The Town of Farmingtons Business and Breakfast Series

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The Town of Farmingtons Business and Breakfast
Series

• The University of Connecticut Health Center A
  Time of Transformation Affiliation, A Vision
  of Excellence

Cato T. Laurencin, M.D., Ph.D. September 23, 2009
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Thank you for inviting me

• I am pleased to address the Town of Farmingtons
  Business and Breakfast meeting and to be asked to
  provide an update on the Health Centers
  activities and plans.
• As you all are aware, a little over 12 months ago
  I stepped into a role containing an inherent set
  of challenges challenges I prefer to
  characterize as opportunities that bode well for
  our mutual future.
• I look forward to a long and productive
  relationship with the Town of Farmington, its
  business community and the entire Farmington
  Valley.
• Farmington and the Farmington Valley are
  extremely important to us. More than 800 of our
  employees live in the Farmington Valley and
  valley residents accounted for nearly 147,000
  visits to the UCHC.

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UCHCS Primary Mission Education and Research

• 3 Schools
• Medical School (346 students)
• Dental School (170 students)
• Graduate School in bio-medical sciences
  (344students)
• Research More than 90M per year of innovative
  research is conducted and discoveries are
  translated into advances in patient care, e.g.
  cancer vaccines, hormone therapies for
  Osteoporosis, new materials for Dental Implants,
  and Stem Cell research
• Residency Training For 675 residents (medical
  and dental) per year who train in local hospitals
• John Dempsey Hospital (JDH) and UConn Medical
  Group (UMG), the multi-specialty faculty
  practice, are sites for learning and represent
  key elements in attracting talented faculty who
  want to teach, do research and provide patient
  care.
• UCHC represents ½ of the University of
  Connecticut, ½ of its budget, ½ of its
  employees and ½ of its research portfolio. We
  contribute to the health and vitality of the
  states flagship university.

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Times of Transformation

• We are in the midst of significant transformation
• UCONN 21st Century projects are literally
  changing the landscape by
• Upgrading our education and teaching areas

Massey Auditorium
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Times of Transformation, cont.

• Construction of the Cell Genome Sciences
  Building
• Scheduled to open in the summer of 2010

400 Farmington Avenue - View from Front Entry
(Schematic Design)
Schematic Design Rendering by Goody Clancy
Architects
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Times of Transformation, cont.

• Enhancing our environment
• Clinical growth has required relocation of our
  Dermatology program to new space at 21 South Rd.

Landscape rendering by Flad Associates
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Times of Transformation, cont.

• John Dempsey Hospital Emergency Department
  Renovations
• Construction work is currently ongoing with a
  target completion date of 12/1/2009.
• But - no amount of renovation can hide the fact
  that JDH is a 30 yr old facility with no major
  upgrades since opening. It is undersized and
  inadequate to accommodate todays evolving
  standards of care and technologies, privacy
  concerns and patient/ provider expectations.

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The UConn Health Center Today

• John Dempsey Hospital (JDH) is a hospital that
  was never built as planned. The contractual,
  obligated fringe benefits are higher than market
  and the payor/ service mix is particularly
  challenging.
• 116 of 224 beds are low reimbursement, specialty
  beds
• NICU
• Newborn
• High-risk maternity
• Psychiatry
• Corrections
• Fewer than half of our licensed beds are
  available for medical/surgical care.
• The now aging physical plant was originally
  planned to have 400 beds.
• JDH has been running a 22.2 million deficit
  annually and this is expected to increase.
• This is why we seek state support and the
  partnership with Hartford HealthCare.
• It should be noted that only 22.5 of the Health
  Center budget is state supported.77.5 comes from
  other revenues (clinical, tuition, research,
  philanthropy.)

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Securing the Future of UCHC and Transforming
Health Education, Research and Clinical Care in
the Region
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The Affiliation

• Affiliation discussions continue with Hartford
  Hospital and elected officials.
• This region is prime to become a Medical
  Destination.
• The goal is to provide a clinical trial base to
  attract significant industry interest
• In so doing, awareness is raised about the good
  things being done in the Farmington medical
  community
• Weve created a Research and Education
  Collaborative linking UConn, Hartford HealthCare
  Corporation, St. Francis Hospital and Medical
  Center, The Hospital of Central CT and CT
  Childrens Medical Center, thereby raising the
  quality of healthcare in the area.

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The Affiliation

• We will create an economic powerhouse with UCHC,
  and therefore the Town of Farmington, at its
  core.
• Economic drivers exist in the areas of biomedical
  research, including stem cells, and medical
  devices
• The Connecticut Academy of Science Engineering
  (CASE) study was very clear that we have room to
  grow in this area.
• The one area in our state growing jobs is
  healthcare. The UConn/ Hartford Hospital proposal
  provides a chance to enhance our health care
  system and an opportunity to turn around our
  struggling economy by generating new jobs,
  increasing personal income, adding research
  funding and providing a significant net economic
  impact to the state and region.

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The Partnership Proposal

• The partnership would create one University
  Hospital on 2 campuses (Hartford and Farmington)
  with no increase in licensed beds in the region.
• This calls for the replacement of JDH on the
  Farmington Campus with the state contributing
  475M in bond funds to fund the hospital. The
  hospital remains a state asset. The state would
  also pay the fringe benefit differential for
  state employees of JDH.
• Once vacated, the old JDH would be repurposed for
  research/ lab/ academic use.

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The Partnership Proposal

• Hartford Hospital would contribute financially to
  UCHC over the next 10 years, including
• 60 M for the Schools of Medicine and Dental
  Medicine
• 65 M in working capital (transition dollars) and
  tech transfer
• Up to 100M in research support.

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Benefits of the Partnership to Farmington

• The continued presence of a hospital and
  continued access to essential healthcare services
  for Farmington residents
• Clinical programs are protected at the Farmington
  campus
• One short-term acute care hospital maintained at
  each site in Farmington and in Hartford
• Any changes in services at Farmington site
  require approval by the University Hospital
  Board, where UConn is represented
• Most changes would require review and approval by
  the Office of Health Care Access.

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Advantages for the State

• The state gains predictable financial stability
  at its academic hospital , with Hartford
  HealthCare absorbing the financial risk going
  forward.
• The academic health center moves into top tier
  status among the nations medical schools.
• Expansion of class size, mitigating the states
  upcoming shortage of doctors and dentists.
• Not only are 1,300 state jobs at JDH secure, but
  by 2040 18,000 new jobs will be created,
  generating over 3 billion annually in new
  personal income. (Verified in report by the CT
  Center for Economic Analysis)
• The operations of UCHC and University Hospital
  will generate over 1.3 billion in new spending
  each year and over 1.9 billion in new tax
  revenue by 2035.
• This amounts to a return on the 475M investment
  of over
• 900 M.

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Economic Impact

• Connecticut is caught in an economic perfect
  storm. The traditional economic engines
  defense, manufacturing, finance- are areas losing
  jobs.
• Between 2/2008 and 2/2009, CT lost over 50,000
  jobs, a number equal to the population of New
  London and Farmington.
• The question becomes whether CT is poised to
  participate in a recovery that will build a
  better long-term future for our citizens.
• The health services sector, including the
  biosciences, is the only area of state economy to
  experience job growth in the last year. We know
  that every 1M in NIH sponsored research
  generates approximately 18 jobs.
• As we look to the future, immediate and long
  term, it is clear that the healthcare sector,
  biomedical research and UCHC have the potential
  to be a means to economic recovery in the short
  term and a major building block in the states
  long term economic future. The UCHC is the
  mechanism for that to occur.

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Vision for School of Medicine

• Were developing a vision of School of Medicine
  
• (SOM) to be in the top 30 nationally.
• The plan is to catapult the SOM from the 2nd
• smallest academic medical center hospital to
  one of
• the largest.
• To achieve this we need to grow our research
  portfolio
• from 93 million to 300 million. This
  requires
• significant resources and space.
• This ties back to the Hospital Affiliation
  discussion,
• since the affiliation will allow an increase
  in class size
• in both the School of Medicine and the School
  of
• Dental Medicine. This will help with
  replacement of
• aging practitioners in the state.

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In Conclusion

• I am both a realist and an optimist
• As a realist I recognize that these are tough
  times and we must make difficult decisions
• However, the optimist in me knows that our vision
  is great and our opportunities are even greater
• I look forward to working with each of you to
  achieve our vision.