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Health Care Updates
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Business New Haven
12/14/1998
By: BNH
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CHA Seeks Award Nominations
The Connecticut Hospital Association (CHA) is seeking nominations for its annual awards. Categories for nomination include: Community Service Granted to a acute-care member hospital that has made an extraordinary contribution to its community. Honorary Membership Award Honorary member shall be person of distinction by virtue of his or her personal dedication and contribution to the advancement of health-care services. John D. Thompson Award Granted to recognize any CHA member-type health care organization which exhibits excellence in health care delivery through the use of data to improve the quality of patient care. T. Stewart Hamilton, M.D. Distinguished Service Award Granted to a person with a career in health care and has contributed noteworthy service to he health of the public. For more information, contact the Connecticut Hospital Association at 203-294-7214
St. Vincent's Acquires Hall-Brooke
The state Office of Health Care Access approved the acquisition of Hall-Brook Hospital of Westport, a 70-bed psychiatric hospital by St. Vincent's Health Services of Bridgeport. In addition, it approved a $15 million building program for the 25-acre Hall Brooke campus on Long Lots Road. Under terms of the acquisition agreement, Hall-Brooke Foundation, with its own board of directors, will continue to operate Hall-Brooke Hospital.
St. Vincent's has an acute-care psychiatric program and provides outpatient psychiatric care and alcohol and drug dependence and “relationship conflicts” through its DePaul Ambulatory Care Center. St. Vincent's also recently acquired the Center, an independent, physician-based outpatient counseling service in Bridgeport, and merged it with DePaul.
Saint Raphael's Appoints
Interim President
Roberta Saunders Gray, recently hired as executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Hospital of Saint Raphael, has been named interim president. Alfred Fasulo has been named interim chief operating officer of the Saint Raphael Healthcare Corp. Both positions had been held by James J. Cullen, who resigned in October.
Beirne's Opens Showroom
Eighty-year-old Beirne's Pharmacy, located on Howard Avenue in New Haven, on December 5 opened a Beirne's Home Medical Equipment Showroom at 805 Sherman Avenue, Hamden. The company will continue to operate its “Home Care Support Center” in New Haven as part of Beirne's Pharmacy. The showroom will feature a range of home medical equipment, motorized scooters, wheelchairs, lift chairs, hospital beds, emergency response systems as well as physical therapy and athletic training equipment.
Community College Accredited For Physical Therapy Program
The American Physical Therapy Association has granted Naugatuck Valley Community College's Physical Therapist Assistant (PTA) program full accreditation. The Physical Therapist Assistant program educates students to serve as paraprofessionals in the practice of physical therapy under the supervision of a physical therapist. NVCTC offers student internships in facilities throughout Connecticut.
Connecticut's HMOs Suffer Significant Losses
According to figures reported by the state's Department of Insurance, Connecticut HMOs incurred more than $36 million in losses through September 31 of this year. For the quarter ending September 30, combined losses exceeded $11 million.
Only five of the state's fourteen HMOs made any profit in the third quarter. Cigna, with approximately 19,000 members, was the most profitable, earning just under $1.3 million for the period. Aetna U.S. Healthcare, with 61,309 Connecticut enrollees, had losses of nearly $5 million for the period.
With 174,000 Connecticut members, ConnectiCare announced earlier in the year its intention to restructure the company to raise capital. The non-profit health plan will create a for-profit subsidary, with stock owned by investors and by a non-profit holding company. ConnectiCare had losses totaling $6,188,424 for the nine months ending September 30 and $2,641,780 for the third quarter. The troubled Oxford Health Plans has lost more than $9 million so far this year, but eked out a third-quarter profit of $362,414.
Total HMO enrollment during the period was 1,400,662.
The source of some of the problems that the HMOs have been experiencing can be found in an insurance department report released this October covering the 1997 year. Entitled Comparison of Managed Care Organizations in Connecticut, the study includes data that demonstrates the percentage of revenues paid to claims - in one case reaching in excess of 101 percent for the recently defunct Suburban Health Plans.
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