Connecticut has approved Hartford HealthCare’s acquisition of St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport and its related operations in one of the state’s biggest hospital deals in recent years, the two hospitals and regulators announced Thursday.
The deal combines the 473-bed community teaching hospital in Bridgeport and regional St. Vincent’s Multispecialty Group practices under the Hartford HealthCare system. Hartford HealthCare has about 21,000 employees and more than 300 locations in Connecticut.
Terms of the deal were not announced.
With the St. Vincent’s acquisition, Hartford HealthCare extends its reach into Fairfield County, competing with Yale New Haven Health System, which owns Yale New Haven, Bridgeport and Greenwich hospitals. Yale New Haven also owns Lawrence + Memorial Hospital in New London.
Vicki Veltri, head of the Connecticut Office of Health Strategy, said in an interview the combination will lead to “substantial competition” in Bridgeport. However, state approval instead focused on rapidly rising health care costs. Approval came with conditions to ensure “continued access to high-quality and affordable health care,” she said in announcing the state’s approval.
“Unfortunately, here in Connecticut and across the nation we see the high cost of care outpace what consumers can afford,” she said.
Veltri said approval of the deal includes a cost cap tied to the consumer price index, the federal measure of inflation, and other initiatives to “keep costs in check and improve the value of health care for St. Vincent’s patients.”
The acquisition will expand access to primary and specialty care services in the region, provide new technology, improve physician recruitment and retention and expand community benefit programs, she said.
Hartford HealthCare will make $135 million in capital investments over seven years to upgrade information technology, facilities and equipment, she said.
The Hartford HealthCare network includes Hartford Hospital, the Hospital of Central Connecticut in New Britain and Southington, William Backus Hospital in Norwich, MidState Medical Center in Meriden, Charlotte Hungerford Hospital in Torrington and the Hartford HealthCare Medical Group.
“Fairfield County needs a vibrant St. Vincent’s Medical Center — one that’s an essential part of an overall, highly connected system of care,” said Jeffrey A. Flaks, president of Hartford HealthCare. “As part of Hartford HealthCare, St. Vincent’s patients will have access to more programs and services, excellent care coordination and a truly statewide focus on quality and safety — on and off the main hospital campus.”
Craig Cordola, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Ascension Health, the nonprofit Catholic health care system of which St. Vincent’s is a part, said the hospital is “delighted” that St. Vincent’s employees, physicians and volunteers will be a part of Hartford HealthCare.
The number of announced hospital consolidations nationwide increased from 50 in 2009 to 115 in 2017 and pulled back to 90 last year, according to the National Institute for Health Care Management. The need to stem health care costs that are rising more steeply than inflation is often cited as a major reason for mergers.
Both organizations expect to complete the transaction by Oct. 1. Hartford HealthCare will continue to operate St. Vincent’s consistent with Catholic traditions.
Milford Hospital, one of the last independent hospitals, last year became part of Yale New Haven Health through Bridgeport Hospital. Western Connecticut Health Network that operates Danbury, Norwalk and New Milford hospitals said soon after it was merging with a network of Hudson Valley-area hospitals to create a new health system.
St. Vincent’s is the first hospital in Fairfield County to be integrated into the Hartford HealthCare network and would become the system’s second-largest hospital.
Hartford HealthCare has already begun to establish services in Fairfield County. Soundview Medical Associates, a medical practice with offices in Darien and Norwalk, is working with the Hartford HealthCare Medical Group. The practice includes 30 primary and specialty physicians and 120 employees.
Hartford HealthCare also recently affiliated with the Bridgeport-based Visiting Nurse Services of Connecticut, which provides home and hospice care in Fairfield, Litchfield and New Haven counties. St. Vincent’s, Soundview and Visiting Nurse Services will all be linked to Hartford HealthCare’s electronic medical records.
Stephen Singer can be reached at ssinger@courant.com.
