Health care construction seen as catalyst for downtown Lynn growth

LYNN – The leaders of Lynn Community Health Center (LCHC) and All Care VNA and Hospice addressed a breakfast forum of the Lynn Area Chamber of Commerce Friday, discussing the heath and economic benefits their respective new downtown buildings will have for the city.Lori Berry, LCHC’s executive director, said the center’s new two story addition on Union Street will allow it to meet the increasing need for primary care to serve the area’s low-income population, many of whom have health insurance for the first time.With 400 new patients every month, Berry said, “we were out of space.””The new building allows us to add the services people need ? Our goal is to make all services accessible to everybody in Lynn.”She said every dollar spent on preventive care at a community health center results in a $3 savings to the overall health system, but keeping people from visiting an emergency room for primary care.”We had more than 200,000 visits last year. We delivered 430 babies at Salem Hospital. We had 24,000-plus dental visits. We took care of 9,600 kids and helped more than 20,000 sign up for health insurance,” she added. “That’s a fairly significant contribution toward the health of the city.”Berry thanked all parties involved with brining the $18.8 million annex to fruition, and touted the Obama Administration’s economic recovery plan.”The stimulus funds actually stimulated this project. We would not have been able to get the project started without the $1.3 million we received from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act,” she said. “Certain parties in Washington like to trash that, but it was a really important program for us.”Berry noted LCHC also received $6.9 million from the federal Affordable Care Act, MassDevelopment secured $2.6 million in tax credits for the project; and Cambridge Savings Bank helped finance the project with tax-exempt bonds.Berry noted the capital building campaign is still under way, and “we hope to raise another $1.8 million over the next two years.”The first floor of the LCHC annex had a soft opening earlier this month, while work continued on Phase II of the project, finishing the second floor and basement. The health center employs about 390, and the annex created about 100 new jobs this year, she said.Responding to question about pending changes in the health care reimbursement structure – away from the existing fee-for-service and into a global payment system where insurers would make a single payment to a so-called Accountable Care Organization (ACO) to treat a person for a period of time – Berry said she believes those changes are imminent but there are many unanswered questions.”I’m not sure plans being looked at right now are as community centric as they need to be, and tend to be more hospital centric,” she said. For example, she said, if Partners Health Care, parent of North Shore Medical Center, forms an ACO and asks LCHC to join, “that may or may not be as advantageous for us than if we were to form our own ACO in Lynn and manage the money here ? instead of the hospital deciding how much money we should get.”She added, “We’re all jockeying as to which part of the pie we’re going to get. It’s hard to imagine community health centers getting les of the pie ? Hopefully, we’ll get a little more, but as who’s expense?” she said. “(Health care reform) is going to be challenging for everyone.”Shawn Potter, president and CEO of All Care VNA and Hospice touted the organization’s new, four-story headquarters, which is in the final stages of development in front of the downtown Lynn MBTA garage.The new building, set to open in January, will allow All Care to consolidate five offices into the new building, bringing an additional 75 workers to downtown Lynn.What’s more, Potter said, the new building’s perhaps most impressive feature which will benefit the entire community is a rooftop deck with an unobstructed view of the ocean and the Boston skyline.”That’s going to be a great venue for a lot of us,