Financial cuts are inevitable for Waterbury Hospital now that Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare has bowed out of plans to acquire Waterbury Hospital and four other Connecticut hospitals, according to a Hartford Courant report.
Tenet planned to acquire Waterbury Hospital along with four other Connecticut hospitals: Bristol Hospital; Saint Mary's Hospital in Waterbury; and Eastern Connecticut Health Network, based in Manchester, which owns Rockville General in Vernon and Manchester Memorial.
However, earlier this month 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 previous statement.
Now that the deal fell through, Waterbury Hospital will make financial cuts as early as next month, a move that could mean layoffs and a reduction in services, according to the report.
"We are looking, not to do anything before the holidays…but looking for a way to continue to scale back our expenses," Waterbury Hospital CEO Darlene Stromstad told the Hartford Courant. "We are looking at services, we are looking at programs and we are looking at people."
Union leaders and advocates have posed a potential solution for Waterbury Hospital, which could be a joint venture with a for-profit health system, a nonprofit health system or a research university such as Farmington-based University of Connecticut Health Center, according to the report. No deal has been announced, and as of earlier this week, University of Connecticut Health Center had not immediately responded to the idea, according to the report.
In the meantime, Ms. Stromstad told the Hartford Courant, the hospital has a hiring freeze, and all discretionary spending is halted.
More articles on Tenet:
Connecticut governor gives up on Tenet after failed deals
Bristol Hospital still optimistic after failed Tenet deal
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