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www.HartfordBusiness.com • September 11, 2017 • Hartford Business Journal 29 26 Hartford Business Journal • August 21, 2017 www.HartfordBusiness.com SPONSORED CONTENT "Home is an area which is kind of like a last frontier as a viable center for patient care. Clients are continuing to see its value, especially with post-acute care," she said. CareCentrix leverages technology to help connect patient experiences across different insurance providers. The company is doing something right. In less than five years' time, CareCentrix has seen a revenue rise of about 85 percent and a 70-percent increase in its employee base. The state has pledged as much as $24 million in grant money if the company will keep its headquarters in Connecticut until 2023, retain 213 jobs and create another 290 by the end of this year. "Looking at employee figures, we're on track," said Russo. The company brings all sides together for a logical goal: overseeing networks of homecare service providers and medical-equipment companies for insurers. Post-acute care is a core focus of CareCentrix, as patients often need help with transition from a rehab or skilled nursing facility to home. Support and services at this time are crucial, said Russo. "This is certainly along the area of helping patients heal appropriately. But the other thing is avoiding an unnecessary hospital readmission. It's costly for patients and for the insurance plan," as well as disheartening for the patient, she said. CareCentrix is making its mark at a time when the healthcare industry moves away from volume of care and more toward the value of care. "Value-based care makes sense, because it aligns the interests of patients, healthcare providers and payers," said CareCentrix CEO John Driscoll. "Leading provider organizations agree, and so do health insurers, including commercial plans, Medicare Advantage and Medicaid managed care." And more and more insurers are getting on board all the time. Russo said home-health services better protect insurance companies' members, and can be delivered in a cost-effective way. "Insurers get it, or are starting to see it, especially if they've eked out savings," said Russo. In the area of durable medical goods, CareCentrix has also seen strong momentum, she said, in areas of sales of supplies like bandages, or rentals of devices like breast pumps for nursing mothers, for example. With organic growth and some clients coming from acquisitions, CareCentrix continues to move ahead. But its core principles won't change. "When we look at services, we'll continue to do what is right for members and be poised for growth," said Russo. "The library is really the cornerstone of life here in Hartford in so many ways: socially, economically, with its educational aspects," said Bridget Quinn-Carey, CEO. "We're recognized as an anchor institution." The library's modern location at 500 Main Street remained a hub for the community as its other nine branches were established. It houses the Hartford History Center, a collection on the city's history dating back to 1619. Still operating under the original Hartford Young Men's Institute charter, the library now boasts over 500,000 items. A major expansion and renovation took place in 1998. With a strong history behind it, the library strengthened its range of resources along the way, such as unemployment services, immigration and citizenship programs and offering children access to computers. It forged and maintained relationships with other community leaders and institutions. In 2016, the library and University of Connecticut announced a partnership where the West Hartford campus would lease space at the Main Street library. With its robust and long-standing role as a pillar in the Greater Hartford area, Hartford Public Library is strategically planning ahead to be sure its legacy lives on. Library representatives have been holding community presentations on a new business model that will ensure financial stability and grant its leadership ability to strengthen existing services – and possibly adding new ones down the line. Financial challenges have library leadership proactively working to preserve its role in Hartford and quality of its offerings. Quinn-Carey said the main goal of the library's new business model is to keep and eventually – expand – what the library offers. With more money going out than is coming in, cuts in hours, days open and services were on the horizon, she said. "We are spread too thinly." The new model involves tough but necessary decisions, she noted, but no layoffs. The library is closing two branches, making another into a mobile library and strengthening the others. It is looking forward to leveraging partnerships with groups like Capital Workforce Partners. What the changes will ensure the community, Quinn-Carey said, is great programs for seniors, kids and everyone in between. "We just had a robust summer learning program with 800 participants," she said, and she looks forward to more of the same. A STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) mobile unit is also planned, along with 24-hour library kiosks. With more services, more hours and strong leadership, the Hartford Public Library is set for the future. Privately owned, Hartford-based CareCentrix — a helping hand for health insurers to manage home- health benefits — has been on a winning streak of late. And, its leaders would argue, so have patients. Technological advancements, says its Vice President of Marketing Jennifer Russo, are only making the company's ability to help patients age in place even stronger, boosting the care continuum. For more than 200 years, the Hartford Public Library has been a cultural and educational fixture in the community. Originally known as the Library Company, it was started by city leaders in 1774, with 700 books. A spot where lectures and debates were held for the Hartford Young Men's Institute, it has evolved – from occupying space at the Grammar School to the Wadsworth Atheneum to opening its own building and getting its own name – with a formal name change to Hartford Public Library in 1893. CareCentrix Hartford Public Library By Susan Shalhoub By Susan Shalhoub Bridget Quinn-Carey, CEO John Driscoll, CEO Thomas Gaffney, Chief Customer Officer www.HartfordBusiness.com August 21, 2017 • Hartford Business Journal 27 The past president of the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving — Linda J. Kelly —is now a donor of the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving. Her retirement, after 11 years at the helm of the organization, began in March. "I am a friend and a donor, it will always be close to my heart," she said of the foundation, which serves an area with up to 800,000 residents. Under her leadership, the foundation hit $934 million in assets and gave over $33 million in grants to nonprofits in 2015, setting records. At 92 years old, it's one of the oldest community foundation in the nation. She's proud of many advances the foundation made over the past decade or so; for one, it entered an area of advocacy, she said, providing one additional tool for the foundation to positively impact community goals. The foundation also never wavered in its work to improve early childhood development and education, said Kelly. "Our education concern is birth through college; the foundation is focusing on this area from a perspective of a family-community-school partnerships for the best educational outcome for kids." Community advocate. Education crusader. The Hartford Foundation for Public Giving also broadened its diversity, said Kelly — with its staffing, vendors, donors and other outreach efforts. With the University of Hartford endowment growing from $47 million to $155 million during his tenure, and full-time undergraduate enrollment rising to 4,800, Walter Harrison has made his mark over the past 19 years at a once-struggling university. Bonds were upgraded; finances were stabilized. But impressive data is a more behind-the-scenes result of Harrison's work to spur positive change at the university. There was also more visible evidence of his work — to make the outside match the inside — as it were, such as improvements to the physical campus. "We added something like $200 million in buildings … took better care of campus adding better lighting, new sidewalks," he said. It's especially impressive how much improvement was made to the grounds of the university, with lawns, flowers, attractive bushes. I give an awful lot of credit to the grounds crew. And they did this without using additional water," with use of an aquifer, he said. The scenery upgrade instills a sense of pride in the university and its advancements, for students, alumni coming back to visit, and prospective students. Harrison announced his June retirement — a "bittersweet" decision, he said — allowing over a year for the structure of an organized transition. "I needed to quit while I still had my fastball," said Harrison. A baseball enthusiast, Harrison earned recognition for his work in reforming the academic side of college athletics. Her background is a smart mix of business — especially financial know-how — and a long history of previous volunteer efforts for many Hartford-area causes. And her experience in the two worlds linked with one another. "There are commonalities between them, such as building strong collaborations for the betterment of a community … building a network," said Kelly. She's more than comfortable reaching out to the corporate community to partner with the foundation. Though Kelly is a past commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Public Utility Control (now PURA), and as the state deputy commissioner of banking, volunteering was certainly not an area that was new to her before taking the foundation's top post in 2005. She has served groups such as the Wadsworth Atheneum, Families in Crisis and Hartford Public Library, to name just a few. Donating time and efforts to the arts arena and causes that impacted families and children, among others, were and are some of Kelly's areas of interest. She knows her volunteering experience with local causes and seeing the issues and concerns of the community helped prepare her for the president's role. Adaptability and collaboration will keep the foundation successful moving forward, Kelly believes. "The Hartford Foundation has a very strong and talented staff and board. It will remain a tremendous community asset for this region in perpetuity, as it continues to adapt to its changing environment. " "The idea that student athletes are not good students is wrong," he said. He's been involved with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for over a decade, including time chairing its academic performance committee. "We instituted a metric for counting whether student athletes were involved in academics after graduation … it's been universally used," he said. "I'm very proud of getting more graduated." Community connections were another area where Harrison excelled, continuing the legacy of his grandfather, a Lithuanian immigrant who owned a clothing store and made a point of walking around the neighborhood wearing the latest items — like straw hats — as a form of outreach on the ground level. He's served on boards including St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center, the MetroHartford Alliance and Suffield Academy, to name just a few. With a university, being visible and being seen serves the institution well, Harrison said, noting that connecting a campus with its community was not a traditionally on a university president's radar 30 or 40 years ago. "I don't think it was seen as president's responsibility," he said. "I did it with some intentionality; I found too many people didn't know enough about the university," and all it offered. Those offerings have dramatically increased over his tenure. With a successful mix of building financial stability, advocating for student athletes and investing in community leadership roles, Harrison has left the university on solid ground from which it can continue to rise. Linda J. Kelly Walter Harrison By Susan Shalhoub By Susan Shalhoub