Hartford Business Journal

23 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | FEBRUARY 28, 2022 While he's only been CEO for a few years, he played a key part in helping build-out the HHC system, climbing the ranks into bigger leadership roles, where he was groomed as a successor to former CEO Elliot Joseph. HHC is the second-largest health system in Connecticut, behind Yale New Haven Health. With its purchase of St. Vincent's Medical Center in Bridgeport in 2019, HHC made a big play in Fairfield County, investing millions to renovate the aging facility. However, Hartford HealthCare's increasing size and market power have recently drawn the ire of a competitor and some consumers. In January St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center filed an antitrust lawsuit against Hartford HealthCare and its subsidiaries, claiming that HHC is trying to create a monopoly on hospital services by acquiring physician practices, particularly cardiologists, and demanding that they refer their patients only to Hartford HealthCare. And in February, a group of Connecticut residents sued Hartford HealthCare, accusing it of driving up prices through anticompetitive practices. Hartford HealthCare has said both lawsuits are without merit, but all eyes will be on how the legal proceedings play out in court. Flaks also led Hartford HealthCare through the pandemic, battling everything from supply and workforce shortages, overcrowded emergency rooms and staff fatigue. 2022 POWER 50 Jeff Flaks & Bimal Patel Reginald Eadie & Thomas Burke Bimal Patel Reginald Eadie Thomas Burke Jeff Flaks I n an interview with Hartford Business Journal last year, Jeff Flaks reflected on his 17 years at Hartford HealthCare and nearly two years as CEO, over which time he's helped oversee a gradual transformation of the system into an organization that has gotten much larger and become decentralized and focused on bringing care into communities across the state. The ability to coordinate that care statewide is centered in Hartford, at HHC's new Access Center at 100 Pearl St., a node for scheduling, imaging, electronic health records and other technology in one location with the goal of creating "an Amazon of health care." Flaks, who is a major Hartford cheerleader, oversees a statewide health system that recorded $4.3 billion in operating revenue in fiscal 2020, which represented just over one of every four operating dollars collected by all Connecticut health systems combined. Bimal Patel leads Hartford HealthCare's flagship Hartford Hospital and Hartford region. He's also a senior vice president of the parent company and has risen through the care provider's ranks over the years. Patel was hired by Hartford Hospital in 2009 and was a project- management executive, playing a key role in developing a 20-year master plan and completing 400,000 square feet of upgrades to the hospital on time and on budget. In 2014 he was appointed senior vice president for operational integration for Hartford HealthCare, put in charge of systemwide services, including pharmacy, lab, radiology, real estate, facilities and construction, and engineering, among other services. Patel last year led the debut of Hartford Hospital's new Bliss wing, a 50,000-square-foot expansion on the care provider's main campus that increases the intensive-care unit, operating room and other capacities. 4 T rinity Health of New England CEO Reginald Eadie and St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center President Thomas Burke have had to lead during tumultuous times for the healthcare industry. Michigan-based Trinity Health is a national Catholic health system and Eadie leads its New England region, which includes St. Francis Hospital, Johnson Memorial Hospital in Stafford Springs, St. Mary's Hospital in Waterbury and Mercy Medical Center in Springfield, Mass. Eadie brings a unique background to the job because he's a doctor and holds an MBA from Michigan State University, giving him both a medical and business background as he navigates the choppy waters of a pandemic and industry consolidation. Trinity's $1.58 billion in fiscal 2020 operating revenue ranked third highest among Connecticut health systems, behind crosstown rival Hartford HealthCare and Yale New Haven Health. Trinity Health's competition with Hartford HealthCare is heating up, possibly to a boiling point. In January, St. Francis Hospital filed an antitrust lawsuit against Hartford HealthCare and its subsidiaries claiming they are trying to create a monopoly on hospital services by acquiring physician networks, particularly cardiologists, and demanding that they refer their patients only to Hartford HealthCare. The 75-page federal lawsuit alleges "a campaign of exclusion, acquisition and intimidation" and claims that Hartford HealthCare executives have stated in meetings that their plan was to "crush" or "bury" St. Francis. Hartford HealthCare has said the suit is without merit. Burke was named interim president of St. Francis in May 2020, at the height of the first wave of the pandemic. After a national search, he was named permanent president by that November. The onset of the pandemic prompted St. Francis and Trinity to invest aggressively in telehealth, transforming its care model and committing to hiring "virtualists" to treat patients online. Upgrading physical facilities has also been a focus, with St. Francis opening a new $26.5 million outpatient orthopedic and spine surgery center on its Hartford campus and an ambulatory care center in Rocky Hill. Burke will also be overseeing a multiyear, multimillion-dollar campus improvement plan in the years ahead. 5

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