Improving Access to Health – Synergy Initiative Round 3

The Health Foundation provided over $900,000 to the Improving Access to Health project. Milford Regional Medical Center (MRMC) identified concerns about access to primary care in its service area and the impact it was having on the emergency department. MRMC brought together a group of community organizations that determined that a community health center would improve local access. The Edward M. Kennedy Community Health Center, which was already seeing several hundred patients from the Milford area at its Worcester and Framingham sites, agreed to construct a satellite in Milford.

  • Milford Regional Medical Center (MRMC) identified concerns about access to primary care in its service area and the impact it was having on the emergency department. MRMC brought together a group of community organizations that determined that a community health center would improve local access. The Edward M. Kennedy Community Health Center, which was already seeing several hundred patients from the Milford area at its Worcester and Framingham sites, agreed to construct a satellite in Milford.
  • Funding from The Health Foundation, together with $400,000 from the MetroWest Health Foundation, enabled the construction of a satellite health center in Milford, which opened in March 2014.
  • In the first year, more than 3,800 patients (over 13,000 visits) were seen for primary care services. Of these, approximately 500 patients transferred from the health centers in either Framingham or Worcester, freeing up access at those sites. As of 2020, the health center serves around 5,000 patients a year and grew from 7,000 visits in 2014 to 15,000 visits in 2019.