Over the last four years, UConn Health system in Farmington has lost an average of $140 million per year. Last year, Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration hired consulting firm Cain Brothers to get to the bottom of longstanding financial problems at UConn Health and to suggest solutions.
Hartford Courant reporter Chris Keating said the report, released last month, asserts that one of UConn Health's biggest problems is its relatively small number of staffed hospital beds.
“Two hundred and thirty four beds in Farmington, Connecticut, for UConn is relatively small,” Keating said. “They don't have the scale for combining back-office operations, IT operations, computer operations — places where you would think they could save money.”
He compared UConn Health’s scale to other nearby health care systems.
“I've heard figures for Yale New Haven Hospital [of] 1,500 beds,” Keating said. “You go to Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan, there's 1,000 beds there.”
As Keating pointed out in his article, Cain Brothers’ finding that UConn Health is struggling financially is not new, but the report’s roadmap was.
“It was basically a primer on what you can do,” Keating said. “The report did not, I repeat, did not, say, ‘You must do it this way or that way.’ It was more of a series of options.”
Keating said three main ways to address budget issues were spelled out in the report:
- Leasing out space in UConn John Dempsey Hospital: But Keating cautioned, “I don't think you could generate enough money. It doesn't solve the scale problem.”
- Combining IT and administrative “back offices” with another hospital: Keating said this option also does not solve the scale problem.
- Completely merging with another hospital system: ”I don't know if UConn would have the strength [to] take over a smaller hospital like Bristol Hospital, for example,” Keating said. “Or B, have UConn being taken over by a bigger operation, meaning the Hartford Hospital network (Hartford Healthcare).”
UConn Health’s fate will be decided by a combination of state lawmakers, new UConn Health President Dr. Andrew Agwunobi, and the UConn Health Center board of trustees.
“I think the point of the report, at least in Lamont's head, was 'explain this all to me and explain how this could work and how we could go forward,'” Keating said. “This report is essentially a blueprint.”
