Latest on Healthcare in Massachusetts

​In Massachusetts emergency medical services, few names are as established across the South Shore and South Coast as Brewster Ambulance Service. However, a federal lawsuit—James Spencer Jr. v. Brewster Ambulance Service, Inc. (Case No. 1:26-cv-13793), filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts—is putting private EMS compensation practices back under the microscope. ​While the formal complaint was recently docketed, records and worker consent signatures date back over the past year, showing that concerns over pay structures, shift differentials, and overtime calculations have been building behind the scenes for quite some time. ​Here is an objective breakdown of what the filing alleges, how FLSA overtime works in EMS, and why this matters to the broader healthcare community across our region. ​What Is the Dispute About? ​The lawsuit centers on alleged violations of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) regarding how overtime rates are calculated for field perso...

Massachusetts has long been one of the more aggressive states when it comes to creative Medicaid financing. Well, the federal government just put a stop to one of the biggest tools in that toolbox, and the effects here in the Commonwealth could be significant. On April 3rd, 2026 — this past Thursday — a major new rule from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) officially went into effect. The rule, called the “Preserving Medicaid Funding for Vulnerable Populations – Closing a Health Care-Related Tax Loophole” final rule, targets a specific financing mechanism in which seven states imposed higher taxes on Medicaid Managed Care Organizations (MCOs) than on commercial plans, in order to trigger larger federal matching dollars. Massachusetts is one of those seven states. So what exactly was the “loophole”? To understand this, you have to understand how Medicaid funding works at a basic level. Under federal law, states are allowed to levy taxes on their providers — includin...

Recently Steward Hospital Group has announced that it will be auctioning off all of it's 31 properties as it has been struggled to pay off the debts it owes to a tune of approximately $9 billion. As of now, there is a lot of talk and speculation, especially here in the Bay State of which hospitals already have interested buyers. The Good Samaritan Hospital in Brockton and St. Anne's in Fall River seem to be two of the more appealing to some neighboring hospitals to look to acquire with in the short term. As of right now though, concern seems to be coming from those patients who are having the short term needs and appointments specifically with MRI and CT scans. Staff at Steward's Haverhill hospital have already made it know that there equipment has been "reposessed." Concerns about the debt Steward owe also extends to Fresenius Dialysis patients and other routine scheduled imaging and routine outpatient services. Steward Hospital Group operates 8 hospitals within ...

 December 2023 - Alert Ambulance awarded a 5 year contract with the VA hospitals in Massachusetts.  Previously this contract was with Brewster Ambulance headquartered in Weymouth, MA. The veterans hospitals are a large patient provider with numerous calls each year. Strategically this might have been in Brewsters favor as they calls garnered from these facilities tend to have a wide pull on resources if you are not positioned to take ambulances from outside of Boston and bring them into the city.  Alert may be in a better position to service these calls while also growing there company as they continue to expand their presence outside of Rhode Island.  The contract is a 5 year contract with VA Boston Healthcare.

Back in October 2017,  The Department of Public Health was alerted by Kindred Nursing and Rehabilitation of their closing on Oct. 31. The plan was to close by mid January. January 9th to be precise. Now,  New England Sinai Acute Long-Term Care And Rehabilitation Hospital also in Stoughton has announced their plans to file about the first week of January. By December of 2023, mployees had been urged to start using their PTO up as soon as they can. The facility is part of Steward Healthcare. The company is based out of Dallas, Texas and has other facilities in Massachusetts including Norwood Hospital which has been closed due to flooding back in June of 2020 and Carney Hospital which is also plagued with financial issues. Steward Healthcare operates in 8 states in total and has a large, though shrinking, presence in Massachusetts. New England Sinai has been one of the few specialty facilities of its kind  South of Boston, comparable to the likes Vibra Hosptial out in New Be...

Nursing homes transports have always been a staple of private EMS providers in Massachusetts. Now with rate cuts the lack of working EMTs (has always been an issue) and the larger companies snatching up new resource intensive contracts, the nursing homes are left out as the undesirables now. Nursing homes and skilled nursing facilities patients as well as home dialysis patients are steadily having a harder and harder time finding transportation, a sharp change that has seen large scale effects within the last few years especially. In 2018, the Bipartisan Budget Act, saw EMS companies looking for new opportunities in revenue as ESRD patient reimbursements got cut. While Covid19 sent many business across the country into survival mode as they began loosing money at an alarming pace, EMS companies across Massachusetts found themselves flush with cash as the opportunity to make greater money with a lower call volume presented itself to those business that were able to adapt quickly and tha...

So not going to lie, I was skep tical. I was skeptical about getting the vaccine, even knowing that I had already made up my mind to get it.  My wife, was one of the states earliest cases of the vaccine in the state way back when Trump and many others where still routinely calling it the Wuhan virus or Chinese virus. We had no clue what the virus was about, the media was pushing fear and doom putting everyone in a frenz and there was very little real reliable information out there about what was real and not real with this vaccine. Well all I know still for a fact is my wife got it in bad way. Like a very bad case of Covid that rocked her world  and me... I got nothing. Not even a sniffle even though I was quarantined with her. Shared bed with her, breathed her air kissed her, took that virus in deep in my lungs and had kept constantly exposed to it in the home with her. She recovered, I came out of quarantine. I have had a couple Covid-19 tests and negative I stil...

 Monday 2/22/2021 begins the next phase for Massachusetts residents eligibility to receive the  Coronavirus vaccine. Up until this date we have been working from Governor Baker's Phase 1 vaccination rollout.  So, welcome to Phase 2.  The plan is, with the roll out, to getting the rest of the critical care workers coming face to face with the vaccine as well as those other higher at risks groups. Which places have which vaccines though? Who has the Moderna vaccine and who has the Pfizer vaccine. And more recently, who in Fall River is giving out the new one shot Johnson and Johnson coronavirus vaccine. 

 Yes, that is correct, you read it right. Massachusetts Cape Cod Hospital has accepted Bitcoin! While cryptocurrency users are always more than happy to see any push in making cryptocurrency more mainstream you should not expect to be paying any healthcare bills or going to the hospitals café to grab a coffee or a bite to eat and pay with Bitcoin or any other crypto currency for that matter.  Cape Cod Hospital is a Not-For-Profit Hospital (NPO) that has now received two donations this year totaling $800k dollars. One happened this month, the other happened last month.  Although you can not yet pay in Bitcoin, (BTC) that may soon change as the Senior Vice President and Chief Development officer sees Bitcoin holding a place in the future of currency. 

 Believe it or not, as of the time of last reporting on February 5th there are still some nursing homes in the state of Massachusetts that have not had any confirmed Coronavirus cases.  Each day, care  facilities in the state are required to update their standings on current coronavirus cases. It is easy to believe that every long term care facility and nursing home in the state has had the coronavirus in it. Well while this may be true it is not proven. We do know that asymptomatic cases are common, but one would have to imagine that in these care homes, that if the virus was brought in by someone then it would have to have spread to some of that elderly and at risk population.  Also, the spread of the virus has been found passed from staff members working second jobs to help the corona virus jump from facility to facility. All in all though regardless of what the situation is, these nursing homes and long term care facilities for week ending on February 5th, in Mas...

 Just like the in-house flu shots provided by their employers, Emts and paramedics, will be getting their Coronavirus vaccinations through their employer. Many ambulance companies tend to bring in outside providers into the garages to help encourage their employees to get the vaccine.  CVS and Walgreens techs are also expected to be some of those who will be administering the vaccination to the crews. Public and Private EMS workers will be eligible to receive the vaccine. The cost is free. Many EMS workers were against receiving the vaccination, seems to be less resistance to vaccinating now also it is unclear what companies are now requiring the vaccination as must, to working receive hours. The only question about this now is which employees will be getting which vaccinations they will be receiving and if some EMTs will receive one vaccination while their partner may receive the other how that may effect partners being allowed to work together in the overlap of second dose a...

Moderna's coronavirus vaccinations, in addition to the Pfizer's have been approved for use and each state has the ability to create there own need assessment to determine priority for who gets vaccinations first. Massachusetts has listed nursing home patients to some as some of those who are among that priority list. As such, Monday after Christmas, the 28th is the day that those nursing home residents and healthcare workers can begin receiving the Covid19 vaccinations. While this is good news and many should hopefully agree the wisdom in protecting those who have been the hardest hit population of this new virus, some may still be skeptical. Regardless. as this is viewed a great achievement to have a vaccination already approved and ready to be deployed so quickly, with the green light from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, this does not present with out some logistical challenges. Getting it to the nursing homes, may take some time as the medication still needs to be tra...

Wareham MA - Toby Hospital is slated to close their maternity ward by end of the New Years. The proponents of the plan expect to shift expectant mom's to St. Lukes Hospital in New Bedford. The Department of Health has held a public forum on the matter and locals are dismayed with the news. The announcement came as this years births at the hospital has been down by over 20% this year over last. The number of babies born at the ward has amounted to around 1 per day.

As the death toll of nursing homes continues to rise across the state, Sandpiper healthcare has been added to the list of hospice homes. After Skyline healthcare left many homes in the industry swimming in debt and all but abandoned ship, many had been left managed by other more efficient homes. In the case of Skyline homes in Massachusetts, Vero healthcare stepped in to try and reign in some of the chaos left by Skyline Of course, managing a nursing home is much more lucrative than the actual purchasing of one, as you can be paid to "manage it", without absorbing all of its debts and money management issues. Bedford Gardens and Rockdale nursing home in New Bedford are the first expected to see their doors close. Bedford Village also in New Bedford, is slated to close after those two, later in the month. The last closures of the 5 nursing homes, being managed by a group that also has ties to homes in Boston, are closing as well. Highland Manor in Fall River, is a smal...

Presentation Rehabilitation & Skilled Nursing Center has been purchased by Ascentria Care Alliance Inc. Presentation Rehab is located at 10 Bellamy St. in Boston. The home has 122 beds and participates in Medicare and Medicaid. The home has been rated better than average in recent surveys. Ascentria Care Alliance Inc. operates a wide variety of facilities across the state with their main office located in West Brookflield MA. It operates as a non-profit organization where as Presentation was a for-profit. Presentation Manor

The latest in the ambulance services from the Bay State may actually be happening in the Sunshine state. The word around town is that Brewster Ambulance has bought Concierge Medical Transport base out of Naples Florida. Brewster has large ambitions and have been strategically beating the competition in Massachusetts that has only been accelerated by it's 2016 purchase of the weakened, but still widely known and respected, Eascare Ambulance.

The Holy Family Hospital in Methuen , will be hosting a job fair, in-house, on December 13th from 10am to 3pm. So for any who are looking for a change in careers or to begin a new career next Thursday you should be in attendance with resume in hand. The hospital is showing that it is hiring for many positions, especially those always sought after RN, CNA, and PCA position. Even if you are looking for work outside of those positions and interested in working at the hospital, you are encouraged to attend. The hospital is located at 70 East St. Methuen, MA. Once there, head for the auditorium. Be sure to have your resume and copies of your licenses, if applicable, with you. Good Luck! Methuen Holy Family hospital is part of the Steward Hospital Group.

Vero healthcare nursing and rehabilitation centers in Boston, Massachusetts have been sold. The new ownership appears to stem from Springfield. As such ambulance service agreements have changed hands. Vero nursing and rehabilitation centers in the area changed hands only about a few years ago from Roscommon home ownership.

Mass Bay Community College in Framingham, Massachusetts, has suspended the program for Fall 2019 and is no longer taking any applications. The Massachusetts Board of Nursing has asked the school to make some changes after unfavorable survey results. What those changes are though are still something the school is trying to figure out. The school will work with the Board of Nursing to try and find out where they can improve. At this time all students registered for Spring classes can continue without concern. It was earlier this year that Quincy college had there Nursing Program revoked from the state by findings and warnings that came from the Massachusetts Board of Nursing that went mostly unanswered by the school. Since that time the Quincy nursing program was left to refund it's students tuition after the abrupt end and revocation of its teaching status. It is promising that Framingham's Mass Bay Community College is proactively taking the lead in finding and fixing th...