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Charlotte Hungerford, Hartford HealthCare Receive State Approval to Affiliate

December 18, 2017

The state Office of Health Care Access has approved the affiliation of Charlotte Hungerford Hospital and Hartford HealthCare, allowing the two organizations to move forward with finalizing their partnership.

The two organizations, after signing an agreement Dec. 18, will begin a 120-day strategic planning process to outline the priorities and plans for the affiliation. They will also outline the organizational goals that will form the basis for the transition and future operations.

When finalized, CHH would become a member of Hartford HealthCare, which includes Hartford Hospital, Backus Hospital, The Hospital of Central Connecticut, MidState Medical Center, Natchaug Hospital, Windham Hospital and a wide spectrum of additional urgent care, outpatient care, a primary care network, health centers, rehabilitation, senior services, LIFE STAR, homecare, surgery centers, the state’s largest Behavioral Health Network and other health services.

“With the next step of our affiliation in place, a timely and thoughtful transformation of our health services will begin so that access to care is secure for the people of northwest Connecticut and the future of that care is a strategic blending of CHH’s historic sense of place and purpose with the financial, clinical, and operational acumen that come with being part of a larger health system.” said Dan McIntyre, president and executive director at CHH.

“We are delighted to have reached this important milestone and look forward to this affiliation with Charlotte Hungerford,” said Elliot Joseph, HHC’s Chief executive officer. “Bringing our vision of being most trusted for personalized coordinated care to the residents of Northwestern Connecticut — in partnership with Charlotte Hungerford — is a true win for everyone, especially the local community. Building a true system of care across the continuum requires these types of new relationships.”

The affiliation will enable both organizations to share the knowledge and expertise of their staffs and physicians and give patients easier access to a wider range of services, technology and treatments.

The goal of the strategic partnership is to enhance CHH’s existing service line options and programs,

improve care coordination, provide additional access points for care delivery, support the

recruitment of skilled providers, assist with community benefit programming and allowing for further infrastructure investments.

With a backdrop of an evolving healthcare delivery system, reimbursement challenges and new patient demographics, CHH engaged in a thoughtful self-assessment and evaluation process to address strategic options. The conclusion was that compelling there are compelling reasons for CHH to seek a strategic affiliation with a larger system.

Through a rigorous and competitive evaluation process driven by members of the community and medical staff, Hartford HealthCare was selected as the preferred system to partner with because it demonstrated the greatest collaboration for an affiliation, a mutual commitment to grow services and the clearest shared vision. Hartford HealthCare officials cited CHH’s tradition of providing high- quality care to the people of northwestern Connecticut, as well as the organization’s robust partnerships with local agencies and groups, in their reasons for the affiliation.