By BETSY TAYLOR
Trinity Health continues to expand its footprint in New England, saying on Sept. 18 that Saint Mary's Health System in Waterbury, Conn., signed a definitive agreement to join Trinity Health.
Trinity Health, one of the nation's largest Catholic health care systems, said in a news release that if the deal is finalized, Saint Mary's Health System will join Hartford, Conn.-based Saint Francis Care and the Springfield, Mass.-based Sisters of Providence Health System in Trinity Health's new nonprofit New England region health care system, currently with operations in Connecticut and western Massachusetts.
Christopher Dadlez is president and chief executive of the yet-to-be named New England regional system. He continues as president and chief executive of Saint Francis Care while that system searches for his replacement. Saint Francis Care officially became part of Trinity Health on Oct. 1. After Saint Mary's Health System joins the Trinity region, Chad Wable will continue as president and chief executive of that system and will assume a regional role as well, according to a joint news release from Trinity Health and Saint Mary's Health System.
Saint Mary's Health System is anchored by the Catholic nonprofit Saint Mary's Hospital, an acute care hospital with 347 beds in Waterbury. Saint Mary's Health System includes satellite sites in five other southwest Connecticut communities: Wolcott, Naugatuck, Southbury, Prospect and Watertown.
Saint Mary's Health System's sponsorship will be transferred from the Archdiocese of Hartford to Trinity Health's public juridic person, Catholic Health Ministries, according to information from Saint Mary's.
Scott Nordlund, Trinity Health's executive vice president for growth, strategy and innovation, said Trinity Health will invest at least $275 million in its New England region over the next five years. System leadership previously has said the funds will pay for bricks-and-mortar improvements to facilities and for information technology and ambulatory settings to improve care across the continuum in the regional system.
Nordlund said, "Once the partnership with Saint Mary's Health System is complete, Trinity Health and Saint Francis Care will ensure investment of at least $100 million over the following five years to support the health care needs of the Waterbury (area) communities, specifically. An additional $20 million will be available to Saint Mary's Health System after the achievement of specific financial benchmarks."
Saint Francis Care includes Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center, a teaching hospital affiliated with the University of Connecticut School of Medicine; Mount Sinai Rehabilitation Hospital; and the Saint Francis/Mount Sinai Regional Cancer Center. Saint Francis Care is working to buy Stafford Springs, Conn.-based Johnson Memorial Medical Center, which has been reorganizing under a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. The nonprofit Johnson Memorial, with headquarters about 30 miles northeast of Hartford, includes a 92-bed hospital, a continuum-of-care facility and a home health and hospice agency. Johnson Memorial Medical Center is expected to become part of Trinity Health in 2016.
The Sisters of Providence Health System includes among its facilities Mercy Medical Center, a 182-bed acute care hospital in Springfield; Providence Behavioral Health Hospital, located in Holyoke, Mass., and licensed for 126 beds; and Weldon Rehabilitation Hospital, a hospital-based rehabilitation center on the campus of Mercy Medical Center.
Trinity Health's New England region will have a regional board of directors made up of physicians, representatives of Catholic organizations and community representatives with ties to the area. Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center, Mount Sinai Rehabilitation Hospital and Mercy Medical Center also will maintain local boards focused on the needs of each community, a news release said.
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