From Concrete to Glass: Hospital Cafeteria Lets in the Light

BOSTON — As of September, patients, visitors and employees at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston will have a larger, removed cafeteria with a new name: Garden Café.

Chicago-based architect Bertrand Goldberg originally constructed the 13,500-square-foot dining room in the 1970s. With a cast-in-place concrete exterior and 4-foot-square windows, the cafeteria was a dark and enclosed space.

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Boston Area Medical Centers Join Blue Cross Blue Shield AQC Plan

BOSTON — The Boston Medical Center and seven affiliated health centers will join Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts’ Alternative Quality Contract (AQC), which aims to promote the quality of care over the number of services provided.

Blue Cross Blue Shield established the contracts in January 2009 as a result of concerns with the fee-for-service reimbursement model, which, according to the health care network, unintentionally rewards doctors and hospitals for the quantity and complexity of services provided rather than the quality and outcomes of care.

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