts General Hospital or Boston Children's Hospital.