Northwell Health and Nuvance Health have reached an agreement with Connecticut Attorney General William Tong to secure the continuation of labor and delivery services at Sharon Hospital in Connecticut.
This agreement concludes an antitrust investigation into the proposed affiliation between New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Northwell and Danbury, Conn.-based Nuvance.
As part of the deal, Northwell Health, which operates 21 hospitals across New York, and Nuvance Health, which includes Danbury, New Milford, Norwalk and Sharon hospitals in Connecticut along with three New York facilities, have committed to a series of enforceable conditions designed to uphold competition in the healthcare market and ensure affordable access to care, according to an Aug. 26 news release.
Key provisions of the agreement include:
- Maintaining and expanding women's health services at Sharon Hospital, including the preservation of maternity and labor and delivery services.
- Investing in a unified electronic medical records system to improve IT infrastructure and data security at Nuvance Health facilities.
- Ensuring independent rate negotiations for reimbursement services in Connecticut and New York, in compliance with Connecticut's new law prohibiting anti-competitive practices in network agreements.
The agreement, which has been endorsed by the attorneys general of Connecticut and New York, will be monitored for compliance over the next five years. Additionally, the transaction awaits approval from Connecticut's Office of Health Strategy through its Certificate of Need regulatory process.