Hartford Healthcare confirmed Monday that it is the successful bidder to purchase Manchester Memorial and Rockville General hospitals from Prospect Medical Holdings.
“We are pleased and enthusiastic about being selected,” a spokesperson for the health system said.
The Connecticut hospitals Prospect owns, Waterbury, Rockville General and Manchester Memorial — have been mired in ongoing financial and other issues, such as cutting services, as well as criticism by lawmakers and others.
Los Angeles-based Prospect Medical Holdings filed for bankruptcy in January.
“As a Connecticut-based system with a highly successful record of achievements, Hartford HealthCare is uniquely qualified to transform healthcare for the better in these communities,” the Hartford Healthcare spokesperson said.
Amid the Hartford HealthCare bid, state officials and other hospital leaders also are in high-level discussions concerning the purchase of Bristol, Day Kimball and Waterbury Hospitals by the state-owned University of Connecticut Health Center.
Separately, Yale New Haven Health has agreed to pay Prospect Medical Holdings $45 million to settle the dispute between the two entities over the failed sale of Waterbury, Rockville General and Manchester Hospitals, according to a settlement agreement between the two parties.
That deal brings to a close a legal battle that dragged in the courts over several years between Yale New Haven Health and Prospect Medical Holdings concerning the fate of Prospect’s three Connecticut hospitals.
A tentative deal in which Yale New Haven Health would have purchased the three hospitals for $435 million was reached in 2022, but fell through due to “mismanagement,” Yale said this past May.
Hartford HealthCare had confirmed on Sept. 19 that it entered into an agreement to acquire Manchester Memorial Hospital and Rockville General Hospital from Prospect Medical Holdings for $86.1 million.
Hartford Healthcare said Monday its health system looks “forward to the opportunity to stabilize and expand the workforce at these hospitals, provide support to enhance quality and safety, and advance strategic investments in people, programs, technologies, facilities, and community partners.”
The spokesperson said, “every hospital that has joined Hartford HealthCare has experienced measurable positive results that benefit patients — including across-the-board top safety ratings, improved access to care close to home, leading-edge technology and the recruitment of world-class clinicians.
“We look forward to working with the state and others to complete the next important steps on this journey, and to working with communities to advance our mission: ‘To improve the health and healing of all.;” the spokesperson said.
Hartford HealthCare has previously said it, “is deeply committed to advancing healthcare through greater access, affordability, health equity, and excellence, and “to that end, Hartford HealthCare has entered into an agreement regarding the two hospitals.”
The agreement among other things mean the bidder “will provide aggregate consideration in an amount equal to $86,100,000, minus certain working capital adjustments, where applicable, or plus certain working capital adjustments, where applicable,” a document filed in federal court says.
State Sen. Saud Anwar, D-South Windsor, Senate chair of the Public Health Committee, and a doctor, has said, about the Hartford Healthcare bid, “This is incredibly welcome news for health care in the state of Connecticut. I fully endorse and encourage Hartford HealthCare’s bid to purchase these hospitals, which would preserve local community care in Manchester, Vernon and their surrounding towns and cities.
“Hundreds of thousands of people rely on local health institutions like these, which made Prospect’s questionable ownership practices, including underinvesting in the hospitals, so concerning. Hartford HealthCare would be able to strongly enhance quality of care and investments in health care resources at both hospitals. Both of these hospitals have excellent staff and this shift would further enhance hiring and recruiting to ensure continued top-level care. Perhaps most hearteningly, if successful, this bid would reduce private equity’s presence in state healthcare.”
The health system also has said it “is uniquely qualified to transform healthcare for the better in these communities. We have the capability to stabilize and expand the workforce at these hospitals, provide support to enhance quality and safety, and advance strategic investments in people, programs, technologies, facilities, and community partners.”
When Yale New Haven Health backed out of its deal, it said after a recent court hearing in the lawsuits between the parties, “based on Prospect’s history of mismanagement of the Connecticut hospitals, it remains clear that they have never been in a position to close the transaction on the terms set in our 2022 Asset Purchase Agreement.”
Prospect, a private equity company, has long faced financial challenges from delayed payments for physicians and vendors to health care provider shortages. State and federal officials say that the private equity company has maximized profits over patient care. Los Angeles-based Prospect Medical Holdings filed for bankruptcy in January.
Nurses and unions at Prospect’s Connecticut hospitals have told the Courant that their hospitals have been impacted under the company, with some voicing concerns about patient care.
In November of last year, the state Department of Public Health fined Waterbury Hospital $60,000 for violations of state law and called on the hospital to develop, review and revise policies and procedures related to staffing levels, abuse prevention and other policies. The consent order also called for an independent expert compliance contractor to monitor the hospital.
Previous reporting by Livi Stanford is included in this story.
