Despite recent financial issues, Connecticut Children’s balance sheet has remained relatively strong, which has allowed the organization to continue to make long-term investments, even though it’s dealing with short-term operating deficits, said Marty Gavin, the hospital’s CEO.
That’s partly because Connecticut Children’s capital structure relies more heavily on philanthropy than most adult hospitals, and fundraising efforts have remained strong.
Just last week, Connecticut Children’s received a $1.5 million grant from United Technologies Corp. to build a new 2,000-square-foot family resource center at its Hartford campus.
Last year the hospital raised $12 million. Next year’s goal is $14 million; long-term, Gavin said he wants annual contributions to reach $25 million.
Connecticut Children’s has little debt and $200 million in cash, but Gavin said he worries that continued short-term deficits could eat into the hospital’s reserves and hurt its ability to make future investments.
Recently, however, Connecticut Children’s has added a new $38 million health IT system, opened a $10 million ambulatory care center in Farmington and a new primary care facility in Hartford, and recruited more physicians.
Connecticut Children’s now has 1,100 people on its medical staff, including 170 doctors, a 50 percent increase from seven years ago.
But don’t expect many more significant brick-and-mortar investments, Gavin said. While many Connecticut hospitals are rushing to build outpatient centers around the state, Connecticut Children’s doesn’t want to go down that route. Instead, it would rather partner with those hospitals and/or developers to lease space.
— Greg Bordonaro
