Effective October 1, affiliation strengthens Milford Regional’s community-focused mission

Worcester, Mass. (October 1, 2024) - UMass Memorial Health (UMMH) announced today that Milford Regional Medical Center, inclusive of Milford Regional Physician Group, and its employees are now formally part of the UMMH system. Milford Regional Medical Center’s name is now officially UMass Memorial Health – Milford Regional Medical Center.

“We welcome Milford Regional caregivers to the UMass Memorial Health family and look forward to supporting Milford Regional as it advances its commitment to providing exceptional healthcare services to the greater Milford community,” said Eric Dickson, MD, President and CEO of UMass Memorial Health.  

UMass Memorial welcomes approximately 2,500 Milford Regional employees and providers, which grows the system to include more than 20,000 caregivers. Ed Kelly, President of Milford Regional, will continue his role and will join the UMass Memorial Health’s senior leadership team.

Among the positive benefits offered by this new affiliation are:

• Preserving Milford Regional Medical Center as an acute care hospital offering inpatient and outpatient services, ensuring access to high quality, local care for the Milford community;
• Supporting strategic capital investment in facilities, equipment and other infrastructure to support clinical care and the local community;
• Future integration of Milford Regional into the Epic electronic medical record system;
• Maintaining Milford Regional’s role as an employer of choice in the local/regional market, and enhancing Milford Regional’s ability to address ongoing workforce challenges; and
• Retaining a local community board of trustees, with Milford Regional having representation on the UMass Memorial parent board.

“Since first clinically partnering more than thirty years ago, our two organizations have realized much success through multiple points of patient-centered collaboration. Taking our longstanding partnership with Milford Regional to this next level allows UMass Memorial Health to meaningfully expand our continued work to provide high-quality, accessible, and affordable care to the communities of Central Massachusetts,” Dickson added.

“This is the right time and UMass Memorial Health is the right partner to pave the path for our promising future,” said Kelly, who explained further that UMMH and Milford Regional began their collaboration in 1991 when Milford Regional Medical Center became the first hospital to clinically affiliate with UMass Memorial Medical Center. “Since then, many additional clinical and educational programs have been created with UMMH to bolster the level of care offered to the greater Milford community through the Milford-based residency program; multiple surgical programs; and our innovative intensive care service, to name a few.” 

According to Kelly, Milford Regional’s ability to provide highly specialized care, locally, is further enhanced as it will preserve its existing clinical relationships with other academic medical centers, including Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Boston Children’s Hospital.  

Today, Milford Regional is a nonprofit, acute care community and regional teaching hospital that includes a 148-beds and 300 primary and specialty physicians that serves a region of 20-plus towns. Milford Regional has a long history of investing in community health needs; as part of its most recent renovation and expansion in 2015, it opened a 78,000 square-foot building that houses a new emergency department, intensive care unit and private patient rooms.

To learn more about the corporate affiliation between UMass Memorial Health and Milford Regional, visit https://www.milfordregional.org/about-us/umass-memorial-health-affiliation/.

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About UMass Memorial Health

UMass Memorial Health is the largest not-for-profit health care system in Central Massachusetts with nearly 19,000 employees and 2,100 physicians. Our comprehensive system includes UMass Memorial Medical Center, UMass Memorial Health – Harrington, UMass Memorial Health – HealthAlliance-Clinton Hospital, UMass Memorial Health – Marlborough Hospital, UMass Memorial Health – Milford Regional Medical Center, UMass Memorial Health – Community Healthlink, and UMass Memorial Medical Group. We are the clinical partner of UMass Chan Medical School. For more information, visit www.ummhealth.org.

About UMass Memorial Health – Milford Regional Medical Center

UMass Memorial Health - Milford Regional Medical Center is a full-service, regional teaching hospital that serves patients from more than 20 communities in Central Massachusetts. The 148-bed hospital is a nonprofit, acute-care facility where more than 300 primary care and specialty clinicians are relentless in providing exceptional healthcare services to our community with dignity, compassion and respect. Visit www.ummhealth.org/milford to learn more. 

Contacts

Shelly Hazlett, UMass Memorial Health
shelly.hazlett@umassmemorial.org
Michelle Sanford, UMass Memorial Health - Milford Regional Medical Center
msanford@milreg.org