Local hospital officials have yet to endorse Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s $864 million UConn Health Center proposal. But while they likely have major concerns about the project’s potential impact on their patient and doctor base, there is something in the proposal for nearly every area hospital to like.
As full details of the proposal begin to emerge, one of the key aspects of it are the UConn Health Center Network initiatives, which was originally part of former Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s health center proposal last year.
Under Malloy’s plan most of the initiatives remain the same and they will funnel millions of dollars to area hospitals for various projects, including $5 million each to Hartford and St Francis hospitals.
The initiatives include:
•·        A simulation and conference center on the Hartford Hospital campus that uses new technologies and simulated care settings to educate and train health care professionals;
•·        A Connecticut Institute for Primary Care at the St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center campus that is intended to increase the number of primary care providers in the state;
•·        An institute for clinical and translational science at the UConn Health Center
•·        A comprehensive cancer center to expand clinical trials and advance patient care in the Hartford region;
•·        A UConn-sponsored health disparities institute intended to enhance research and the delivery of care to minority and medically underserved people;
•·        The Connecticut Institute for Nursing Excellence at the UConn School of Nursing that will explore ways to enhance the recruitment, education, and retention of nurses and nursing faculty;
•·        The planning, design, land acquisition, development and construction of a cancer treatment center for the Hospital of Central Connecticut along with upgrades to the hospital’s oncology unit;
•·        Patient room renovations at Bristol Hospital.
The UConn Health Center Network initiatives were originally part of Rell’s $350 million health center proposal last year, which fell apart after the state failed to win $100 million in federal funding.
The initiatives were meant to allay the concerns of area hospitals about the potential impact major renovations and new construction at the UConn Health Center would have on their patient base.
The fear among local hospitals, which were largely left out of the discussion of Malloy’s plan, is that a newly renovated John Dempsey Hospital will mean patients with private insurance will flock to a newer facility in the suburbs, rather than come to the inner city for care.
The Malloy Administration tried to placate those concerns Thursday saying that the proposal only adds 10 new beds to John Dempsey Hospital. At the same time there is projected to be a 655 bed shortage in the Hartford region by 2020, officials said, leaving plenty of opportunity for other hospitals to maintain their market share.
