Bristol Hospital feels shut out by UConn study

Reporter Jackie Majerus wrote a couple of stories yesterday about a potentially critical issue facing Bristol Hospital. Here they are:

HARTFORD – As the state struggles to figure out how best to address the issue of hospital collaboration in the region, Bristol Hospital President Kurt Barwis is struggling to be part of the dialog.
"We're not at that table," said Barwis.
Asked to name the regional hospitals they're working with, University of Connecticut President Mike Hogan named The Hospital of Central Connecticut in New Britain, St. Francis Hospital, Connecticut Children's Medical Center and Hartford Hospital, but not Bristol Hospital.
"We have not been a part of the conversation," said Barwis, "and we continue to be excluded. He's not including all the community hospitals. We really need to be at the table."
But Hogan, who is new to the university, said, "We're open to a discussion with everybody."
UConn's pediatrics department is partnered with the Connecticut Children's Medical Center, said Hogan, who called it a "model" of happy and successful collaboration.
Tim Furey, chairman of the board at Bristol Hospital and a board member at St. Francis Hospital in Hartford, said competition between hospitals has "stunted" the possibilities for working together to make UConn's medical school top-notch.
"There needs to be a collaborative approach to medical school success," said Furey.
Deputy House Speaker Demetrios Giannaros, a Farmington Democrat whose district includes the UConn Health Center, said the recommendation to collaborate isn't the least expensive solution, but may be the best for the state.
Focusing only on UConn could cost less, but ultimately harm the community hospitals, Giannaros said, and hurt the state because of it.
"We may have to bite the bullet," said Giannaros, and keep the hospital system "healthy overall and not just UConn."
Giannaros said hospitals in the region, especially those that are close to UConn like Bristol Hospital, should be included in the discussion of what to do next.
"I'd love to have them involved," Giannaros said about Bristol Hospital. "They're more likely to be significantly impacted."
Bristol Hospital has no medical students, said Barwis, who would clearly welcome them.
"We could add value," Barwis said, and having medical students and being actively involved would also add value to Bristol Hospital, he said.
State Rep. Tim O'Brien, a Democrat who represents New Britain and Newington, said he's still digesting the report.
"Obviously, we have to really seriously weigh the need for hospital services in the region," said O'Brien, who serves on the finance committee. "As policymakers, we need to take a good hard look at this and come up with our own solution."
But O'Brien said hospitals like the one in Bristol and the Hospital of Central Connecticut in New Britain "absolutely" deserve to be included in the discussion.
"We need to get all opinions at the table," said O'Brien. "These are big, big decisions. We need to make sure we get it right."

And here's her story about the study itself:

HARTFORD – There are enough hospital beds in the Greater Hartford region now and into the foreseeable future, according to analysts who recommended that instead of a massive expansion in Farmington, the University of Connecticut Health Center work with other hospitals in the area to care for patients and train doctors.
The Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering on Tuesday released its findings and recommendations to state lawmakers reviewing the UConn Health Center's proposal to build a new 352-bed hospital to take the place of John Dempsey Hospital.
Instead of that project, the CASE report recommends that UConn work out a collaborative effort with other hospitals in the region.
UConn President Mike Hogan took the findings in stride, saying it "opens another door" to working in collaboration with other hospitals rather than building something that isn't needed.
"I needed a report like this," Hogan said, because it was done by "detached professional experts" with no agenda.
The findings stunned some lawmakers, including Sen. Joan Hartley, a Waterbury Democrat who said she and others had been told all along that UConn needed more beds in order to be viable.
The recommendation against enlarging the Farmington medical center requires "a major shifting of gears," said Hartley, who co-chairs the higher education and employment advancement committee.
Rep. Patricia Dillon, a New Haven Democrat who serves on the higher education committee, joked that complying with the recommendations would practically require "couples counseling."
"You've given us a heavy charge," said Dillon. "People have to be invested in this."
But the report drew high praise from Bristol Hospital President Kurt Barwis.
"The results were really good," said Barwis. "They did a great job."
Barwis and other local hospital leaders had decried the original proposal, saying a huge new hospital in Farmington could be a deathblow to community hospitals.
"It could have potentially caused all the good things we've done, the turnaround, to be derailed," said Barwis. He said the report recognizes the possible negative impact on hospitals like the one in Bristol.
"There's clearly no need for additional beds," said Barwis.
Dr. Steven Hanks, chief medical officer of The Hospital of Central Connecticut in New Britain, said the findings have created "a lot of confusion" about how regional collaborations would function.
"Working out the details is going to be very, very difficult," said Hanks.
Deputy House Speaker Demetrios Giannaros, a Farmington Democrat whose district includes the UConn Health Center, said the report indicates an "absolute need to upgrade" the health center.
"We're on the right track," Giannaros said.
But Giannaros, who serves on both the finance and higher education committees, stressed that UConn can't have a viable medical school in the coming decades "without a better facility for the doctors to practice" and without better clinical services.
The health center is outdated, Giannaros said, and too small to support itself.
"Its equipment may fall apart sooner rather than later," Giannaros said.
Hogan said UConn's medical school and dental school are at stake.
"We can't run a medical school without a state of the art medical facility, practice facility," said Hogan.
The best thing to come out of the study, said Barwis, is a new direction for the future.
Details of exactly how the collaboration can be established were deliberately not part of the report, according to Dr. Myron Genel, professor emeritus at Yale University School of Medicine, who served on the CASE report's study committee.
"We do not envision that this is going to be an easy process at all," Genel said. "The possibilities are significant for everybody involved."
Genel said UConn and the regional hospitals should work out a memorandum of understanding to get the process underway.
"Details can be worked out," said Hogan. He said the report offers "an exceptional solution for health care in the Hartford area."
Whatever happens, said Assistant Majority Whip David McCluskey, lawmakers must keep in mind that it is public money funding it. UConn will come to the state to pay for any project, he said, not to its fellow hospitals.
"At the end of the day, it's still taxpayers' money," said McCluskey, a West Hartford Democrat. He said governance over expenditures is important. "We're going to want to have a lot of influence over what decisions are made."
The entire CASE report is available online at www.ctcase.org.

Here are the links to the CASE press release, executive summary and full report:

[Press Release] [Executive Summary in PDF format] [Full Report in PDF format]

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