JUST LIKE EMPLOYERS in the private sector, the state’s constitutional officers have different stances on hybrid work schedules.

The governor and the secretary of the Commonwealth for the most part don’t allow employees to work from home, while the attorney general, the treasurer, and the auditor all do.

Working remotely, which became standard operating procedure during the Covid-19 pandemic, offers numerous benefits, including less commuting time, reduced traffic congestion, less environmental pollution, lower office energy consumption, and better work/life balance.

The downside of working remotely is less interaction with co-workers, reduced supervisory oversight, distractions at home, and an inability to properly mentor new employees and interns.  Also, working from home is impossible with jobs that deal directly with the public.

“Staff are required to work in person Monday to Friday with very few exceptions,” said Karissa Hand, a spokesperson for Gov. Maura Healey’s office. “The governor’s office is a fast-paced, high-demand work environment.  We believe that having employees working in-person is beneficial to our efforts to meet these demands, provide effective and efficient service to the people of Massachusetts, and build a strong team environment.”

A spokesperson for Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin offered a different rationale for not allowing staff to work remotely. “The standard policy of this office is that employees work at their assigned workplace,” said Debra O’Malley.  “Many of our divisions are public-facing, requiring most employees to be present to accept filings in person.”

Attorney General Andrea Campbell and Treasurer Deborah Goldberg both give their staff up to three teleworking days a week, while Auditor Diana DiZoglio offers her employees up to two days.

Campbell’s teleworking policy makes note of some of the downsides of working remotely, particularly the absence of opportunities for collaboration and camaraderie. “Managers may require that all staff be physically present in the office on at least one ‘core day’ per week to advance these values,” the policy states.

The treasurer’s policy on remote work says teleworkers are not eligible to receive overtime or compensatory time while working remotely. The policy says remote workers are subject to inspections of home work spaces.

“The treasury retains the right to make an on-site inspection of the designated workspace at a mutually agreed upon time,” the policy states.

Even though Healey eschews teleworking for all her State House staff, the executive agencies under her authority offer teleworking to their employees, with numerous provisions to which they must agree in writing, according to the policy. 

For example, teleworkers must be available by phone and email, they must comply with all security and confidentiality measures, and they cannot perform caregiving activities while working from home.

Other provisions include the state is not liable for any damage to the employees’ property that results from teleworking as well as not being responsible for operating costs, home maintenance, and any incidental costs associated with the employees’ use of their residence for telework.  Meanwhile, though, workers’ compensation is still in effect while working at home.

Virtual meetings are an essential component of teleworking.  One agency — the Executive Office of Health and Human Services — has a list of 15 behaviors that agency teleworkers must adhere to at these meetings, including not playing video games, not doing online shopping, and not snapping gum.

Most of the state’s quasi-public agencies also have written policies on teleworking, with two notable exceptions being the Massachusetts Port Authority and the Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority.   Both agencies say they offer teleworking to their employees, but there are no written policies.

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A clarification has been added to this story.

IN MASSACHUSETTS, individuals in training to become municipal police officers must pass a battery of physical and psychological tests. But once they become active duty police officers, the testing stops.
 
The Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission is thinking of changing that.  A commission subcommittee is considering draft regulations that would have municipal officers tested physically and mentally on a periodic basis.
 
Research indicates police officers face unique physical and mental challenges. They spend much of their work time largely inactive, sitting in cruisers, writing up police reports, and appearing in court.  But there are times when they are placed in physically and mentally demanding situations that put enormous strain on their bodies and minds.
 
A 2023 research paper said police officers nationally are at higher risk of obesity, hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease than the general population. On average, 40 percent of officers are obese, about 5 percent higher than the national average, 74 percent classify with elevated-to-stage two hypertension, and 27 percent have three or more cardiovascular disease risk factors.
 
Enrique Zuniga, the executive director of the commission, said recurring physical and mental health testing is needed to make sure police officers are up to their job. But he said getting a testing regime in place will be a “big lift.”  He is leaning toward making the periodic testing voluntary rather than mandatory.
 
“I do know that If we mandate top-down conditions to enhance physical and psychological health, the likelihood of success will be low,” Zuniga said.  “It would be better instead to incentivize participation in wellness programs.”
 
A number of police departments in the state already do just that — offer voluntary incentive programs to motivate their officers to be physically fit.  There are also voluntary programs to help police officers deal with psychological issues.  Both types of offerings are usually part of collective bargaining agreements that municipalities have executed with the police unions.
 
The police departments in the Massachusetts municipalities of Westminster and Andover, for example, administer physical assessment tests in which the officers are rewarded with either money or days office if they successfully complete the tests.
 
The results of the tests are assessed using what are known as “norming” standards based on the criteria of age and gender, which means that female and older police officers are given less physically challenging tests in order to level the playing field.

The Westminster Police Department pays its officers $400 every six months if they pass physical fitness tests.  Of the 14 officers on the force, nine have participated in the program since its inception in 2022 and have been paid a total off $9,600. 
 
Westminster police officers are also allowed to exercise for an hour during their shift in a small gym at the station equipped with a treadmill, an exercise bike, and free weights.  The department even offers its officers yoga instruction right at the station.

The Andover Police Department has an incentive program for motivating its officers to be physically fit, but the incentive is in the form of time off, not money, for passing the physical fitness tests.  Conducted once a year, they assess the ability to do bench presses, sit-ups, push-ups, and a 1½ mile run.  If the officers pass, they get one personal day off.
 
There are 53 officers on the Andover police force, and they have participated in the program 109 times since its inception in 2015 and have been awarded a total of 103 personal days off. [CLARIFICATION: This paragraph was revised to make it clearer that officers participated a total of 109 times in the program.]
 
“Officers who are confident that they will pass the test are the ones who take it,” said Lt. Edward Guy,” an executive officer with the department.
 
Police officers must perform tasks in unpredictable and sometimes volatile work environments, which creates a high level of job stress that can lead to psychological disorders such as anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
 
The police departments in the Massachusetts municipalities of Waltham and Hadley have developed voluntary programs to address such maladies.
 
The Waltham Police Department runs a program that helps its officers handle the stress by arranging for psychological counseling and participation in peer support groups.  “No department records will be maintained regarding any such treatment,” department policy states.  “The doctor/patient privilege of confidentiality shall be totally honored.”
 
The Hadley Police Department has an “early warning system” for addressing mental health issues that entails an interactive computerized system in which officers respond to a series of questions.  “These systems allow us to track anything out of the ordinary with our staff so that we can check in on them,” said Chief Michael Mason.
 
Contrary to municipal police officers, the collective bargaining agreement that the Commonwealth has executed with the State Police requires troopers to successfully complete a job-related  physical fitness test every year.  Troopers who fail to pass the test are eligible to try two additional times.  If they fail the third time, the “issue of of the employee’s continued employment will be subject to review and disposition consistent with all the relevant circumstances,” according to policy.
 
Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox, who heads up the largest police force in the state, did not respond to multiple requests to discuss periodic testing of police officers.

But one of Cox’s predecessors, former Boston Police Commissioner William Evans, weighed in. “Requiring police officers to meet both physical and mental requirements on a yearly basis should be a must,” he said.  “Being a police officer is a very stressful job and being in good shape physically and mentally goes a long way to serving the public.” 

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SUPER PACS slammed into Boston politics like a hurricane in 2013, throwing millions of dollars into the race to replace Mayor Tom Menino. Unions, in particular, funneled money toward placing Marty Walsh, the longtime state representative and labor leader, inside City Hall.

More than 10 years later, the effect of super PACs, which operate with few limits when it comes to fundraising and spending money, is more comparable to a tropical storm, or in the case of this upcoming September 3 Democratic primary for an obscure post, a passing shower.

Two groups with union ties are now swinging into the race for Supreme Judicial Court clerk for Suffolk County, an administrative job that is on the ballot. Maura Doyle, who has held the post for nearly 30 years, isn’t running for reelection, setting off a scramble for a position that comes with a $189,000 annual salary.

In filings with state campaign finance regulators, Chinese Progressive Political Action (CPPA) and Ironworkers Local 7’s super PAC reported spending $4,000 and $3,000 on their respective candidates of choice. CPPA, which has money to spend thanks to a $10,000 donation from the health care workers union SEIU 1199, is backing attorney Allison Cartwright, while the South Boston-based ironworkers union is supporting Boston Councilor Erin Murphy.

CPPA used its money to pay canvassers for Cartwright, while the Ironworkers super PAC spent its money on text messages to voters.

The fight over the obscure post has become something of a proxy battle between the city’s progressives, who are backing Cartwright, and conservatives, who are supporting Murphy. Cartwright supporters note that she has a long resume rooted in the legal world, and has the backing of fellow lawyers Andrea Campbell, the state attorney general, and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu.

Murphy supporters say nothing about the job requires the officeholder to be a lawyer. “That’s why the Ironworkers Local 7, along with 40 other local unions have endorsed” Murphy, one text message read.

There is another reason, too, that the message didn’t mention: If Murphy leaves the City Council due to winning the clerkship, the at-large slot she would vacate goes to the fifth place runner-up from the 2023 election. That would be Bridget Nee-Walsh, a South Boston ironworker.

Healey’s departure bonus

A pattern is starting to emerge in the Healey administration for removing employees.

It started with Gina Fiandaca, who was removed as secretary of transportation in September 2023 but then was paid nearly $56,000 to stay on for four months to provide assistance to her successor. A public records request for her email records suggested no assistance was asked for or provided, but Gov. Maura Healey said the arrangement made for a smooth transition.

The same approach appears to have been followed with Daniel Rivera, who left his $242,000-a-year post at the quasi-public MassDevelopment in April and received $60,513 in severance plus benefits to serve another two months as a “special advisor.” His email account showed no evidence of any work over that time. Rivera, who declined comment, is now serving as interim director of the Coalition for a Better Acre, a community development corporation in Lowell.

Rivera, a former mayor of Lawrence, was appointed by Gov. Charlie Baker to helm MassDevelopment under a contract set to run out in June 2023. But in December 2022, with less than a month before Healey took over the corner office, the MassDevelopment board extended Rivera’s contract three additional years.

In June, the Boston Business Journal reported that MassDevelopment lost its way under Rivera with allegations that the agency’s general fund had been “depleted” under his leadership, employee turnover was “heavy,” and employee morale was “poor.”

A public records request filed with Healey’s office seeking communications related to Rivera yielded an interesting response. “After review, the Office of the Governor is unable to produce records responsive to your request based on attorney-client privilege and the unique functions of the Office, and consistent with [the privacy exemption] of the public records law,” one of her lawyers wrote.

No other governor has ever refused to produce records based on a claim of the “unique functions of the governor’s office.”

As for Rivera, he did call into MassDevelopment’s June 13 board meeting to complain about the BBJ article and pressed board members to consider issuing a statement standing by him. “Mr. Rivera admitted to owning a high turnover rate among staff during his tenure,” but he pushed back on the allegations that he spent down the general fund, according to the meeting minutes.

“One cannot control the media,” said Yvonne Hao, the board’s chair and Healey’s economic development chief. “Further, the Chair advised that the Administration’s communications have been consistent: the Administration is grateful for what Mr. Rivera accomplished during his tenure with MassDevelopment, and the focus is now on the future,” the meeting minutes said.

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THE BOSTON COMMON is the oldest public park in the nation and a crossroads for tourists, residents, and workers, yet the park’s lone restaurant is closing after years of unprofitability.

After spending $1 million in 2013 to transform a long-closed, octagon-shaped bathroom called a “comfort station” into a restaurant and then incurring total losses of $2.2 million over the past 11 years, the Florida-based Earl of Sandwich chain asked the city of Boston to allow it to shut down its Boston Common location at the end of next month, four years before its 15-year lease was due to expire.

The city granted the request and sometime in the fall will issue a request for proposals seeking a new tenant for the Boston Common location, which in its previous life was dubbed the Pink Palace for the pink tinge of its stone masonry.

“We are now open to beer and wine as part of the food operations, which is different from the prior lease,” said Ryan Woods, the city’s parks commissioner. Asked if the successful bidder would be allowed to expand the 660-square-foot building to accommodate some indoor seating, Woods noted the Boston Common is a national and local landmark. “So there are restrictions that may not allow it, but every proposal will be carefully considered,” Woods said.

Officials at Planet Hollywood, the parent company of the 54-store Earl of Sandwich chain, did not respond to requests for comment. The franchise operation has 32 restaurants in the US, eight in the Philippines, eight in Korea, five in Canada, and one in Paris.

The city’s quest to find a new tenant is likely to set off a lively debate about what’s needed on Boston Common since the Earl of Sandwich, home to what the chain claims is “The World’s Greatest Hot Sandwich,” did not cut it.

Despite the prestigious address of Boston Common,the site has a number of drawbacks for running a restaurant. For one, the building itself is tiny. There is no room for indoor seating, so the restaurant offers takeout and some outdoor seating from April to October, and even then its sales are subject to weather conditions.

It’s also out of the way, somewhat near the center of the Common between athletic fields, tennis courts, and the Parkman Bandstand. The original comfort station was reportedly built in the 1920s, shut down in the 1970s, and then refurbished and reopened as the Earl of Sandwich in 2013 after extensive repairs and retrofitting.

Competing restaurants surround Boston Common and the Common itself features a beer garden at the corner of Tremont and Boylston streets in the summer and push cart vendors selling snacks and drinks at various high traffic spots in the park.

Leora Lanz, an associate professor at the Boston University School of Hospitality Administration, said any new tenant at the location will have to drum up sales. “Putting signs out on streets surrounding the park would be a good idea at a minimum,” she said. “There’s an opportunity for the operator to establish and market a restaurant with a ‘sense of place.’ A restaurant in a park can be positioned as a destinationunto its own— a place where people who work or live or visit consider it as a ‘go-to.’ ”

Fromthe get-go, the Earl of Sandwich lost money at its Boston Common location. Even so, Robert Earl, the CEO of Planet Hollywood,the parent company,confidently predicted the tiny restaurant on the Common would win a loyal following.

“We’re here for the duration of our lease,” he told CommonWealth Beacon in 2018. “I’m very much someone who doesn’t like to give in.”

In an effort to turn things around, Earl said at the time that he was planning on opening more locations in the Boston area that would allow for “expansion of our brand.” That didn’t happen. The only other location he opened locally, at Logan Airport, was shuttered years ago.

Earl is no relation to the royal Earl of Sandwich in England, but the company’s website says the sandwich restaurant is the brainchild of Orlando Montagu, the younger son of the 11th Earl of Sandwich and a direct descendant of the fourth Earl, who is credited with popularizing the sandwich in Great Britain and Ireland in the 18th century.

According to correspondence between the restaurant chain and the city obtained through a public records request, Earl of Sandwich officials remained confident they could succeed on the Common right up until March. David Snodgrass, the director of operations at Earl of Sandwich’s corporate headquarters, predicted “a killer 2024 season” in a March email to Boston’s parks department.

Meanwhile, the company wasn’t paying its $50,000 annual rent. Stephen Bickerton, deputy parks commissioner, demanded the company pay what it owed.

“This is an annual issue with Earl of Sandwich paying their rent late (sometimes by months) for the last several years,” he wrote to Earl on April 11. “This is a breach of the contract, as you know, and not the first breach. If we do not have a check in hand by end of day Monday, we will be moving to terminate the Earl of Sandwich’s tenancy on the Boston Common.”

A month later, the city of Boston and the Earl of Sandwich executed a termination agreement ending the lease as of September 30. As part of the separation, the company only has to pay the city $25,000 for rent this year — not the regular $50,000 — to cover just the six months the chain will actually be operating on Boston Common.

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A SUPERIOR COURT judge has ordered state Auditor Diana DiZoglio to remove redactions from audits her office released last year involving medical care and inmate deaths in jails operated by two sheriffs’ departments. 

DiZoglio’s office had invoked an exemption from the state public records law in redacting passages in the reports, claiming their release could jeopardize public safety or cybersecurity, but Suffolk Superior Court Judge Michael Pineault ruled that the redactions were not justified.  

“The redacted passages . . . do little more than set forth — at a high level of generality — [the Office of the State Auditor’s] recommendation that the [sheriffs’] departments develop additional written information technology policies and procedures and provide more IT training to their employees,” Pineault said in his nine-page decision. “The Court finds none of the recommendations to be particularly revelatory.” 

The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts filed suit in May of last year, challenging the auditor’s office redactions. The ACLU maintained that even if there was sensitive information that informed the audits, the audit reports themselves should be fully public.  

“We . . . hope that other agencies take note that they cannot broadly claim exemptions to avoid transparency under the Public Records Law,” Daniel McFadden, an attorney with the ACLU, said in a statement. “There is no reason to hide from the public information about whether state agencies are taking proper steps to safeguard highly confidential health information.” 

“In the case of these audit reports,” McFadden said, “people who are incarcerated, their families, legal advocates, journalists, and more need the information to understand whether prisoners’ legal rights to medical care and medical privacy have been imperiled.” 

In a statement, DiZoglio’s office said it never sought to shield information about inmate health or deaths during incarceration, but only “redacted information in accordance with the law related to cybersecurity vulnerabilities.” The office, which was represented in the lawsuit by the attorney general’s office, said the “vulnerabilities we identified have since made their way to the public domain, therefore risks associated with disclosure no longer exist.” 

At the request of both sides, before rendering his decision, Pineault conducted what’s known as an in camera review, which entailed privately reviewing the audits in their unredacted form. 

The auditor’s office had redacted the portion of the audits that contain a section in which it makes recommendations to the sheriffs for improving their information technology systems.  Even the title and general subject matter of the section were redacted.  

The two audits in question examined the provision of medical care to inmates in the custody of the Plymouth County and Barnstable County sheriffs’ departments as well as the sheriffs’ compliance with regulatory requirements concerning inmate deaths. The ACLU was particularly interested in the Plymouth audit because the organization has filed multiple lawsuits related to inmate health and safety at the facility. 

In her cover letters accompanying both audits, DiZoglio wrote: “This version of the report is the limited version we are issuing publicly; it excludes an issue that includes confidential information.” The sheriffs were given a copy of the unredacted reports. 

The ACLU claimed in its May 2023 lawsuit that, as a result of the redactions, both the ACLU and the public “are left unable to assess whether the ‘issue’ discovered by [the auditor’s office]  presents a risk to prisoner health and safety.” 

The court ordered the auditor’s office to provide the ACLU with the unredacted reports by June 30.  

Close to the same time the ACLU filed its lawsuit, CommonWealth Beacon filed a public records request with DiZoglio also seeking a copy of the audit of the Plymouth County sheriff’s department. When her office provided only the redacted version of the report, an appeal was filed with the state supervisor of public records, who, after conducting her own in camera review, sided with DiZoglio, contrary to the subsequent Superior Court decision. 

Colman M. Herman is a freelance CommonWealth Beacon contributor.

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BOSTON MAYOR Michelle Wu last month followed through on her 2019 campaign pledge and signed into law an ordinance transferring the Boston Planning and Development Agency over to city control.

But the agency’s very strong civil service-like protections for many of its employees will not go with them. Instead, they are being pared back significantly. 

The loss of the job protections has received no public attention, but it has stirred anxiety among some of the affected employees, all of whom declined to comment for fear of alienating their new city bosses.

The city ordinance paving the way for the transfer is silent on the fate of the job protections and a separate home rule petition still to be approved by the Legislature does not address the issue either.

When Wu and Arthur Jemison, the chief of planning in her cabinet who also doubles as the director of the Boston Planning and Development Agency, testified in January at a legislative hearing in support of the home rule petition, they never mentioned the job protections nor were they asked about it by any of the legislators on the committee.

The Boston Planning and Development Agency is actually an umbrella organization that includes two separate entities — the Boston Redevelopment Authority and the much-lesser known Economic Development Industrial Corporation. The BRA currently has 56 employees and the EDIC 159.

It is the BRA employees who currently have the major job protections that are embedded in Massachusetts law, which states the following:

“No person permanently employed by a redevelopment authority . . . shall, after having actually performed the duties of his office or position for a period of six months, be discharged, removed, suspended, laid off, transferred from the latest office or employment held by him without his consent, lowered in rank or compensation, nor shall his office or position be abolished, except for just cause.”

This provision last year caused problems for Wu when she wanted to remove from office then Boston Planning and Development Agency director Brian Golden and two other high-level officials, all of them holdovers from the administration of former Mayor Marty Walsh.

The mayor could not simply terminate them because there was no just cause. So instead, Wu bought them out. Golden walked away with a $200,000 settlement. But the reality is that he and his colleagues did not have to leave if they did not want to because the Boston Planning and Development Agency was not being absorbed by the city at that time and their job protections prevented them from being dismissed without just cause, which did not exist in the case of the employees.

Just cause typically involves matters such as insubordination, incompetency, and moral turpitude. But, according to Boston Planning and Development Agency officials, the Massachusetts law links to another statute that indicates just cause would include abolishment of the Boston Redevelopment Authority, meaning the civil service-like protections will no longer be available to the BRA employees when they transfer over to the city.

Boston Planning and Development Agency employees transitioning over to the city will be provided with an “offer letter” with “terms and conditions of employment, and they will sign to acknowledge their employment,” according to a spokesperson for the agency. It is not considered to be a contract.

According to a copy of the letter, the transitioning BRA employees will be entitled to the process of arbitration in the event that they are terminated while working for the city.

Boston Planning and Development Agency officials claim that this arbitration process is “equivalent” to the job protections that BRA employees currently have. But an attorney with knowledge of the situation, who asked not to be identified, said that’s not the case.

“The arbitration protections that the BRA employees will get when they go to work for the city will clearly be much weaker than the protections they enjoy now because nothing is codified into Massachusetts law,” he said.

The offer letter also imposes many restrictions on the transferring BRA workers.  For example, the results of any termination arbitration are “final and binding” unless the arbitrator exceeds her authority, and the employee will be responsible for paying half the cost of the arbitration plus attorney’s fees and expert witness fees, which would likely run into the thousands of dollars.

Other limitations include a provision specifying that the sole factual issue to be decided at arbitration is whether the employee engaged in the conduct resulting in the discharge. So if the city, say, reduces the salary of the employee or demotes the employee, it is not subject to arbitration.

Also, the arbitrator will have no authority to modify the disciplinary penalty, and the arbitration will be limited to matters of termination and not any lesser discipline.

There is also the issue of what will happen to BRA employees who refuse to go over to the city. The reality is they can take it or leave it. “They can choose to accept or not to accept the position they are offered by the city but their current position at the BPDA won’t exist any more,” said an agency spokesperson.

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GINA FIANDACA abruptly stepped down as Gov. Maura Healey’s secretary of transportation in September 2023, but was kept on for an additional four months and paid $55,915 to “provide assistance, advice, and counsel” during the transition to her successor.

There’s no evidence, however, that Fiandaca did anything to earn the money.

Officials at the Massachusetts Department of Transportation have been very tight-lipped about Fiandaca’s departure. They resisted for months providing their “letter agreement” with Fiandaca, initially claiming that it did not even exist. The agreement was released after the state supervisor of public records, in response to a public records request, asked to review the document privately.

In response to two additional public records requests, MassDOT officials said they could find no emails, memos, letters, text messages, faxes, or other documents sent by Fiandaca to MassDOT officials during the transition period.

The only communications that were turned over were emails sent to Fiandaca by others.  They included an email from the state retirement board inviting her to attend a webinar, a communication from the State Ethics Commission regarding a change in Fiandaca’s profile, invitations to attend various events and programs, rundowns of articles in the news, and summaries of reporter inquires to MassDOT.

None of the emails evoked a response from Fiandaca.

A MassDOT spokesperson did not respond to a request for information on whether Fiandaca provided verbal assistance to MassDOT colleagues during the transition period.

Healey, in an interview, did not quibble with the claim that Fiandaca did no work for the state during the four-month period. Instead, she said transition arrangements are typical in such cases.

“For the purposes of a smooth transition, it’s important that when there’s a departure of someone so senior that we be able to call upon that person,” she said. “So it’s normal.  You see that in a lot of departures.”

In addition to spelling out Fiandaca’s responsibilities during the four-month transition period, the agreement with her also says she will not sue the state. Healey said the agreement was not structured to avoid litigation and said she was not displeased with Fiandaca’s job performance, despite widespread speculation to the contrary.

“No, no, no,” she said. “It was a decision she made, you know. It happens in administrations sometimes.”

Mary Connaughton, director of government transparency at the Pioneer Institute in Boston, said she was troubled by the MassDOT agreement with Fiandaca.

“A no-show deal is an insult to the public that operates under the basic premise that to get paid, you first must work,” she said. “Arrangements like this one not only erode the public trust, they crater it.”

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ACADEMIC MEDICAL CENTERS in Massachusetts are often ranked among the best in the nation, but data gathered by the Lown Institute of Needham suggests they lag behind their peers nationally in several key categories. 

According to an analysis of the data, the 10 academic medical centers in Massachusetts generally performed poorly compared to 200 other peer institutions around the country when it comes to patient outcomes and patient safety, but fared well in avoiding the overuse of certain “low-value” medical procedures.  

The Lown data for these clinical metrics are derived from the most recent Medicare claims available and covered the period 2019 to 2022.  Claims data from other populations, such as Medicaid and private health insurance, would likely yield different results. 

The Lown Institute is a nonprofit organization that believes hospitals often prioritize profits over healing and sometimes even put patients in harm’s way with the care they provide. The organization faces strong pushback from many sectors of the health care industry, with many hospital systems criticizing its methodology. 

Academic medical centers are commonly known as teaching hospitals – institutions affiliated with medical schools that provide patient care and, at the same time, educate and train medical students and residents.  

Lown’s patient outcome metrics assess how well hospitals achieve two critical clinical goals — keeping their patients alive (mortality) and preventing them from having to be readmitted to the hospital.

Of the 10 academic medical centers in the state, Lahey Hospital & Medical Center performed the best on patient outcomes with a middle-of-the-road rank of 90 out of 210 of its national peers. This is followed by Mount Auburn Hospital (99), Tufts Medical Center (116), Massachusetts General Hospital (117), and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (122). Further behind were Boston Medical Center (146), Brigham and Women’s Hospital (148), UMass Medical Center (162), Cambridge Health Alliance (169), and Baystate Medical Center (191).

A number of Massachusetts academic medical centers did not rank well on Lown’s patient safety metric, which measures how well hospitals avoid six preventable medical errors, including pressure ulcers (bed sores), accidental punctures, and IV line infections.

The poorest performing medical centers in Massachusetts on patient safety were Mass General at 131 and Baystate Medical at 152 out of their 210 national peers. The highest-performing Massachusetts medical centers for this metric were Boston Medical Center (30) and Mount Auburn (35).

According to the Lehman Center for Patient Safety, tens of thousands of people are harmed every year in Massachusetts as a result of medical errors that are preventable. 

Low-value medical procedures, according to Lown, are those that offer little to no clinical benefit to patients and, in many cases, are more likely to harm them than help them under various circumstances.   

A number of the Massachusetts academic medical centers were leaders in avoiding the overuse of such procedures. Topping the list was Beth Israel with a rank of 5 among its 210 national peers, followed by Cambridge Health (8), Lahey (9), and UMass Memorial (15). Brigham and Women’s and Mass General ranked 44 and 78, respectively. 

Lown determines what constitutes low-value procedures based on an in-depth review of the medical literature as it pertains to the inappropriate use of 12 specific procedures, including coronary artery stenting, colonoscopy screening, and spinal fusion/laminectomy. 

This year hysterectomy, which involves the surgical removal of the uterus, was abruptly dropped by Lown from its list of low-value procedures after the institute was heavily criticized for its inclusion. 

The American Hospital Association, for example, said that Lown’s methodology appears to count all hysterectomies performed for non-cancer diagnoses as unnecessary, even though the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said there are several non-cancerous conditions for which hysterectomies are appropriate.   

Vikas Saini, the president of the Lown Institute, said Lown dropped hysterectomies after listening to the feedback. “It’s pretty clear that there is a lot of overuse of hysterectomy,” he said. “But when we started looking at the algorithms that we had adopted, we realized that it needs improvement.  So we kind have taken it back to the shop for improvement.” 

By some estimates, overuse care represents up to 30 percent of all medical spending in the United States, amounting to an estimated $780 billion annually.

Each of the 10 Massachusetts academic medical centers was provided with the Lown data for their respective institutions accompanied by requests for interviews. Cambridge Health Alliance declined the request, while Baystate Medical Center and UMass Memorial Medical Center did not respond.  

The remainder of the medical centers issued prepared statements.  

Boston Medical Center and Tufts Medical Center cited their commitment to the health of their patients and pointed out areas in which they performed well in the Lown datasets.  

Beth Israel Lahey Health, the parent of Lahey Health, Beth Israel Deaconess, and Mount Auburn, called attention to its commitment to patient safety. “Our hospitals are deeply committed to providing exceptional care to our patients and ensuring safety is at the foundation of everything we do,” the institution said in its prepared statement. 

Mass General Brigham, the umbrella organization of Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, took Lown to task for its methodology.  

“We engage in robust benchmarking and analysis to ensure we are addressing the health challenges and inequities of our communities and relentlessly improving the care we deliver,” the hospital system said in a prepared statement. “The Lown Institute’s measurements represent a narrow and incomplete perspective on care delivery by excluding complex conditions and devaluing certain treatments that are critical to the health of our patients.”

The American Hospital Association is a long-standing critic of Lown’s work.  “Hospitals and health systems across the country [are] working diligently to ensure that their communities and patients achieve their full potential for health,” said Aaron Wesolowsky, the association’s vice president for policy research, analytics and strategy. “Lown’s self-appointed ranking of those efforts is not always representative of these efforts.”  

 Saini, the president of the Lown Institute, pushes back.  

“Our actions have brought increased scrutiny on a sector we all know needs to improve,” he said. “We’ve been rigorous in our work, basing it on the best scientific evidence available.” 

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NEWLY RELEASED DATA indicate there were 1,633 substantiated cases of sexual misconduct, bullying, and biased-based incidents that occurred at Boston Public Schools over the previous two school years. 

Another 1,871 cases were investigated but could not be substantiated. 

The numbers, which were released grudgingly after a six-month public records battle, begin to paint a picture of how prevalent these problems are in the Boston schools.

The numbers by themselves, however, don’t tell the full story. There are many types of sexual misconduct, bullying, and bias-based incidents. Some are far more serious than others. But Boston school officials are refusing to release details about the individual incidents with identifying information redacted, despite being ordered to do so by the state supervisor of public records.

Based on a review of data covering the two school years from the Boston schools and the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, more than a quarter of the sexual misconduct incidents and a third of the bullying incidents resulted in the student being removed from the classroom, the most serious form of punishment.  

The data also indicate the bulk of students removed from the classroom are Black and Hispanic – 81 percent of those removed for sexual misconduct and 88 percent for bullying. 

Despite multiple inquiries to Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, Boston Public Schools Superintendent Mary Skipper, and two other high-ranking officials in the school department, no one from the city would agree to talk about the numbers.

According to Boston Public Schools policy, sexual misconduct can be physical, oral, or written and encompasses a wide range of offenses, including unwanted physical contact, inappropriate comments, unwanted sexting, sexual gesturing, showing suggestive images and objects, and requests for sexual favors. 

There were 738 substantiated cases of student-on-student sexual misconduct over the past two school years (2021-2022 and 2022-2023), with a 34 percent increase between the two years, according to data obtained from the school system’s Office of Equity.  There were an additional 806 allegations of this type of behavior that could not be substantiated. 

For the same time period, there were 11 substantiated instances of employee-on-student sexual misconduct — nine in the 2021-2022 school year and two in 2022-2023.  An additional 14 allegations of this type of behavior could not be substantiated. 

The numbers are actually higher. In releasing the data, school officials said summary forms for some sexual misconduct incidents were not counted —32 percentof the incidents in 2021-2022 and 25 percent in 2022-2023.  School officials offered no explanation, but in the past have said some incidents were handled at the school level and full paperwork was never submitted to the central office.

Also, research reveals that cases often go unreported. “It would be the rare case to find a school system where underreporting of sexual misconduct does not exist,” Dr. Billie-Jo Grant, a researcher and trainer specializing in sexual misconduct prevention in public schools, said in a statement.

According to school policy, bullying can include causing physical or emotional harm, damaging a person’s property, creating a hostile environment, and infringing on an individual’s rights. 

Over the past two school years there were 404 substantiated cases of student-on-student bullying, with a 42 percent increase between the two school years, according to the data obtained from the school system’s Succeed Boston program.  There were an additional 740 allegations of bullying that could not be substantiated.  

According to school policy, biased-based conduct includes speaking derisively to or about a student or parent because of factors such as race, ethnicity, religion, gender, nationality, and age; refusing to allow a student to participate in an activity because of any of these factors in the absence of a legitimate nondiscriminatory reason; and disciplining a student more frequently or more harshly because of any of these factors. 

Over the previous two school years there were 459 cases of substantiated student-on-student bias-based behavior, with a 51 percent increase between the two years, according to data obtained from the Office of Equity.  There were an additional 264 cases of this type of behavior that went unsubstantiated. 

For the same time span, there were 21 substantiated instances of employee-on-student biased-based behavior, 8 occurring in school year 2021-2022 and 13 in 2022-2023.  There were an additional 47 allegations of this type of behavior that could not be substantiated. 

While officials have refused to release more detailed information on sexual misconduct, bullying, and bias-based incidents in Boston schools, a lawsuit against the city filed by two former students of the now-defunct Mission Hill K-8 Pilot School suggests the problem can sometimes be severe. 

According to the lawsuit, one of the former students, identified by the pseudonym Casey Rose, alleged she was harassed repeatedly on school grounds orally and physically.  The lawsuit said students urinated in her cubby, punched her in the stomach and head, and exposed themselves in front of her. 

Rose’s mother eventually removed her from the Mission Hill School and moved the family to a suburban school district.

In a motion to dismiss the complaint, city officials didn’t deny the bullying and sexual misconduct happened, but said the city cannot be held responsible for what happens at a pilot school because it is autonomous.

Officials with Boston Public Schools have refused to release more detailed records about sexual misconduct, bullying, and bias-related incidents, claiming that it would violate the privacy of those involved. 

Manza Arthur, the supervisor of public records in Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin’s office, examined a sampling of the school system’s incident reports in unredacted form in April. She then ordered school officials “to review the records, redact where necessary, and provide the responsive records in a manner consistent with the Public Records Law, its regulations and this order within 10 business days.” 

School officials refused to comply.  

Arthur does not have the legal authority to enforce her orders.  Instead, she would have to refer the matter to Attorney General Andrea Campbell, which Arthur has refused to do. Arthur, Galvin’s general counsel, and Galvin himself refused to explain why. 

The Pioneer Institute’s Public Interest Law Center in Boston is currently seeking the information in Superior Court.  

Grant, the researcher and trainer specializing in sexual misconduct prevention in public schools, said she is concerned about the Boston school system’s penchant for keeping information on sexual misconduct private.

“Reports of harassment and abuse should not be kept a secret from students, parents, and the community,” she said in an email. “Instead of shielding our educational institutions from these events, we should address them head on and work to provide a safe environment for all students.” 

Amber Nesbitt, deputy inspector general of the Sexual Allegations Unit that investigates sexual misconduct in Chicago public schools, agrees. “Sharing information about these cases increases transparency and awareness,” she said in an email.  “It also allows members of the public to understand . . . the types of misconduct we uncover, which can range from less severe boundary-crossing misconduct up to criminal acts.” 

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IN LATE MAY, the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of 94-year-old Geraldine Tyler, a Minnesota woman who did not get the surplus back after her condo was foreclosed on and sold off for $40,000 — $25,000 more than what she owed.

By keeping the excess, the court held the Minnesota county where Tyler lived violated the “takings clause” of the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution, which states that private property cannot be taken for public use without just compensation.

“The taxpayer must render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, but no more,” wrote Chief Justice John Roberts in an eloquent summation of the court’s unanimous decision.

In Massachusetts and the 11 other states that seize property in much the same fashion, Caesar has clearly overstepped. 

Critics call the practice “home equity theft,” and it is a scenario that often plays out with the poor, the elderly, and the infirm. Lawmakers on Beacon Hill are moving to change the law going forward, to bring the state into compliance with the Supreme Court decision, but there’s also a very real possibility that the people who have had their equity stolen will file suit to reclaim it, which could cost cities and towns across Massachusetts millions of dollars.

Joshua Polk, an attorney with the libertarian Pacific Legal Foundation, which brought the successful Supreme Court case, said he is aware of a number of Massachusetts lawsuits that are in the works, either as class actions or as individual cases, to get the former homeowners back the excess financial equity that they lost. “Some of the cases involve several hundreds of thousands of dollars in equity,” he said.

The Bay State may see fallout similar to Michigan, where 43 counties agreed to a settlement in a class action lawsuit just after the Supreme Court ruling was issued. The counties must pay back up to $2 billion to the once homeowners from whom they kept the surplus after foreclosing on and selling their homes. The settlements require the counties to give back 80 percent of the excess from the sale of foreclosed homes that took place between 2013 and 2020.

Lawmakers for years in Massachusetts have tried to change the law with no success. Now, in the wake of the Supreme Court decision, sentiment appears to be shifting. Sen. Susan Moran, co-chair of the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Revenue, said it’s time for a change.

“Folks are in the situation where they fall behind, really not always understanding what their rights are, not always understanding the gravamen of the situation, and doing the best they can to get ahead and try to pay their family bills,” said the Falmouth lawmaker. “And the idea that, for years, the companies that were doing the foreclosures would be keeping the equity is just something that I think is unconscionable.”

BAY STATE RECKONING

The Pacific Legal Foundation, drawing on data from a variety of sources, provides some clue to the financial exposure faced by the state’s three largest cities — Boston, Springfield, and Worcester.

According to the data, which covers the period from January 2014 to December 2020, Boston foreclosed on and sold off 45 homes in which the homeowners lost a total of $12.2 million in equity, while owing only $1.6 million in taxes, interest, and fees to the city. The average home equity loss was $419,201. Thirty-six of the homes were in Dorchester, six in Mattapan, two in Roxbury, and one in Roslindale.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s public records office said in a statement that the city “cannot confirm” the data provided by the Pacific Legal Foundation.

Springfield foreclosed on and sold more homes (129) than any of the 21 Massachusetts municipalities studied in-depth by the foundation. This resulted in the largest total equity loss by homeowners in these municipalities — $15 million — but they owed the city only $3.5 million in taxes, interest, and fees. The average home equity loss was $119,041. The McKnight Historic District had the largest rate of homes foreclosed and sold (22).

“When we go to foreclosure, it’s a last ditch effort,” said Stephen Lonergan, Springfield’s treasurer/collector. “We always try to work something out with taxpayers first. Our goal is to keep the person who owns the house in the house. I don’t think anybody chooses not to pay their taxes. But stuff happens — bad things very often happen to good people. If I had to choose between paying my taxes or feeding my kids, I’d feed my kids.”

Worcester, and a third party to which the city sold the debt, foreclosed on and sold a total of 23 homes. The homeowners lost $4.5 million in equity, while owing only $300,000 in taxes, interest, and fees to the city. The average home equity loss was $193,904. Worcester sold two of the homes itself, and for the other 21 homes the city sold off the debt to Tallage Davis, LLC, a Boston-based private investment company.

When asked why the city doesn’t give back the money, Timothy McGourthy, Worcester’s chief financial officer, said, “We have no obligation to do that.” Asked for reasons why some Worcester homeowners might fall behind in paying their tax bill, McGourthy said, “You have to ask them.” 

Ed Augustus, who was recently appointed by Gov. Maura Healey to be the first secretary of housing and livable communities, served as the city manager of Worcester during the time period when homeowners there lost the $4.5 million in equity, while only owing $300,000 in taxes.

Augustus, through his spokesperson, declined to comment. Healey’s office offered a statement that “the new Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities is committed to making our housing system more affordable, accessible, and equitable for all.”

Not all communities seize property for nonpayment of taxes. Somerville, for example, has had delinquent property owners but has not executed a single foreclosure, according to Treasurer Linda Dubuque.

“Somerville is in a fiscally sound position that allows avoiding foreclosing on homeowners, which is so important because it’s usually the elderly or people with health issues who are not able to pay their taxes,” Dubuque said in a statement. “Our approach allows people in truly difficult circumstances to stay in their home until either they choose to sell or live out their life in their home and then their heirs sell. Upon that sale, the taxes are paid and the owner or their heirs inherit the remaining equity. The city would rather wait to collect the owed taxes.”

CHALLENGE EXPECTED

The law as it stands in Massachusetts permits a “classic unconstitutional taking,” according to the state attorney general’s office. Because the state extinguishes the right of homeowners to any of their equity after lien proceedings start, “this central feature of the Massachusetts tax foreclosure process simply cannot be distinguished from the one the Supreme Court struck down,” Patrick Moore, first assistant attorney general, told the Joint Committee on Revenue in June.

Moore expects a decision striking down the law will come soon. “Whether the land court, or another court where this issue has been raised, will rule on the issue in days, weeks, or a few months ahead is not clear, but the Tyler decision ensures that that time is very near,” he said.

Some individual settlements have already been reached with homeowners in Massachusetts. Deborah Foss, a 67-year-old New Bedford woman whose home was foreclosed on by Tallage, ultimately received an $85,000 settlement offer that concluded the case without striking down the law but did make up for “a substantial amount of her lost equity,” according to the Pacific Legal Foundation.

Carmen Rodriguez sued Worcester and Tallage after they foreclosed on her home over about $2,600 in tax debt, leading to the sale of her home worth about $300,000, only about $4,000 of which went to the city. Tallage agreed this year to dismiss Rodriguez’s eviction and vacate the tax foreclosure that was before the land court, said Greater Boston Legal Services senior attorney Todd Kaplan.

A case still pending before a bankruptcy judge asks the court to declare the tax foreclosure process unconstitutional, Kaplan said. Lawyers were already arguing that the tax foreclosure process conflicted with bankruptcy laws, and “when Tyler came down, it added additional urgency to the whole process of dismantling the tax foreclosure process,” Kaplan said.

Attorney General Andrea Campbell said in a statement that the Supreme Court decision presents an opportunity for legislators to reform the law in a way that “maximizes equity, emphasizes fairness, and closes the racial wealth gap.”

VIEW FROM THE HILL

Lawmakers let loose a flurry of bills over the past few sessions, all trying to address the lien takings, with outrage pouring in from both chambers and both parties. But no law has emerged yet. 

Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, a Gloucester Republican, proposed straightforwardly that “any amount in excess of the amount owed to the municipality for sale of property shall be remitted back to the former owner of the said property.”

Sen. Cynthia Creem of Newton, whose bill also favors brevity and would ensure that any excess proceeds after taxes and fees be returned to the property owner and their heirs, expressed a sense of urgency before the Revenue Committee in June.

“We should not wait any longer to make this better,” she told the committee. “We should not wait any longer to not have illegal unjust takings. Any delay will result in additional families suffering devastating disproportionate economic loss.”

For the past few sessions, bills seeking to change the state law on tax lien foreclosures have been sent to study – essentially killed.

Several legislators are looking to treat delinquent tax debt the same way as delinquent mortgage payments under state law, where the banks have to give back any excess when the homes are foreclosed on and sold. 

Other bills are trying to amend the tax lien foreclosure process itself. Rep. Tram Nguyen has filed bills several times that would require any company that buys a title to provide clear notice to the homeowner and local Council on Aging. The homeowner would have a year to redeem the title (by paying the taxes and interest), up from six months today. The bill would let municipalities offer more flexible repayment plans to individuals trying to catch up on taxes.

A bill filed by Sen. Mark Montigny of New Bedford includes similar language to improve notice requirements, extend the time to pay taxes and interest to keep title to property, and allow for flexible repayment programs. It also states explicitly that if the property is sold at auction, anything “above and beyond reasonable expenses as approved by the land court shall be returned to the former owner.”

Not everyone is on board with overhauling the system.

Twenty small towns, all but two in rural areas, submitted letters in strong opposition to the legislation to the Joint Committee on Revenue in June. The letters all listed 17 reasons for opposing the legislation, among them:   

• “Taking away the surplus from municipalities . . . removes a long-standing tax policy that not only motivates property owners to pay their property taxes, but also allows municipalities to use tax foreclosures for municipal benefits (conservation, flood plan management, business development zones, etc.).”
• “The bills effectively reward the bad behavior of delinquent property owners and shifts the financial burdens to the backs of property owners who pay their taxes on a timely basis.”

The letters conclude: “I hope the committee will leave the existing property tax collection laws in its current form as it is working to serve the needs of our community.”

The Massachusetts Municipal Association said in a statement this month that it understands the new urgency sparked by the Supreme Court ruling.

“We support creating a special commission to closely examine the current practice around collection of delinquent property taxes, and ensure that any changes take into account the needs of municipalities and taxpayers,” the association said.

Renee Fernandes, the president of the Massachusetts Collectors and Treasurers Association, said her members are worried about the legislation. “We’re all very anxious what all of this ends up being,” she says in an interview. “It definitely will have an effect on how we do business going forward in the future. We’re all waiting with bated breath.”

Legislators left for their August recess without action on the set of bills, but Moran said she and fellow chair Rep. Mark Cusack of Braintree agreed to move forward with the matter by collecting additional testimony in listening sessions. “We are going to use those listening sessions to actually propose a bill within the committee,” Moran said this month.

Moran made it clear that the Supreme Court decision lit a fire under legislators to advance something. “The urgency is appreciated, as there are lots of folks that are still in the situation where they don’t feel like they have assurances, so we want to be sure that we try to move it as expeditiously as possible,” she said.

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