Health Care

Southbridge-based Harrington HealthCare and Heywood Healthcare in Gardner have formed a new company that will allow the systems to pool and manage their patients' care, giving them an advantage in negotiating risk-based contracts with insurers.

The Massachusetts Health Connector Wednesday announced 15 organizations across the commonwealth, including one in Worcester, will receive grants totaling close to $1.5 million and serve as “navigators”: community-based experts that will help consumers sign up for health care during the upcoming fall enrollment period.

Reliant Medical Group of Worcester is closing its 11 EasyCare pharmacies within its Central Massachusetts facilities next week after selling the pharmacy operations to CVS, the organizations announced.

A state agency has checked off on UMass Memorial Health Care's sale of Wing Memorial Hospital in Palmer to Baystate Health of Springfield, clearing the way for the transaction.

Reliant Medical Group of Worcester and Southboro Medical Group are looking to merge, potentially creating an organization of more than 300 physicians that would serve about 300,000 patients throughout Central Massachusetts, the organizations announced Tuesday.

By the end of this year people in Marlborough who are nowhere near a hospital emergency room will have another option to get fractured bones set or have wounds sutured. They'll be at the Doctors Express Urgent Care clinic on Rte. 20, where patients with less-serious ailments will be able to walk in without an appointment seven days a week, and walk out within an hour, according to the company. Doctors Express, a national chain of more than 50 walk-in clinics, is in the process of remodeling 4,000 square feet of office vacant space in a retail area that also includes a liquor store and a 99 restaurant. When they're finished, the facility will include nine exam rooms, x-ray equipment and a lab for medical tests.

AFC Doctors Express, a nationwide urgent care franchise, plans to open its second Central Massachusetts location in Marlborough.

Registered nurses across the UMass Memorial Health Care system delivered a letter Thursday to CEO Eric Dickson objecting to staffing and service cuts.

More than 120 registered nurses at Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer have voted overwhelmingly to join the state's largest nurses' union, the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA), the union said. The 123 RNs at the hospital, owned by Steward Healthcare, cast their ballots last week.

The Tufts Health Plan Foundation has announced more than $1.6 million in new funding to 43 Massachusetts and Rhode Island-based organizations, including two from Worcester, as part of its first cycle of funding for 2014.