25 Investigates: Field hospitals to return to Mass.; the cost and how they were utilized in the spring

BOSTON — As Massachusetts prepares for a second surge of the coronavirus, the state is once again preparing to open temporary field hospitals. They are extensions of hospitals that can help take the stress off the health care system.

On Tuesday, Governor Charlie Baker said we could see the return of some of them very soon.

Medical professionals have been anticipating this as long as they have been anticipating a second surge of the virus.

“What I say to friends and other who ask me, ‘Is there going to be a second surge?’ I say there’s going to be a second very chaotic time, we just don’t know quite why or what is going to cause that,” said Dr. Eric Dickson, President and CEO of UMASS Memorial Health Care in Worcester during a September interview.

Dickson oversaw one of the state’s field hospitals during the first surge last spring. In September, he told anchor and investigative reporter Kerry Kavanaugh his team is ready to stand one up again.

“We’re spending a lot of time in turning people into problem solvers so that if I say, ‘Hey, we need a field hospital set up in eight days,’ they can do it," said Dickson. “They can probably do it in five days this time.”

His team may soon get the chance to prove him right.

On Tuesday, Governor Charlie Baker said cases of COVID-19 are showing a troubling trend. Statewide hospital occupancy is up to 67%, ICU occupancy is at 50%, due in part to the coronavirus.

As Massachusetts prepares for a second surge, the state is once again preparing to open temporary field hospitals.

“On Labor Day, the number of people hospitalized for COVID-19 was down to 178," said Baker. "Today, as I said earlier, the number has climbed up to 588 patients needing hospital-level care. Our experience from last spring shows that creating enough space to safely treat COVID-19 patients and other patients throughout our healthcare system is the single most important aspect we have of navigating the pandemic as safely as possible.”

That space in the springtime included five field hospitals. There was Boston Hope at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, a converted DCU Center in Worcester, a hospital at Joint Base Cape Cod in Bourne, plus two more in Lowell and Dartmouth.

25 Investigates asked how much it cost to operate and maintain them. It wasn’t cheap.

Boston Hope was the largest and most expensive at roughly $29.8 million. The Worcester DCU Center cost more than $8 million. The three remaining facilities cost between $3.7-4.8 million each, respectively.

Facility Cost

• Boston - $29.8 million
• Worcester - $8.1 million
• Lowell - $3.7 million
• Dartmouth - $4.8 million
• Bourne - $4.4 million

The state said costs should be fully reimbursed through federal support.

State health officials say the field hospitals were necessary then and likely will be again to protect capacity across the state’s health care system.

Though, as 25 Investigates first reported in July, at the peak of the first surge, only 100 of the 500 beds for hospital patients at Boston Hope were used.

Thirty of the 250 beds in Worcester were in use during that peak period.

The field hospitals in Lowell, Dartmouth, and Bourne never saw a single patient.

So where will the next round of field hospitals end up? The governor said they are working with MEMA and hospital officials to identify suitable locations.

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