Message Archive
November 21, 2008
Conceptual Framework
Earlier this year the General Assembly passed legislation
that charged the University to develop a plan with the area’s
hospitals that would, through cooperation and collaboration,
transform the greater Hartford region into a hub of health care
delivery, medical education, leading-edge research and
biomedical business activity.
In response, the University issued a Solicitation of Interest
that sought proposals from interested organizations by August 1.
Four responses were received from St. Francis Hospital and
Medical Center, Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, Bristol
Hospital, and a combined response from Hartford Hospital and The
Hospital of Central Connecticut.
Since then, we have been deeply involved in discussions with
the leaders of all the responding hospitals. As you might
expect, there are many perspectives to consider, yet we are
pleased the discussions thus far have been quite encouraging and
productive.
Of the four responses, the one from Hartford Hospital and The
Hospital of Central Connecticut was the most comprehensive.
Accordingly, we have spent more time in discussions with their
leadership. From these discussions, we have developed a
Conceptual Framework
document. The document identifies Hartford Hospital as
UConn’s principal partner. This partnership will form the
nucleus of a restructured clinical enterprise.
The Conceptual Framework also delineates a Connecticut Health
Collaborative, comprised of a broad network of affiliates,
including St. Francis Hospital, The Hospital of Central
Connecticut, Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, Hartford
Hospital and UConn Health Center. These hospitals, through the
collaborative, would seek to support the educational and
research mission of all the affiliates. This will be
accomplished by expanding interactions with UConn’s medical and
dental students, interns and residents and broadening access to
emerging science through the transfer of new knowledge to each
hospital’s workforce. The collaborative will also support
efforts to organize and grow biomedical research in the region.
A recent correspondence to academic leaders of the affiliates
that requests their assistance in determining how best to
achieve these objectives, thereby enhancing medical education
and research for all affiliated hospitals, may be viewed here:
http://www.uchc.edu/vicepresident/pdfs/chrec.pdf.
The Conceptual Framework represents our thinking to date and
describes a collaborative model of working with the University
that involves and benefits all the responding hospitals. Without
question, moving it forward will not be easy. Many difficult
issues, including financial, need to be resolved and significant
challenges lie ahead. Five Working Groups comprised of
representatives from the Health Center and Hartford Hospital
have been analyzing several key issues and developing
recommended solutions.
We remain convinced that cooperative arrangements among our
region’s hospitals as described in the Conceptual Framework
provide the best opportunity to transform healthcare delivery,
medical education and research while simultaneously generating
increased economic activity throughout the greater Hartford
area.
We encourage you to read the documents we have provided and
consider what they strive to accomplish. Your thoughts and
reactions are very important to us. To that end, a Town Meeting
is scheduled for Tuesday, December 2 at 5:30 p.m. in Keller
Auditorium. It will be a forum for you to ask questions and
offer comments. Please plan to attend.
Mike Hogan
President
Cato T. Laurencin, M.D., Ph.D.
Vice President for Health Affairs
Dean, School of Medicine |
