With legislative approval and days away from a sale hearing, UConn Health officials expressed confidence Friday that they can turn around Waterbury Hospital by investing funds into the hospital, increasing staffing, and focusing on patient care.
Waterbury Hospital struggled for years under the ownership of Prospect Medical Holdings, an out-of-state private equity company in bankruptcy that state and federal officials said drained profits from the hospital at the expense of patient care. The company owes $64.4 million to the state for hospital provider taxes for Waterbury Hospital, as well as $22 million to the city for property taxes, officials have said. Suppliers have also claimed unpaid debts.
UConn Health has bid $13 million to purchase the hospital and its real estate. A sale hearing is scheduled for Monday.
“I think the days of private equity taking money out and reducing care is over,” said UConn Health Chairman John Driscoll. “We are going to be investing the resources to bring the technology and the capital up to the right standard to give the doctors and nurses the tools they need to consistently deliver the care that we believe they can. We are going to be improving care, not reducing care with UConn Health.”
Driscoll said Waterbury was once a successful, profitable hospital.
“We believe, with the right capital and our partnership with Waterbury doctors and nurses, that we can turn this hospital around and turn it profitable and deliver for the community,” he said.
UConn Health formally submitted a bid to acquire Waterbury Hospital for $13 million on Nov. 7. The hospital is the stalking horse or initial bidder for the hospital and as of Friday afternoon no other bidders have come forward.
Driscoll said investing in Waterbury Hospital is the first step toward building a network powered by UConn Health that can create a competitive system in the communities it serves to provide “high-quality care that UConn already does but at a price that more employers and patients can afford.”
State lawmakers passed legislation this week that will allow UConn Health to establish subsidiaries or joint ventures to “acquire, operate, fund or improve hospitals.”
The legislation also allocates $390 million in bonding to UConn Health to improve the hospitals it intends to acquire.
“Today we are investing in Waterbury,” Driscoll said. “In the future we expect to extend to other hospitals which include Day Kimball and Bristol and potentially partner with others. As we move forward we are not always going to be investing or buying hospitals. In some cases we will be partnering.”
Driscoll said UConn Health is the fastest growing health system in the state.
“We are at maximum capacity but we are sort of subscale relative to what we can do and should be doing for the state,” he said.
Providing resources
This week UConn Health received its tenth consecutive “A” rating for patient safety from the Leapfrog Group, a national patient safety watchdog group.
The Leapfrog Group rated all general hospitals with a letter grade based on their ability to “protect patients from medical errors, accidents, injuries and infections,” according to the Leapfrog Group.
Dr. Andy Agwunobi, UConn Health CEO and EVP of Health Affairs, said the first thing UConn Health needs is to understand what Waterbury’s challenges and gaps are and make sure they are working with staff and with the community to understand what is lacking.
Connecticut Healthcare Associates, the union which represents the nurses and technicians at Waterbury Hospital, has noted for years concerns about understaffing at Waterbury Hospital.
“Frontline caregivers have reported crumbling infrastructure – leaking ceilings, broken equipment, faulty plumbing, spotty heat and phone service – and chronic understaffing that has made it harder to deliver quality care,” Dave Hannon, union president, said in a post about the situation.
Agwunobi said it has already been noted there is a need for more specialists in the hospital, and he promised an increase in staffing.
UConn officials also want to assess the medical equipment at the hospital, Agwunobi said.
“We want to look at their electronic medical record information technology and their computers to make sure these tools support the patients,” he said. “One thing we have to invest in is cutting edge equipment. We want to focus on the patient experience and how we are interacting with our patients and making sure we communicate with them properly.”
Driscoll said doctors and nurses in some cases at Waterbury Hospital have sometimes had to spend 10 to 15 times in order to get the systems to work to enter basic information.
“We are going to fix it,” he said. “Some of the equipment is rented. It is sort of an illusion that Prospect was thought of as investing in Waterbury when what they did is take the money out and left the patients behind.”
He cited the cyberattack at the hospital in 2023 as another stumbling block for the hospital.
“Everything gets better in the hospital when you have the systems to manage it and the systems to measure patient safety and outcomes,” Driscoll said.
That begins with electronic medical record technology, Driscoll said, which allows staff to see what is going on with the patient, infection rates and response times in the hospital.
“Unless you have the technology to manage the metrics of care you can’t manage that care,” he said.
Agwunobi said it is a step by step process.
“We are optimistic we will be successful in turning Waterbury Hospital around,” he said. “It will take a lot of collaborative work and we think we are giving ourselves a five-year period during which there will be progress, investment and success. We are committed to this for the long haul and we are optimistic. Our goal is Waterbury Hospital will be here for generations to come. If you focus on the patient and the providers it generally drives excellence over time, including over time financial strength as well.”
Ed Gadomski, Connecticut Healthcare Associates Internal Union Organizer, who represents the nurses and technicians at Waterbury Hospital, said he is hopeful “prioritizing patient care over profits will be the first step toward fixing all our work.”