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20 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | SEPTEMBER 30, 2024 Montez Carter POWER 25 | Healthcare Christopher O'Connor A s hospitals and health insurers continue to butt heads on reimbursement rates and other contract terms, Montez Carter, CEO and president of Trinity Health Of New England, has led an organization that's been in the middle of tense negotiations of late. Trinity Health of NE, the state's third-largest health system, this year has inked new provider network contracts with Anthem, Cigna and UnitedHealthcare, but the deals didn't easily come together. In fact, the UnitedHealthcare contract wasn't signed until a month after their previous deal expired in July. Both sides blamed each other for not coming to terms on a fair agreement, before eventually finding C hristopher O'Connor, CEO of the Yale New Haven Health system, has been in the middle of one of the most significant hospital merger deals in Connecticut over the last year. And it has been a challenging path that's led to court battles and political intrigue. In May, YNHH asked the Connecticut Superior Court to be let out of its $435 million purchase of Manchester Memorial, Rockville General and Water- bury hospitals, all owned by Prospect Medical Holdings. Yale asked out of the deal after failing to renegotiate a lower purchase price following a cyber- attack that financially devastated oper- ations at the three Prospect-owned hospitals, as well as revelations that Prospect owed tens of millions of dollars to vendors, physicians, and local and state governments. Prospect countersued in June, claiming YNHH breached its contract and failed to make "reasonable best efforts" to complete the deal. The cases remain ongoing. O'Connor oversees the largest health system in Connecticut, which reported $6.1 billion in net revenue in fiscal year 2022. It includes Yale New Haven Hospital, Bridgeport Hospital, Green- wich Hospital, Lawrence + Memorial Hospital in New London, and Westerly Hospital in Rhode Island. O'Connor has a lengthy background in health care. Before becoming CEO of the Yale health system, he held several key roles, such as president, executive vice president and chief operating officer. O'Connor previously was also president and CEO of the Hospital of St. Raphael. Yale New Haven Hospital acquired the Hospital of St. Raphael in 2012, to form one New Haven-based hospital with two campuses. O'Connor helped bring the two hospitals together. He also played key roles in the affiliation with Lawrence + Memorial Hospital in 2016, and Bridgeport Hospital's acqui- sition of Milford Hospital in 2019. In August 2022, Yale New Haven Hospital broke ground on an $838 million, 505,000-square-foot project that includes building a new neurosciences center on the St. Raphael campus. When he took over the job, O'Connor said his priorities would be to improve patient care, ensure the system's finan- cial stability, attract talent, and build upon partnerships with the Yale School of Medicine and Yale University. Carter has pointed to several early accomplishments, including a new partnership Trinity Health established with national nonprofit RIP Medical to erase $32.76 million worth of liabilities for 22,300 patients. RIP Medical typically pays pennies on the dollar to purchase and then forgive medical debt. Trinity Health of NE, under Carter's watch, has also gotten innovative in dealing with the labor shortage. The health system has ramped-up employee engagement, retention and recruitment efforts, and launched a virtual nurse program, which delivers care to patients through a team approach that includes a direct-care registered nurse, on-site nursing assistant or licensed practical nurse, and a registered nurse who appears virtually in a patient's room. Carter has worked for Michi- gan-based parent company Trinity Health for more than a decade. Before arriving in Connecticut, he was president and CEO of St. Mary's Health Care System in Georgia. Carter began his career as a phar- macist. A sports fan and collector of vintage sports memorabilia, he is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives and has served on several boards, including the American Hospital Association. He received his MBA from the University of Alabama and his doctorate in pharmacy from the University of Mississippi. common ground. Trinity Health Of New England's Connecticut portfolio includes St. Francis and Mount Sinai Rehabilita- tion hospitals in Hartford; St. Mary's Hospital in Waterbury; and Johnson Memorial Hospital in Stafford Springs. Carter started as president and CEO of Trinity Health of NE in October 2022. It was a precarious time, as the industry was still adapting to post-pandemic life and contending with various headwinds, including inflation and workforce shortages.