Outpatient center touted as new approach to health care delivery
BY RICK FOSTER SUN CHRONICLE STAFF
Sunday, January 4, 2009 2:29 AM EST
CT scanner. (Staff photos by Martin Gavin)
FOXBORO -- When the new Brigham and Women's-Massachusetts General Health Care Center opens early next month at Patriot Place, its creators say, it will offer state-of-the-art diagnostic care and treatment with a difference.
The four-story, $43 million outpatient center won't just have a spare-no-expense imaging department with a high-tech MRI system, four day surgery operating rooms and services spanning everything from primary care to dermatology.
It will offer all of those services plus therapy, pain management, follow-up care and even a pharmacy under one roof.
Previously, says health center Medical Director for Primary Care Dr. David Faling, patients who needed specific kinds of care or rehabilitation often were referred to outside clinics or specialists. With the new center, a patient recovering from orthopedic surgery might have his or her rehab just down the hall at the center's in-house rehabilitation clinic.
"It means a lot that if one of my patients has a specific need, I can get them in there right away," said Faling, one of several primary care physicians who will work at the center located virtually in the shadow of Gillette Stadium.
Waiting area
There will also be a large number of other doctors, specialists and technicians either based locally or seeing patients either in Foxboro or in Boston.
About 30 physician specialists from Brigham and Women's and Mass General will be rotating through the Foxborough Center once it opens. An initial complement of 70 non-physician employees is expected to rise to about 85 by next year, a hospital spokeswoman said. About 30 of the new staff members come from the Foxboro area.
The new health care building was designed from the ground up to take advantage of similarity in functions. An orthopedic suite, for instance, is located next to the rehabilitation center. A laboratory used by a technician to process samples for pathology is located close by the operating suite.
Throughout, the new center uses the latest in available technology.
The center's advanced imaging department includes a 3 Tesla MRI system, described as the most powerful scanner currently on the market, clinic officials said. Images obtained by the MRI can result in more accurate diagnosis and performs studies quicker than conventional apparatus. Other imaging services at the health care center will include X-ray, CT scans, mammography and ultrasound.
"The Center is one of the few health care providers in the state to possess this level of sophistication in magnetic resonance imaging services," said Cynthia Peterson, administrative director for the center.
In addition, the center features a paperless medical record system in which patients' data can be viewed electronically and communicated to specialists or other hospitals for immediate consultations.
Other medical services that will be provided at the center include primary care, general surgery, plastic surgery, sports medicine, cardiology, cardiac diagnostics, dermatology, women's health and rheumatology.
The mammography room.
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