Jeffrey Flaks is one of the most influential healthcare and business leaders in Connecticut, and two of his top recent priorities have been innovation and partnerships.
Over the past year, Hartford HealthCare has announced a number of new deals that aim to expand access to care and help develop the industry’s workforce.
Hartford HealthCare in February launched the Center for AI Innovation in Healthcare, which will focus on using artificial intelligence technologies to improve patient care and hospital operations.
In January, HHC established a partnership with San Francisco-based multispecialty telehealth company Hims & Hers, which will refer patients that use the platform to Hartford HealthCare’s primary and specialty care providers for in-person services.
HHC has also teamed with OnMed, a virtual care delivery company, to deploy its virtual care services at a grocery supermarket in Dayville. Walgreens has partnered with Hartford HealthCare to add four new in-store health clinics in Connecticut, which will allow seven-day-a-week access to healthcare providers.
HHC has also signed deals with Google Cloud and One Medical, the Amazon-owned, subscription-based primary care provider that has agreed to open at least five new offices in Connecticut.
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Flaks, who has been with HHC since 2004, has helped oversee a gradual transformation of the system into a much larger, decentralized organization with hospitals, physician practices, surgical centers and urgent care facilities spread throughout the state.
He oversees a statewide health system that recorded over $5.4 billion in operating revenue in fiscal 2022, which represented 28.7% of the operating dollars collected by all Connecticut health systems combined.
HHC is the second-largest health system in Connecticut, behind Yale New Haven Health.
With its 2019 purchase of Bridgeport-based St. Vincent’s Medical Center, HHC made a big play in Fairfield County, investing millions to renovate the aging facility. It’s also been aggressive in purchasing physician practices and surgical centers, which has, at times, drawn the ire of competitors, including Trinity Health Of New England.
Flaks also led the debut of HHC’s new 110,000-square-foot downtown Hartford headquarters at 100 Pearl St., which is expected to eventually house 700 employees.