UConn should look within for cheaper solutions to UCHC's problems

By: Bryan Carroll

Posted: 2/16/09

It is not realistic to believe the John Dempsey Hospital will not need state assistance after the mergers between the UConn Health Center in Farmington and Hartford Hospital is complete.

I imagine the request from the UConn Health Center will want to cover outstanding costs not absorbed by the partnership. Building a new 250-bed hospital to replace the current John Dempsey facility could cost Connecticut's taxpayers easily $475 million. Other costs will include $13 million dollars in state payroll, fringe benefits, new equipment acquisitions and monetary concessions given to the unionized Health Center workers. Hartford Hospital would assume theoretical responsibility for the Health Center's finances (i.e. their debt), which means that the Health Center would not once again ask the state legislature to help pay off its debts. Even with that in mind, there are still costs, ones that not have been articulated in the collaboration agreement, that might fall to the state.

According to the Hartford Courant, "the proposed partnership is intended to financially stabilize the UConn Health Center, which has relied on cash infusions from the state legislature to stay afloat in recent years, and could significantly change the health care landscape in the region."

However, this partnership still does not provide enough security to allow for a "plan B" of sorts if the combined health care corporation does not turn a profit within three years. The same Courant article comments that, "Between that [labor costs] and the bonding costs for the new hospital, the state would pay $605 million dollars over 10 years. Hartford Hospital would spend between $425 million and $565 million in that time for academic support, technology, research and building a new patient tower in downtown Hartford."

The Health Center will probably still need cash donations from the state even after everything is squared away. For example, the merger requests that the state essentially pay for the fringe benefits of Health Center employees, including a full tuition waiver to the University of Connecticut. Moreover, UConn President Michael Hogan said some cost to taxpayers will be unavoidable and could not be reduced until the agreement is solidified.

With this in mind, I wonder if the administrators - at Hartford Hospital, in the state government and at UConn - have thought of a 'plan B.'

This plan B should involve all academic colleges on the Storrs Campus. Hogan commented that John Dempsey was "a small, old hospital with a bad payer mix." This quote underlines the need for a top-to-bottom analysis of the physical building done by the Storrs campus' engineering department.

In addition, it has not been specifically articulated what the hierarchical relationship will be between the two hospitals. At the most recent Board of Trustees meeting, Hogan said there would be representation from Hartford Hospital on the UCHC's board of directors, and vice-versa. But for the sake of the employees who work at both facilities, and for the lawmakers and public whose support the two companies seek, these details must be worked out.

An ad-hoc committee with appointed facility of the engineering, nursing and business schools on the respected campuses could provide innovative solutions to streamline the business structure at John Dempsey. The collective partnership of the university community would foster public support (and subsequently legislative support) for the final plan.

Hey, it's not like they have anything to lose: as President Hogan said, "the alternative is a continuing hemorrhage of the hospital."