The state House and Senate approved a bill late Wednesday that gives for-profit hospital operators the required legal structure to employ physician groups in Connecticut.
If signed by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, the bill would allow for-profit operators to establish a medical foundation, which under state law allows hospitals to employ doctors without violating anti-kickback laws.
Nonprofit hospitals in Connecticut have been allowed to employ physicians since 2009, which for-profit operators have said would put them at a disadvantage.
Malloy vetoed a bill last year that would have allowed for-profit operator Vanguard to form a foundation.
Vanguard has since been acquired by Tenet, which wants to acquire Bristol and Waterbury hospitals, as well as Eastern Connecticut Health Network — which owns Manchester Memorial and Rockville General hospitals — through a partnership with the Yale New Haven Health System.
Yale and Tenet released a statement late Wednesday saying they were pleased the legislation was approved, but said there is a chance some of its provisions will have unintended consequences…“ones that could make it extremely difficult for us to partner with hospitals in Connecticut to provide quality patient care.”
They did not elaborate, but the amended legislation, approved by a 143-3 vote by the House and 35-1 vote by the Senate, gives both the state’s attorney general and the Office of Health Care Access greater oversight over acquisitions of both hospitals and physician groups.
A transfer of any physician practice to a hospital or health system will require a certificate of need from OCHA, a process that involves an evaluation of whether a proposed transfer would negatively impact access, quality and cost of care, among other factors.
Nonprofit and for-profit foundations would also be forbidden from sharing board members.
The American Federation of Teachers, a union that represents Connecticut healthcare workers, described the bill as “a good start toward protecting patients and local economies faced with conversion of their community hospitals.”
But the union thinks the measure failed to implement quality and access safeguards, as well as a mechanism for “meaningful input” from communities impacted by a proposed hospital acquisition.
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