Health

The Baldwin Makepeace Emergency Center at Tobey Hospital will open at 12:00am on Wednesday, May 25, Southcoast Health officials announced at a ribbon-cutting ceremony this week. Until 12:00am on May 25, patients seeking emergent care should continue to enter at 43 High Street. After 12:00am on May 25, patients seeking …

Southcoast Health announced today that the not-for-profit community health system’s accountable care organizations (ACOs) – Southcoast Accountable Care Organization (SACO) and Southcoast Community Alliance (Medicaid ACO) – received ACO Certification under the Health Policy Commission’s (HPC) new certification standards known as ACO LEAP 2022-2023. The standards reflect HPC’s focus on …

The Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS) announced Southcoast Health pulmonologist and critical care physician Daniel Sousa, MD, has been selected as the Bristol South District Medical Society’s 2022 Community Clinician of the Year. This award recognizes his professionalism and contributions as a physician. Dr. Sousa has been on the frontlines of …

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health has approved a new room model at the Robert F. Stoico/FIRSTFED Women and Children’s Pavilion at St. Luke’s, making the hospital among the first in Massachusetts and Rhode Island to offer Level II Couplet Care to mothers and newborns, Southcoast Health officials announced. Starting …

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration expanded the approval of the COVID-19 treatment Veklury (remdesivir) to include pediatric patients 28 days of age and older weighing at least 3 kilograms (about 7 pounds) with positive results of direct SARS-CoV-2 viral testing, who are: – Hospitalized, or – Not hospitalized and …

The Baker-Polito Administration today announced an additional $4.5 million in grants to organizations working in communities hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. This funding is a component of the Massachusetts Vaccine Equity Initiative to increase awareness and access to the COVID-19 vaccine and mitigate the impacts of the pandemic. The …

Following updated recommendations from the federal government, the Baker-Polito Administration today announced that all residents aged 50 and older or individuals who are younger with certain medical conditions may now access a second COVID-19 booster. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday recommended that certain immunocompromised …

Southcoast Behavioral Health (“ScBH”) today reinforced its strong commitment to the communities it serves through the addition of a dedicated child and adolescent behavioral health program, expanding the service line from 24 to 48 beds. This is the second bed expansion since the hospital’s opening in 2015. The first expansion …

The Baker-Polito Administration today filed comprehensive health care legislation to strengthen the Commonwealth’s health care system by increasing access to care and controlling costs for Massachusetts families. The bill would increase investments in behavioral health and primary care through a new spending target for health care providers and payers. It …

Beginning Monday, March 14, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) will update the criteria used for identifying COVID-19 deaths to align with guidance from the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists. Currently, the COVID death definition includes anyone who has COVID listed as a cause of death on their …