Looking for a competitive edge

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As the UConn Health Center prepares to open a new patient tower and outpatient pavilion over the next few years, hospital administrators hope it will give the medical center a competitive boost.

The Health Center has struggled financially for years, including posting a $227 million operating loss in fiscal 2013. On several occasions, UConn had to ask the state for special funding to sure up its finances, generating much criticism and questions about its operations.

Hospital officials have often said the Health Center's outdated infrastructure and smaller-size hospital put it at a competitive disadvantage. Being a teaching and research institution also adds to the Health Center's higher costs.

Dr. Denis Lafreniere, medical director of the UConn Medical Group, said he expects the new outpatient pavilion and improved care delivery to increase outpatient volume in the years ahead (they had 543,000 unique patient visits last year, according to data from the Office of Health Care Access). Following an industrywide trend, UConn has also been opening smaller outpatient centers in the suburbs like Southington, Canton, and Simsbury, to expand care access and grow its patient base.

Long term, UConn's ability to attract top talent as a research institution and its association with The Jackson Laboratory could be a game changer, Lafreniere said, as both institutions work to advance genomic research, which is focused on developing personalized treatment for patients.

UConn Health Center, for example, is currently conducting clinical trials — based on discoveries from its own researchers — for ovarian cancer patients who failed conventional treatments.

“Bringing our brain equity together and having our clinical expertise with [Jackson Laboratory's] research know-how could be a powerful combination,” Lafreniere said. “As genomic medicine moves forward we are going to be in a position to take advantage of it. That is the future and that is where we see our growth.”