“I haven’t seen a time in my almost 10 years here in the state where there’s so much happening in health care,” says state Healthcare Advocate Victoria Veltri. Here are five health care stories to watch in 2016.
health care roundtable
Posted inHealth
Critics seek hard look at Yale–L+M deal, hospital market power
A group of unions and advocacy organizations are calling for state regulators to take a hard look at the growth in power and market concentration of large health systems in Connecticut – and what that means for patients – when they review Yale New Haven Health System’s proposed acquisition of New London’s Lawrence + Memorial Hospital.
Posted inHealth
As health care changes, can independent hospitals survive?
As large hospital systems have grown in Connecticut, the state now has just seven hospitals that are not part of a bigger system or in talks to join one. Are the remaining independents holding out for the right suitor? Or do they see a path forward as independent hospitals at a time when more hospital leaders are taking the opposite view?
Posted inHealth
In Windham Hospital service cuts, some see sign of the future
Most of Connecticut’s 29 hospitals are in or joining larger systems, raising the possibility that parent companies will seek to consolidate services rather than offering every type of care at each hospital in their network. Does the state have the proper oversight to address cuts in what services hospitals deliver?
Posted inHealth
St. Mary’s Hospital to join national chain, St. Francis
St. Mary’s Hospital in Waterbury announced plans to join a national nonprofit Catholic health care chain that will soon include St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford, the latest in a flurry of moves by Connecticut hospitals to join larger networks.
Posted inHealth
Cuts at Windham Hospital prompt worries about access to care
The hospital’s parent company says cuts are needed to keep the hospital open, but critics say the reductions being contemplated could undermine access to care in a part of the state with few hospitals and limited public transportation.
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Day Kimball, Hartford HealthCare exploring affiliation
Day Kimball Hospital in Putnam could become the next hospital to join Hartford HealthCare, the parent company of Hartford, Backus and Windham hospitals, MidState Medical Center and The Hospital of Central Connecticut.
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New London, Westerly hospitals to join Yale New Haven system
The parent company of New London’s Lawrence + Memorial Hospital and Rhode Island’s Westerly Hospital has reached an agreement to join the Yale New Haven Health System, the two corporations announced Wednesday.
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Manchester Memorial, Rockville General hospitals find new buyer
The parent company of Manchester Memorial and Rockville General hospitals announced plans Friday to be acquired by Prospect Medical Holdings, a for-profit, Los Angeles-based company already in the process of acquiring Waterbury Hospital.
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Why one independent hospital decided to explore going bigger
Every year, Lawrence + Memorial Hospital CEO Bruce Cummings has done what he calls a “back of the envelope” calculation about the merits of the New London hospital’s remaining independent or joining a larger system. “My thinking began to evolve last year as I looked out on the horizon and just saw just extraordinary changes,” he said.
Posted inHealth
Lawrence + Memorial Hospital’s parent in talks to join Yale New Haven system
If the two sides reach an agreement, it would have the potential to make one of the state’s largest health systems even larger, continuing a trend toward consolidation that hospital officials say is inevitable and necessary, but which has provoked concern among some lawmakers, unions and community groups.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Cheat sheet: What’s in the big health care bill
The state Senate passed a wide-ranging health care bill Monday that could have significant implications for hospitals, insurance companies, doctors and patients. Here’s what it would do.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Revised health care bill passes House, despite hospital opposition
Many individual provisions of the 87-page proposal could have been controversial bills on their own; together, they represent a set of changes that could have significant ripples through major industries undergoing rapid change.
Posted inHealth, Politics
House nearing deal on massive health care bill
Legislators are closing in on a final version of a massive, heavily lobbied health care proposal that could have significant implications for hospitals, doctors, insurers and patients.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Senate passes major health care bill, but fate in House uncertain
The state Senate Thursday night passed an expansive bill aimed at influencing the state’s fast-changing health care landscape, a measure driven largely by the Senate leaders’ concerns about large hospital systems gaining too much market power and driving up costs. But a key House Democrat said that’s unlikely to be the final version.