Heywood Hospital

After months of discussions, UMass Memorial Health in Worcester and Milford Regional Medical Center have signed a definitive agreement for corporate affiliation, allowing the struggling MetroWest hospital to receive support from Central Massachusetts’ largest healthcare system. 

Heywood Healthcare leaders have worked in the last several months to right-size its operations amid an ongoing bankruptcy, said co-CEO Rozanna Penney, but Monday marked a day of regeneration for the Gardner-based health system.

Heywood Hospital in Gardner will reopen its inpatient mental health unit on Jan. 11, after having closed the facility in October 2021.

“I’ve never been as worried about health care as I am right now."

Heywood Urgent Care and parent company Heywood Healthcare, which has filed for bankruptcy, are dialing back urgent care offerings at the 266 Main St. location in Gardner. Starting in December, the office will no longer accept same-day walk-in patients for the general public.

S&F Concrete Contractors, a corporation based in Hudson, is suing a number of local companies over claims of unpaid work.

Less than a month after removing its CEO, Heywood Hospital in Gardner is pausing construction on its surgical pavilion.

Heywood Healthcare in Gardner is replacing the CEO who has led the hospital system for 12 years, citing the changing healthcare landscape and the need to continue meeting its community's goals.

The Leapfrog Group, a Washington D.C. based healthcare watchdog nonprofit, has released its biannual Hospital Safety Grade scores, giving one Central Massachusetts hospital an A rating while another received the second-lowest D rating.

Months after Heywood Healthcare, one of the few Central Massachusetts independent community healthcare systems, entered formal non-binding discussions to affiliate with UMass Memorial Health of Worcester, the merger has been called off.