FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 13, 2023
(Hartford, CT) - The Office of Health Strategy has offered, and the applicants in this matter have accepted, to engage in confidential settlement negotiations. Those discussions are on-going. The Office’s goal is to reach an agreed settlement with the parties that will adequately address issues of quality, access and affordability that fall within our statutory obligations and will ensure that any acquisition is in the best interests of the residents of CT. OHS will be looking to the cooperation from the applicants needed to achieve that goal.
It is not unusual for complex hospital acquisitions that require multiple layers of review to take a year or more to complete. In this matter, there are three hospitals involved in this transaction (Manchester Memorial Hospital, Rockville General Hospital and Waterbury Hospital), while most other transactions in the past have only involved one hospital. Additionally, unlike many other hospital acquisition applications, there is a sister application for the transfer of ownership of a medical group. OHS has needed to consider that application both individually and as it relates to the hospital application. Moreover, this application also required that a Cost and Market Impact Review (CMIR) be conducted, and the CMIR in this case took longer to complete than with prior acquisitions due in part to the complexity of the application. To rush any one of these reviews would not serve the interests of the public or be in compliance with OHS’s governing statutes.
Despite all these factors, OHS’s process for this application is still well within the statutory guidelines. Notably, despite contrary assertions, previous applications involving only one hospital and without a medical group transfer have taken nearly the same amount of time.
OHS understands the concerns expressed by affected citizens and is processing the various components as quickly as possible.
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Contact: Tina Kumar-Hyde, Director of Communications
Connecticut Office of Health Strategy
Email: Tina.Hyde@ct.gov
Cell: (860) 969.7228