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November 27, 2018

State filings shed light on Yale's bid to acquire Milford Hospital

Photo | Liese Klein
By Joe Cooper

Faced with operating losses of $41 million over the last five years, Milford Hospital has encountered "dire financial straits" as it looks to be acquired by Yale New Haven Health, a recent state filing shows.

In September, Milford Hospital's board of trustees voted to sell the 118-bed facility to Yale New Haven Health-owned Bridgeport Hospital, but little was known about the deal's financial terms.

However, a Nov. 15 filing to the Connecticut Office of Health Strategy sheds light on YNNH's $66.1 million bid to acquire Milford Hospital, one of a handful of Connecticut's remaining independent hospitals.

In a Nov. 15 "certificate of need" filing with state regulators, YNHH said it would invest at least $50 million in infrastructure and clinical service improvements to establish a Bridgeport Hospital satellite hospital on the current Milford Hospital campus. The facility would be known as the Milford Campus of Bridgeport Hospital, or MCBH.

The filing says Milford Hospital has endured years of "inadequate" patient revenue driven by a low average patient census of 24 patients a day. The $66.1 million purchase price will help it clear liabilities off its books and avoid bankruptcy.

Milford Hospital's inpatient discharges have also declined by almost 30 percent of the last five years.

Including its pension fund, Milford Health & Medical Inc., the parent of Milford Hospital, has debt in excess of $78 million, estimates show. The financial struggles has made if difficult for Milford Health to retain and recruit physician talent and update and replace its aging medical equipment.

Milford Hospital reported a profit of more than $500,000 in 2017. That followed a $750,000 profit in 2016, a $4.6 million loss in 2015 and a $7.2 million loss in 2014.

Without the proposed acquisition, Milford Health "faces insolvency and an uncertain future," the filing says.

"Milford Hospital's ability to operate as a fully functional independent community hospital is in dire financial straits," it says.

YNHH said the proposed deal would help maintain access to quality inpatient and outpatient health care services for Milford residents and its surrounding communities.

Other benefits listed include: Providing Milford-area residents a closer location to access Yale's regional health network; developing a comprehensive plan for Bridgeport Hospital to address the health-care service needs of area patients; and allowing Bridgeport Hospital to gain bed capacity, among others.

As previously reported, all of Milford Hospital's 700 employees would become employees of the 383-bed Bridgeport Hospital, which currently employs 2,600 staffers. All union contracts would be recognized.

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