A new partnership will improve how healthcare is delivered in the state, improve healthcare education and could create thousands of jobs, Gov. M. Jodi Rell said on Tuesday.
The state and University of Connecticut are building the network that will include Hartford Hospital, Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center, Connecticut Children’s Medical Center and other healthcare facilities and providers.
At the center of the partnership is a $325 million investment and new state-of-the-art patient tower and totally renovated hospital at UConn Health Center campus in Farmington. Originally, the state believed the project would cost $450 million.
“This is a $352 million investment in a new hospital that will have increased classroom and lab space for more medical and dental students and will help offset anticipated shortages in these professions,” Rell said. “The return on our investment will include a nationally recognized cancer center and specialized institutes and advanced training open to all healthcare professionals in the state. The tremendous benefit, of course, is a more robust healthcare sector that stands to gain 5,000 new jobs in the years to come.”
Funding for the new hospital and related facilities will include $100 million from federal funds and $25 million from the already approved UConn 21st Century will fund design and planning, while $227 million will come from state bonding.
UConn President Michael Hogan said the partnership puts the UConn Health Center on “firm footing” for a promising future.
The partnership will include creating a nationally recognized cancer center at the Farmington campus, a Primary Care Institute at St. Francis that would be open to all healthcare professionals to develop new models of chronic disease management and primary care education and treatment, a simulation center at Hartford Hospital to train healthcare professionals on new equipment and technology, Rell said.
The neonatal intensive care unit will remain at Dempsey but Connecticut Children’s Medical Center will run it.
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Other initiatives include a health disparities institute in Hartford to promote enhanced healthcare research, training and delivery to minority communities, an Institute for Clinical and Translational Sciences on Farmington Campus and establishing a bioscience enterprise zone.
