Two anesthesiology practices with a combined 300 doctors, nurses and other staff said they have merged and changed their name.
Hartford Anesthesiology Associates Inc. and Medical Anesthesiology Associates are now Integrated Anesthesia Associates. The two said in a statement that the merger better positions them “for new opportunities in the changing healthcare environment.”
The move also makes them one of the largest private anesthesiologist employers in the Connecticut, they said. The newly merged company’s leaders said they hoped to establish a broader presence across the state’s major health systems.
Between them, the practices have exclusive contracts to operate anesthesiology departments and operations at five Connecticut hospitals and 13 orthopedic centers, eye centers and other facilities.
HAA runs the anesthesia department at Hartford Hospital and also operates smaller departments out of Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, UConn Health Center’s John Dempsey Hospital, and various single-specialty and multi-specialty ambulatory surgery centers. Its website lists 87 physicians. MAA, which has approximately 15 doctors and is based in Shelton, runs the anesthesia department at St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport.
HAA is headed by Dr. William Ceruzzi, who is on Hartford Hospital’s medical staff. MAA is headed by Dr. Thomas Bladek, who chairs the anesthesiology department at St. Vincent’s.
Bladek said in an email that the deal had been in the works for the past two years.
He said Integrated is in talks with other private practices in the area that are facing consolidation pressures, particularly with recent legislation paving the way for for-profit hospital and medical group acquisitions in the state.
