Foxborough Ambulatory Center Celebrates Firsts

Surgeons are raving about the efficiencies and commitment to safety in the Day Surgery Unit in Foxborough.

Years of planning, dedication and teamwork culminated in early February when several firsts were achieved at Brigham and Women’s/Mass General Health Care Center at Patriot Place in Foxborough.

Greg Milane of North Easton was one of the first patients to visit the center when he received the first CT scan; Therese DeMarco of Mansfield was among the first patients of the Multi-Specialty Clinic; and Stan Ashley, MD, vice chair of Surgery, along with Michael Zinner, MD, chief of Surgery at BWH, and team, performed the first surgery—a hernia operation—in one of the four operating rooms in the Day Surgery Unit (DSU).

“The surgical staff includes some of our senior surgeons, who have seen many patients from this area in Boston,” Zinner said. “By having both consultation and OR time at this new center, our surgeons will be able to treat patients closer to their homes.”

BWH, MGH and Partners leadership celebrated the opening of this four-story ambulatory care center with events for referring physicians, project leaders and staff. On Feb. 9, hospital staff and leadership, the Kraft family, civic leaders and friends gathered to cut a ceremonial ribbon marking the opening of the center.

“This center is part of our commitment to our community of patients and a chance to extend our hand of care closer to where our patients live,” said BWH President Gary Gottlieb, MD, MBA, during the celebration, adding that more than 35,000 current patients of BWH and MGH live in the Foxborough area. “If we can save a patient a trip to Boston, that is one of our goals.”

There are plenty of services for patients to visit. In addition to the DSU, which has four ORs and 16 pre- and post-op beds, the new facility features a multi-specialty clinic, a full-service imaging suite, clinical labs and pharmacy on site. The primary care practice, previously in Norwood, opened with availability to take on new patients.

“We are working to build a new type of practice in Foxborough, and we’re looking at the medical home model,” said David Faling, MD, medical director of the practice.

Stuart Pollack, MD, joined BWH from the Fallon Clinic, where he served as chair of internal medicine and regional director. He is leading the efforts to incorporate the elements of the medical home into the Foxborough primary care practice, such as hiring a nurse practitioner and social worker to build the team that will care for the patient.

“We hope to create a better system for our patients, physicians and staff,” Pollack said.

Partners High Performance Medicine and a system-wide commitment to electronic medical records, such as BWH’s use of the LMR, serve as a good foundation for incorporating elements of the medical home into practice enabling clinicians to better manage their patient populations.

Staff will identify patients with chronic illnesses, such as diabetes, and make sure those patients remain active in their care, current with their medications and don’t miss any appointments. Medical assistants will work other clinicians to input reminders for mammograms and other routine screenings in the LMR, too.

“Primary care physicians will lead a team approach to a patient’s care and proactive management,” Pollack said.

The Day Surgery Unit (DSU) also comes with an operational plan that diverges from the way things are done at the main campuses of BWH and MGH, and even community hospitals. There is a very strict set of exclusion criteria that prevents patients who may present complications during a day surgery procedure from actually having that procedure.

“We run through a long questionnaire with all of our patients, and if there are any concerns early in the process, we suggest to the patient that he or she would be better treated at the Brigham, Faulkner or MGH,” said Bill Dylewsky, MD, director of Day Surgery.

Surgeons are raving about the highly-efficient DSU.

“The staff is enormously accommodating when it comes to figuring out preferences each surgeon may have, and there’s a lot of energy and a communal focus on making the OR efficient,” said hand and microvascular surgeon Philip Blazar, MD.

Blazar has led the Foxborough team in completing several kinds of surgery cases, including wrist arthroscopy, carpel tunnel release, distal radius fracture, tumor removals and ulnar nerve surgeries. He will continue operating in Foxborough twice a month “at a minimum” performing six cases each day.

The DSU staff are equally as committed to patient safety as they are to efficiencies and fast turn-around time, said Andreas H. Gomoll, MD, an orthopedic surgeon in BWH’s Cartilage Repair Center who operates and sees patients in Foxborough every other Wednesday. “It’s very well staffed, and even though the day’s cases are performed at such a fast pace, the nurses, anesthesiologists and the entire team adhere to built-in safety measures to ensure the correct limb, correct procedure,” he said.

The state-of-the-art facility offers General Surgery, Plastic Surgery, Orthopedic Surgery, Colorectal Surgery, Sports Medicine, Rehabilitation Services, Cardiology, Cardiac Diagnostics, Dermatology, Diagnostic Imaging, Women’s Imaging, including digital mammography, breast ultrasound and bone density measurement, Rheumatology, Pain Management and Physiatry.

And there is a full array of services to support care delivered to patients of the many specialties. Diagnostic imaging equipment includes a 3.0-Tesla MRI system, X-Ray, CT, Nuclear Medicine, mammography and ultrasound. Pharmacy services fulfill needs of all patients, whether there for surgery, a consult in the Multi-specialty Clinic or the primary care practice. Phlebotomy and Clinical Labs are available on site, with telepathology services available.

And there remains room for additional specialists and specialties in the Multi-specialty Clinic, said Cynthia Peterson, Foxborough’s administrative director. “We are analyzing what services and other practices would complement the services in place in our facility and the Foxborough region,” she said.

In some early reviews, both physicians and patients on the Multi-specialty Clinic praised the professionalism and capability of the front desk staff and medical assistants.

“The staff at the front desk are polite, helpful, friendly and accommodating, and my patients are constantly praising them,” said Joan Spiegel, MD, a dermatologist now practicing in Foxborough. “Our medical assistants are delightful and interested in everything, learn incredibly quickly and are so wonderful to work with.”

Key Contacts at Brigham and Women’s/Mass General Health Care Center at Patriot Place

Primary Care</p>

David Faling, MD
dfaling@partners.org
508-718-4050
Day Surgery Unit
William Dylewsky, MD
wdylewsky@partners.org
617-732-8222
Or 508-718-4055

Foxborough Administrative Director
Cynthia L. Peterson
clpeterson@partners.org
(508) 718-4310
Multi-specialty Clinic Practice Manager
Suzanne Duffy
sduffy3@partners.org
508-718-4573