Hartford Business Journal

30 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | MARCH 20, 2023 FOCUS: HEALTH CARE dists, pain management specialists and podiatrists. In addition, under the name HHC Surgery Center Holdings LLC, Hartford HealthCare has filed an application to acquire 51% of South- west Connecticut Surgery Center in Wilton. The application was submitted in November 2020 and OHS is in the process of drafting a decision. According to the application, HHC in October 2020 began a $1.6-million renovation to Southwest's facility — formerly home to Plastic Surgery of Southern CT. The acquisition will allow HHC to provide "enhancements in quality, patient management and reporting capabilities, care coordi- nation, and access for patients," the application said. Wilton Surgery Center, an outpa- tient surgery center at 195 Danbury Road just more than a mile away, opposed the acquisition. Wilton Surgery Center, which focuses on pain management proce- dures, said that about two-thirds of the services provided by HHC at the nearby facility would be the same as the ones it provides. Rather than lower costs, Wilton Surgery said it believed HHC's majority ownership would raise rates for insurers and patients. However, HHC challenged that contention and had some of its competitor's comments stricken from the record. David Shipley, the administrator of Norwalk Surgical Center, owned by Norwalk Hospital, also opposed the application in written comments and during a public hearing on Aug. 4, 2022, claiming the proposal would increase costs. The deal is still awaiting regulatory approval. Also in Fairfield County, Hartford HealthCare is proposing to take over governance control of Trumbull's Surgical Center of Fairfield County. The proposal follows an equity buy-in by HHC Surgery to the majority owner, SCA-Connecticut Partners LLC, which currently owns 51% of the center. The remaining 49% is owned by individual physician investors. On June 1, 2021, HHC acquired 70.6% of the membership interests in SCA-Connecticut Partners, giving it a 36% indirect ownership interest in the overall center. SunSurgery LLC, a subsidiary of insurance and healthcare giant UnitedHealth Group, owns 29.41% of SCA-Connecticut Partners LLC. The governance change would give HHC the ability to appoint three of five Surgical Center board managers. The application was filed in September 2021 and remains pending. A public hearing was held on Sept. 21, 2022. A physician associated with Doctor & Associates, which provides general medical and surgical eye care in Nowalk, Wilton and Westport, submitted testimony urging OHS to deny the application. Cost impacts Hartford HealthCare's pending surgical center deals come amid a broader debate about industry consolidation and its impact on care costs, quality and access. A recently published study by Harvard Medical School and the National Bureau of Economic Research concluded that consolidated health systems offer patients "marginally better care at significantly higher costs." According to the study, patients whose primary care physicians are part of health systems, on average, receive slightly better experiences and care, compared with patients whose primary care physicians are part of independent practices. However, physician services delivered within health systems cost between 12% and 26% more, compared with independent practices. System-based hospital services cost 31% more, on average, compared with care delivered by independent hospitals. But surgery centers are considered lower-cost options than having proce- dures done at a regular hospital. That's one of the key reasons hospital systems, which face increasing pressure to lower costs, have been acquiring them. Arnold Menchel, chair of Hartford law firm Halloran Sage's healthcare practice, said advances in tech- nology and technique allow many procedures to be done safely in ambulatory surgical centers, which in turn lowers the cost. "An example would be hip replacement surgery," Menchel said. "Years ago, if it was attempted at all, hip replacement was definitely a hospital inpatient procedure with a lengthy inpatient stay. Now, that procedure is safely being done routinely on an outpatient basis in ambulatory surgical centers, with no overnight stay." Not only is the cost lower, the experience is better for providers and patients, who typically go home on the same day, he said. "There used to be a clear line between hospitals, physicians as well as other types of providers," Menchel said. "Now, health systems are constantly looking to provide a continuum of care and the lines are being blurred." Jeff Hogan, pres- ident of Farming- ton-based Upside Health Advisors, said surgical centers also tend to be predictable generators of revenue, which make them valuable for health systems like Hartford HealthCare to own. Just as hospitals are adding surgical centers to their portfolios, they're also gobbling up medical practices and urgent care facilities for some of the same reasons. National players are expanding as well, with some entering the Connecticut market, adding to the competition, Hogan noted. For example, VillageMD, a company backed by pharmacy giant Walgreens, recently acquired one of Connecticut's largest physician groups, Rocky Hill- based Starling Physicians. "It's not only a trend in this market- place, but it's a trend nationally as well," Hogan said. Jeff Hogan Arnold Menchel Movers & Shakers Leadership Greater Hart- ford recently named four new board members. Adam Barbash is a vice president and owner of Fuss & O'Neill, a civil and environmental engineering firm. Cynthia Gentry is the grants and contracts specialist at Hartford social services nonprofit The Village for Families & Children. Rev. Darrell L. Goodwin serves as the first executive conference minister of the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ. Marcia Wyvill is a senior market intelligence analyst at Lincoln Financial Group. Hartford accounting and consulting firm Whittlesey has named CPA Alanna Madsen to its management team. Madsen has over 14 years of public accounting experience and exper- tise in tax, accounting and advisory services for closely held busi- nesses, nonprofit organizations, and high-net-worth individuals. Trinity Health Of New England's Southern New England Health- care Organization (SoNE HEALTH) has appointed Dr. George Beauregard its new chief population health officer. Prior to joining SoNE HEALTH, Beauregard served for more than four years as senior vice president, value-based care and chief physician executive at Catholic Health Physician Part- ners in Long Island, New York. In his new role he will lead the population health team, its programs and initiatives. Wallingford nonprofit Connecticut Foodshare has elected four local and national leaders to its board of directors. Jennifer Brogan is the director of external communications and community relations for Stop & Shop. Jered Bruzas is the chief impact officer of United Way of Greater Waterbury. Jamie McDonald is co-owner of Bear's Smokehouse BBQ, a Navy veteran, and a former United Tech- nologies Corp. engineer. Kayla Reasco serves as vice president of public affairs for Hartford-based PR firm Intersect Public Solutions. Hartford nonprofit Real Art Ways has named Derek Hall to its board of trustees. Hall is an anti-racist intergroup facilitator, public speaker and activist. He has worked with Real Art Ways for many years as a film facilitator for its film field trip program. Hartford-based Shipman & Goodwin LLP announced that Timothy S. Klimpl has joined the law firm as counsel in the tax and employee benefits practice group. Klimpl brings 12 years of ERISA advice and related services to the firm. He represents a variety of plan sponsors on employee benefit plans, including corporate, nonprofit and governmental plans providing retire- ment, health and other employee welfare benefits. Naugatuck-based Ion Bank has named Silvi Sboui as vice president, cash management sales officer. Sboui is located in the bank's New Haven Road office in Naugatuck and will work with new and existing business customers to help manage and implement cash management services. Prior to joining Ion Bank, Sboui was a vice president and branch manager for M&T Bank in Orange. Alanna Madsen George Beauregard Derek Hall Timothy S. Klimpi Silvi Sboui

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