Waterbury (Conn.) Hospital is seeking assistance from Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy (D) after Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare recently decided to bow out of its plans to acquire Waterbury Hospital and four other Connecticut hospitals, according to WNPR News.
Tenet planned to acquire the following Connecticut hospitals: Waterbury Hospital; Saint Mary's Hospital in Waterbury; Bristol Hospital; and Eastern Connecticut Health Network, based in Manchester, which owns Rockville General in Vernon and Manchester Memorial.
However, last week Tenet announced it would no longer pursue those efforts due to proposed conditions state regulators put on the hospital operator's purchase of Waterbury Hospital.
"The extensive list of proposed conditions to be imposed on the Waterbury Hospital transaction, which is only the first of four transactions for which we've made applications, has led us to conclude that the approach to regulatory oversight in Connecticut would not enable Tenet to operate the hospitals successfully for the benefit of all stakeholders," Tenet said in a statement last week.
Waterbury Hospital CEO Darlene Stromstad told WNPR News the decision left financially struggling Waterbury Hospital in a position where it is trying to determine how to cut additional costs and expenses. For now, the hospital will have a hiring freeze and "look to attrition" in the coming months, but layoffs could occur in the future, she said in the report.
Still, Ms. Stromstad is hopeful that Gov. Malloy can help, according to the report.
"I think he would be able to set a dialogue around these conditions, and define an environment in which a company like Tenet would want to come in and work in Connecticut," she told WNPR News. "If that's not true for Tenet, it won't be true for anyone else either."
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