Justin Lundbye, MD, CEO of Waterbury (Conn.) Hospital, and Deborah Weymouth, president and CEO of Eastern Connecticut Health Network in Manchester, asked lawmakers to accelerate approvals for a planned sale from Prospect Medical to Yale New Haven (Conn.) Health, according to a report from CT Mirror.
The deal was announced in 2022 and certificate of need is still pending. The wait, coupled with a recent cyberattack on Prospect Medical that forced a computer outage and EHR downtime at the facilities, have put the hospitals in a "dire" financial situation, according to the report. Both hospitals diverted patients and halted some services during the cyberattack, and spent weeks recovering.
Yale is also now questioning whether purchasing the hospitals would be the right move. According to the report, Yale leadership is concerned with the outdated computer systems at the hospital, which led to the cyberattack, and a myriad of other issues, including physicians who haven't been paid and Waterbury owing vendors $40 million.
"With their lack of funding and capacity with the cyberattack, their survival may be impacted if the state delays this sale or [approves it] with contingencies that are going to make Yale walk away," said state Sen. Saud Anwar, MD, who attended the meeting with Dr. Lundbye and Ms. Weymouth.
The hospitals may face closure if the sale isn't finalized, according to the report.