UConn proposes alternative to new hospital
The proposal could help avert a battle with area hospitals that began soon after UConn decided last year to go ahead with its plan for a new 352-bed hospital in the Farmington Valley. Other hospitals said such a facility would draw away profitable insured patients, leaving them with the financial burden of caring for the region's poor.
Hogan, who became UConn president in September, is not shutting the door on a new hospital. But he is offering a more modest proposal to renovate Dempsey's 224-bed hospital and enter a partnership with Hartford Hospital, St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center, the Hospital of Central Connecticut in New Britain and Connecticut Children's Medical Center.
"It's more sensible and cheaper for everybody all the way around if we can find a good working partnership with our affiliates," Hogan said.
He said he has had some preliminary talks with local hospital leaders, but no details have been worked out.
State lawmakers retained the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering to analyze the UConn hospital plan and its impact on nearby hospitals. The report is due in March.
The potential of a state-mediated solution to the dispute has helped regenerate interest in negotiations, said Laurence Tanner, president and chief executive officer of the Hospital of Central Connecticut.
"We all thought it would be better to come up with our own solutions rather than having it mandated by an outside panel," he said.
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