06/06/2019
OHS Approves Yale/Bridgeport Acquisition of Milford Hospital
(HARTFORD, CT) – Connecticut Office of Health Strategy (OHS) Executive Director Vicki Veltri announced today that the Certificate of Need application for the Bridgeport Hospital—a Yale New Haven Health System facility—acquisition of Milford Hospital and Milford Health and Medical has been approved with conditions ensuring continued access to high-quality care and a cost cap on the merged Bridgeport/Milford entity.
Veltri said, “Despite the many changes across our healthcare landscape, we must ensure that the emerging systems meet the health needs of residents, keep high-quality care affordable, and address how fast healthcare costs are growing. The rising cost of healthcare is a national problem, but in Connecticut we are taking action to bring costs down. This approval is conditioned upon several things, including a cost cap that will restrain the rate of cost growth by linking it to the consumer price index. For residents who use Bridgeport Hospital in Bridgeport or Milford, that will keep cost growth in check and stabilize it in the future.”
The agreement makes the 106-bed Milford Hospital a campus of Bridgeport Hospital under a satellite license and brings it under the Yale New Haven Health System umbrella which includes Yale New Haven Hospital, Bridgeport Hospital, Greenwich Hospital, Lawrence and Memorial Hospital, Westerly Hospital, and Northeast Medical Group. The transfer of ownership is expected to expand access to clinical services and consult programs; improve performance and safety by reducing adverse events; and improve the hospital’s ability to recruit primary care and specialty physicians. Yale New Haven Health will also invest $50 million to improve Milford Campus clinical services and the physical plant.
Under Connecticut General Statute § 19a-639(a), the agreement sets forth a number of requirements that the Yale New Haven Health System must meet including:
- Complying with a cost growth cap applied to Bridgeport Hospital and the Milford Campus that limits cost growth to whichever is lower, 1) the consumer price index plus one percent, or 2) three percent;
- Increasing participation in Alternative Payment Models in which Yale New Haven Health System physicians are accountable for quality and cost of care;
- Accountability for excessive year-over-year price increases to services as identified by OHS using the All Payer Claims Database;
- Notifying OHS of any significant change to the charity care policy that could increase consumer costs;
- Conducting a 2022 Community Health Needs Assessment with implementation strategies and tying that to the Community Benefits Program; and
- Promoting community-building by applying at minimum a one percent increase to the community benefit program each year over five years, holding twice-yearly community meetings; and appointing a community member to the Bridgeport Hospital Board of Trustees.
The new hospital will hire an independent monitor chosen by OHS to serve for at least three years who will conduct on-site visits and report on agreement compliance.
Pursuant to multiple sections of the General Statutes, OHS leads the Health Systems Planning Unit that administers the Certificate of Need program—a regulatory responsibility to promote statewide health facility and service development and monitor the impact of provider acquisitions and consolidations on the communities they serve.
All documents related to this CON application can be found in the OHS CON portal under Docket # 18-32270. Click on the blue filter icon next to ‘docket number’, type 32270 in the first box, then click ‘filter’.
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Contact: Juliet Manalan
Communications Director, Connecticut Office of Health Strategy
450 Capitol Avenue
Hartford, CT 06106
860.418.7010 (office)
860.913.7528 (mobile)