A Massachusetts health care company is opening new facilities aimed at filling some of the void left by Steward Health Care’s bankruptcy with a new approach to serving seniors.
Gather Health, a primary care provider focused on Medicare patients, cut the ribbon on its Brockton location on Thursday — though the site began accepting patients this summer. Another new Gather Health center in Dorchester began accepting patients Friday.
Both areas saw significant disruption caused by Steward’s financial implosion. In Brockton, Steward ultimately sold Good Samaritan Hospital to a new operator, Boston Medical Center, but Steward closed Carney Hospital in Dorchester after receiving no suitable bids for the facility.
Gather says that’s where they come in.
“Gather is running to the neighborhoods that others are running away from in terms of primary care access,” said Dr. Brent Asplin, the company’s CEO. “We want to be accessible. We want to be part of the community. We want to hire team members from the community.”
With the Brockton and Dorchester centers, Gather Health now has four locations in Massachusetts, with existing clinics in Quincy and Lynn. The Quincy office, the company’s first full-time location, opened in December. Asplin said the company sees a “pathway to 15 primary care centers” across the state in the next four years.
Asplin said Gather Health is partnering with various community organizations in Brockton to ensure its patients are served holistically.
The CEO says not enough focus is being placed on the social barriers to health care and the social aspect of health care is exactly what Gather is focused on.
To illustrate that, Asplin said Gather Health is just as interested in issues such as isolation, which leads to higher rates of stroke and heart disease, as it is in making sure patients are on the right medicine.
“Those are the unique aspects of our model and it’s what we’re really excited to bring to these communities,” Asplin said. “It’s being accessible for primary care, both in the center and in the home. And it’s using technology to find out when patients are having a problem in real time so that we can get there when they need us most and not find out about it three or six months later.”
Patients also receive assistance from a medical technician partner, who are EMT-trained and allow for virtual and in-home care. Within patients’ homes, the technician partners will install appropriate technology. For example, if a patient has heart issues and needs blood pressure cuffs or other readouts in their home, a technician will install that technology for them.
These kinds of services aren’t the norm among primary care providers, according to Gather Health co-founder Rob Pahlavan.
“This is all things that we offer on top of what we feel like is also great primary care,” Pahlavan told GBH News. “The fact that we even just call people back and get them in for a visit is a novelty within this state. The fact that we do all that other stuff — which is amazing — it is beyond the cherry on top.”
The newly unveiled Brockton center has 12 employees. One of those employees, nurse practitioner Louise Dobkins said it is a humbling experience to provide compassionate and quality care to those, especially the elderly, who have been without it for so long.
“It is a joy to me to be able to be in such a diverse community,” Dobkins said, “to be able to provide care for those who have struggled to get appropriate care because of who they are or what they look like.”
Nancy Jacoby, a Hanson resident who has been a patient with Gather Health since June, found out about the company at a presentation at the senior housing facility in which she stays.
And in the several months that she’s been there, Jacoby said she’s been impressed by the efficiency and care she’s received.
“They don’t talk down to you [at Gather Health] because you’re elderly,” Jacoby said. “When you get to a certain age and you still have all your buttons and they talk down to you and be condescending, it’s not appreciated. They don’t do that here.”
