VA Central Western Massachusetts Healthcare System

A Veteran enters the VA Community-Based Outpatient Clinic on Oct. 3, 2011 on the first official day of the Worcester clinic realignment as part of the VA Central Western Massachusetts Healthcare System. Worcester joined the system along with the Fitchburg outpatient clinic.

WORCESTER, Mass., Oct. 3, 2011 – The VA Community-Based Outpatient Clinics in Worcester and Fitchburg joined the VA Central Western Massachusetts Healthcare System on Oct. 1.

The clinics were formerly assigned to VA Bedford Medical Center and the VA Boston Healthcare System, respectively.

The two clinics will join outpatient clinics in Springfield, Greenfield and Pittsfield as part of the regional system, headquartered at the Northampton VA Medical Center in Leeds, Mass.

On Monday, Roger Johnson, director of VA Central Western Massachusetts, greeted employees arriving for work at the Worcester clinic and then met with employees in the afternoon at the Fitchburg clinic to review upcoming milestones for the new system.

“It was an opportunity to welcome the staff in Worcester and Fitchburg to our team, to thank them for their hard work in achieving this realignment,” said Johnson.

With the realignment of the five clinics and the medical center in Northampton, the population of Veterans served in central and western Massachusetts combined totals more than 120,000 Veterans, said Johnson.

The combined Veteran population places the healthcare system on par with similar size regions in other parts of New England and throughout the nation, said Roger Johnson, director of the newly named system.

Although the realignment has resulted in an administrative transfer of responsibilities, the actual integration of Veteran medical records and other clinical data for patient care will not occur until early 2012 to provide enough lead time for computer files to be transferred. 

The goal is to make the move as transparent as possible for patients.

“Our Veterans receive excellent patient care and not one Veteran has seen anything different with this realignment in the care they receive,” said Steve Cohen, business manager at the Worcester clinic.

The realignment will, over time, however, result in a greater concentration of services for Veterans living in this part of the state.  Adding specialty care services such as audiology are under consideration for the Worcester clinic. 
Veterans will be able to keep their current providers and can choose where they travel for services, although the realignment is expected to improve access to care providers by making more services available where Veterans reside.

“Instead of traveling into Boston for appointments, our goal is that Veterans will be able to visit clinics in central and western Massachusetts when and where it makes practical sense,” said Johnson.