The future of Bristol Hospital is as part of a large network, CEO Kurt Barwis believes. The small community hospital is in talks to be acquired by Tenet Healthcare, a national for-profit hospital chain partnered with the Yale New Haven Health System, a move that Barwis says would help Bristol Hospital adapt to the rapidly changing demands of health care.
But that vision of the hospital’s future relies in part on the legislature: With the strong encouragement of organized labor, legislators will make expanding the regulatory oversight needed for changes in hospital ownership a top priority this year.
All but one of Connecticut’s hospitals are nonprofit, and Tenet’s potential entrance into the market — the company has deals in the works with Bristol, Waterbury Hospital, and the parent company of Manchester Memorial and Rockville General hospitals — has sparked intense interest and scrutiny from lawmakers.
It’s a debate that pits unions’ concerns against warnings from some in health care that the survival of hospitals could be at stake.
And critics of for-profit hospitals have leverage: a provision of state law that effectively prohibits for-profit hospitals from hiring doctors, a key part of running a health care system.
Click here to read the full story at the Connecticut Mirror.
I think the state made a huge mistake in allowing Yale-New Haven Hospital to take over St Raphael Hospital.
Health Care priority 1, and job is #2. And since Yale-Hospital take over Employees are not happy. I am surprised at how many left and are glad they did. A monopoly is being formed across the state and something needs to be done about it.