Dive Brief:
- Tenet Healthcare Corporation and Connecticut Gov. Malloy released a joint statement on Wednesday that the for-profit hospital operator and the state are officially exiting discussions surrounding the pending acquisition of four state hospitals.
- Tenet in December withdrew its purchase application after the state Office of Health Care Access proposed onerous conditions on Tenet's plans to convert non-profit Waterbury Hospital into a for-profit institution. Following the withdrawal, Tenet's point-man quietly met with Senate leaders in January, but discussions proved fruitless.
- "The environment for both providers and state government is complex and rapidly changing," Malloy said in the statement. "Unfortunately, the issues that separated us simply could not be overcome."
Dive Insight:
This is a blow for the struggling Waterbury hospital, which after warning for several weeks that layoffs were imminent, announced earlier this month that it is eliminating 80 full-time equivalent employees—affecting about 100 part-time and full-time employees. The hospital did not elaborate on how many of those people will be laid off or have their hours reduced, compared to the number of open positions that will not be filled.
Tenet had been trying for two years to enter the Connecticut market, so this is a shift in strategy that has much bigger implications that just Waterbury. Connecticut's hospital market is with one exception comprised entirely of non-profit institutions, so Tenet's entry would have been a major change to the state healthcare landscape.