Why Uconn Health should expand
Uconn Health’s core value to Connecticut residents is well known. We are the largest source of new physicians, surgeons, and dentists for our home state. Seventy percent of our medical school graduates practice here in Connecticut and more than 50% of the state’s dentists are Uconn alumni. In addition, Uconn Health’s patient safety and patient experience grades are the highest of any health care system in the state. However, many of our residents are not aware of the critical role the state’s sole publicly owned health system plays by providing high quality care to all of Connecticut’s residents, regardless of whether a service is “profitable” or whether the patient is able to pay.
Not long ago, Connecticut had 27 independent community focused hospitals; now six remain. Moreover, the two largest hospital systems control approximately two thirds of the entire health care market in the state. Massive health care systems, even if technically “non-profit,” are free to focus on revenue streams from the most profitable clinical services at the expense of less profitable services our communities’ health care needs.
We provide the balance our state’s health system needs. We had the highest increase in percentage of gross revenue out of any health system in the state since 2020. We can, and we will, grow to further strengthen that success. John Dempsey Hospital at Uconn Health, as we stand now, is often over capacity. We are waiting for a certificate of need approval to expand the number of in-patient care beds to accommodate our increasing number of patients. The dominant systems need to face a growing and dedicated high quality competitor that is by its very nature driven by the mission of helping people achieve and maintain healthy lives, without prioritizing the financial bottom line. Uconn Health’s key role as the people’s healthcare system must not only be preserved but expanded if we are to succeed in that mission.
We are fostering partnerships with our state’s dwindling number of independent hospitals and physician groups to increase our public service as a referral center for complex, critically-ill patients, building on our sterling reputation for high-quality care in the region. We are growing despite the fact that as a direct result of our public mission, Uconn Health funds more than $100 million per year in primary and subspecialty care for underinsured Connecticut residents who are either turned down or delayed by other providers.
We understand this financial figure. We live it every day. It’s a direct result of our mandate. The state coverage of revenue shortfalls is not a subsidy, but simply paying for the cost of the health care for our fellow Connecticut residents. A private provider would have the liberty to stop critical services as “unprofitable”; if Uconn Health did so, its balance sheet would be in the black overnight. But as a direct result, a number of our most vulnerable Connecticut residents would no longer have reliable and equal access to quality healthcare in our clinics, operating rooms, and hospital beds. This is contrary to the goals of a health care institution founded by, and owned by, Connecticut’s residents.
A vibrant Uconn Health with robust clinical alliances with independent hospitals and physician groups will help provide balance for an increasingly consolidated healthcare system. We should invest in, not divest from, quality public health care in Connecticut.
Dr. Ion Moraru is a professor in the Department of Cell Biology and the Center for Cell Analysis and Modeling at Uconn Health and vice president for UCHC-AAUP/ AFT Local 6747. Dr. Michael Baldwin is an associate professor in the Department of Radiology and serves as an executive council clinical representative for the union.