By Joe Pisani
BRIDGEPORT — When William M. Jennings took over Hartford HealthCare St. Vincent Medical Center three years ago, the only time a helicopter would land at the hospital was to “transport one of our patients to a higher level of care,” Jennings recalled.
“Now, if you hear a helicopter landing at St. Vincent’s Hospital, it’s almost guaranteed that it’s someone coming from Connecticut or somewhere in New England,” he says, “because we have a high standard of care and that’s part of the vision that we’ve delivered.”
Five years ago, Hartford HealthCare acquired the hospital from Ascension, and since then, the transformation has “raised the standard of care for all Fairfield County residents,” Jennings said.
How? The senior vice president of Hartford HealthCare and president of the Fairfield region has come up with a health care formula that he says drives the system’s growth and achievement: A2E2, which stands for “access, affordability, equity and excellence.”
“Our strategy was boiled down to four words,” he says: “More access in a more affordable way.”
Hartford HealthCare has expanded its reach throughout the county, “transforming what began as an isolated community hospital into a comprehensive regional health system.”
Deacon Patrick Toole, rector and secretary of the Archdiocese of Bridgeport, who also serves as chairman of the Fairfield Region Hartford Healthcare Board, expressed appreciation for the investment the company has made in the county and its efforts to maintain the hospital’s Catholic identity.
“Bill Jennings and the team at Hartford HealthCare are providing our community with essential services with the highest level of excellence,” he said. “They’ve invested millions of dollars to open an urgent care center, enhance behavioral health services and significantly update St. Vincent Medical Center with state-of-the-art equipment, all with a patient-centered mindset. The doctors, nurses and staff I’ve met have a deep passion for this mission.”
He also praised Jennings’ “outstanding leadership,” saying, “Not only has Bill worked tirelessly to provide the highest quality health care services in Fairfield County, he has also demonstrated great commitment and compassion for our community.”
Jennings, who joined Hartford HealthCare in July 2021, previously served as executive vice president of Tower Health, a six-hospital system in Pennsylvania, and president and CEO of Reading Hospital. Prior to that, he served as CEO of Bridgeport Hospital for eight years and as executive vice president of Yale New Haven Health.
Jennings pointed to several indicators of growth and excellence since acquiring the hospital.
St. Vincent’s previously received a one-out-of-five-star rating from CMS, based on standards set by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Its latest rating is four stars. The medical center’s Leapfrog score, determined by a nonprofit watchdog group that measures safety and quality, rose from a D to an A.
“These are the gold standards nationally,” Jennings said, “and our focus on excellence has led to these two improved ratings. Improving quality and safety is the sole reason we are in business, but we’ve achieved dramatic results in a very short period of time, and much of this is due to the high standards Hartford HealthCare has brought to this region from the success they’ve had in other parts of the state.”
In a recent presentation to staff, Jennings outlined the growth: 52 primary care providers with 70,371 visits in 2019 compared to 104 with 223,591 visits in 2023; surgeries increased from 6,937 to 9,463; urgent care centers increased from five locations with 44,795 visits to 12 locations with 76,963 visits; and outpatient clinics increased from 37 to 110.
During that time, the service area has expanded from Bridgeport and several surrounding towns to all of southern Fairfield County, Stamford, Valley Township, Orange and West Haven.
“Hartford HealthCare came into the area and redefined health care in this county by becoming a competitor,” Jennings said. “The disruptive forces of competition improve quality and choice in health care and, in our case, improved access and affordability of care.”
Jennings called some of the new initiatives “very innovative.”
One is a joint venture with Amazon, giving Hartford the exclusive management contract for Amazon’s franchised concierge primary care office, OneMedical, which has several locations in the county with more on the way.
“It’s concierge primary care, with immediate access to providers virtually, in-person or over the phone,” he says, “and Hartford HealthCare is the subspecialty and specialty network that supports these offices.”
Additionally, they launched OnMed Care Stations, primary care pods that will be rolled out in Fairfield County this year and already have several in place across the state.
“These are primary care pods, where you walk in and you’re met with a virtual health care provider, like a physician’s assistant or a doctor,” he said. “For example, the pods will be set up in the lobby of a grocery store, and they’ll be completely private. Once inside, patients can get a remote physical exam from a health care provider and pick up prescriptions if needed.
St Vincent’s now also offers “interventional neurosurgery and vascular thrombectomy.”In simpler terms, he explains, “We’ve recruited two vascular neurosurgeons who specialise in emergency stroke care. Now, paramedics in the area know that if they have a severe stroke, they need to go to St Vincent’s because we have the equipment, specialists and expertise they need to treat them.”
Two years ago, he said, he could only get the care he needed at Yale or the University of Hartford.
“Since we started this new service in the area, it’s saved hundreds of lives that didn’t exist anywhere else before,” he said, “and we’ve brought in neurosurgeons who live in the county and are raising their families here.”
Jennings also said St. Vincent’s has “the largest cardiac program in the county, and volume is important because the more you do, the safer you are.”
St. Vincent Hospital recently announced what it called “the most historic healthcare partnership in Fairfield County in the last 100 years.” Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center will serve the area through a joint venture partnership with Hartford HealthCare.
“Memorial Sloan Kettering doesn’t have a joint venture anywhere,” he said, “We’re the first in history, statewide Hartford HealthCare was chosen, but we’re starting in Fairfield County so our residents, neighbors and patients won’t have to drive to Manhattan (for many procedures) because we’re building a purpose-built office building at 4185 Black Rock Turnpike at Exit 44, Merritt, Fairfield, and that will be the Memorial Sloan Kettering office building.”
St. Vincent Medical Center, the primary teaching hospital for Quinnipiac University’s Frank H. Netter School of Medicine, has added three new residencies in psychiatry, family medicine and anesthesiology to its existing residencies in internal medicine and radiology.
For Jennings, it all comes down to his secret to success: A2E2.
“By adding new access and injecting new excellence into the community, we are clearly raising the standard of care for all residents of Fairfield County by making it more affordable and more equitable,” he said.
Deacon Toole said, “I am very optimistic about the future of health care in our parish. Our community is fortunate to have Bill Jennings leading Hartford HealthCare. In just a few short years, he has transformed health care services in our region.”
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