Thomas MacMillan Photo
Dad Jamal Pearson: Deal will enhance kids’ care.
(Updated 2:09 p.m.) New Haven’s two hospitals, long seen as competitors, have signed a letter of intent to pursue a deal in which they’d become one 12,000-employee, 1,477-bed entity.
Yale-New Haven Hospital and the Hospital of St. Raphael sent out a joint press release at 11 a.m. Friday announcing they’ve signed the letter.
In coming months they will explore details of a deal under which “Yale-New Haven would purchase the assets of the Hospital of Saint Raphael, producing one integrated hospital with continued access to care at both campuses,” according to the release.
Yale-New Haven promised that a “majority” of St. Raphael’s employees would keep their jobs and receive pay and benefits “consistent with those currently provided to YNHH employees in similar roles” if the joint hospital becomes a reality.
St. Ray’s currently has some 4,000 employees; Yale-New Haven, 8,000. St. Ray’s has 511 beds; Yale-New Haven 966.
While no longer a separate Catholic hospital sponsored by a Catholic organization (the Sisters of Charity of St. Elizabeth), the St. Raphael campus of the combined new hospital would still offer care “consistent with Catholic teachings” if the plan comes to fruition, St. Raphael’s Vice-President Of Corporate Affairs Cindy von Beren said in an interview Friday. She said the details of how that would work will be discussed in coming months.
So will the official name of the St. Ray’s campus should Yale-New Haven acquire it as planned, she said. She said it could end up along the lines of “The Hospital of St. Raphael Campus of Yale-New Haven Hospital.”
New Haven State Rep. Pat Dillon, who has played a leading role on health issues for decades, praised the development “an attempt [to] maintain local access, local jobs, and nonprofit status.”
“But there are hoops to go through and there are risks,” she said. “I hope people give it a chance.
“At first blush it appears that if this works out, most jobs will be retained, and clinical jobs may increase.The ER and access to services for seniors and the poor will be intact. So it won’t look very different. But behavioral services are absolutely at risk if it doesn’t work out, and given problems with state reimbursement, behavioral may be at risk even if it does work out.”
Medical chiefs from both hospitals were quoted in Friday’s press release predicting that relieving St. Raphael’s of financial pressures, taking advantage of “synergies,” eliminating “redundancies” and increasing “efficiencies” would all help a combined hospital deliver better and higher-tech care to more people in New Haven.
Read the release here.
Physician’s Asst. Hutchinson.
Natasha Hutchinson, a St. Ray’s physician’s assistant, said the deal should help with the hospital’s well-known financial struggles. “I just hope that the integrity of the hospital is maintained” along with its spiritual mission with roots as a not-for-profit started by nuns.
Damaris Gonzalez was at St. Ray’s Friday because her daughter was in the delivery room about to give birth. The daughter may need an emergency C‑section because she’s small (“like 90 pounds”) and the baby’s big, Gonzalez said. She expressed optimism about the envisioned hospital takeover. “Yale has more things,” she said. Like a children’s hospital.
Jamal Pearson (pictured at the top of the story) expressed optimism, too. Smoking a cherry cigarillo at a no-smoking spot near the hospital’s Chapel Street entrance, he said had brought his 3‑year-old daughter and 1‑year-old son in for check-ups.“Yale has a better children’s ER,” he said, while St. Ray’s has strong pediatrics. “It’ll be a good thing.”
In contrast to another major hospital announcement this week — - the pending purchase of Waterbury’s not-for-profit St. Mary’s Hospital by a for-profit Texas hospital — the New Haven announcement is not a formal or legal deal.
Rather, the two sides agree to spend months exploring the details of an acquisition. Then, if they decide to proceed and strike a formal deal, the matter would come before the attorney general and the Federal Trade Commission for review.
The St. Raphael board met at the hospital Thursday night and voted to approve the letter of intent.
Shifting Landscape
The letter of intent marks a new stage in the evolution of New Haven’s health care landscape.
Yale-New Haven has been growing statewide for years. St. Raphael’s, by contrast, has wrestled with several financial woes. As a Catholic hospital, it receives less money than its counterparts in state reimbursements for treating poor people under Medicaid. That has led to tens of millions of dollars in annual losses. (Read about some of that here.) Over the past three years it has started recovering. The hospital ran a $35.6 million deficit in 2008 and $17.4 million in 2009, according to spokeswoman Liese Klein. In 2010 it did report a $735,000 profit.
The letter of intent — which was not released — calls for a combined hospital to continue to “honor” St. Raphael’s “Catholic heritage” at its Chapel Street campus, including following rules for medical care “consistent with the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services.”
“This is a very challenging time for the health care industry,” the press release quotes Marna P. Borgstrom, president and CEO of YNHH, as saying. “With the prospects of significant health care changes on the horizon, hospitals across the nation are exploring innovative ways to enhance access to high quality care while driving down costs. Integrating services between Yale-New Haven and Saint Raphael’s would provide a unique opportunity to achieve those goals.”
ObamaCare strikes again;
Increased costs + Burdensome paperwork + Government Mandates = Bankrupt Hospitals + Doctors fleeing the profession + Reduced Choices for the Sick + Longer Waiting for Service
My next door neighbor spent the first 30 yrs of his life in France. He finds the actions of our Gov't amusing....everyone in France who can afford to buys personal health insurance to avoid the long waits and poor service of the socialized health program. Thus increasing their cost and leaving the poor and less healthy to sit in the public pool and weaken that program. What a great benchmark for the USA.....
Those in DC that imposed this program on the country against the will of 60% of the population need to be voted out of office. We removed some in 2010 but we must finish the job in 2012.