Connecticut plans to borrow $390 million to expand the footprint of its own struggling flagship medical institution, the University of Connecticut Health Center, while simultaneously ridding the state of hospitals under private equity ownership.

According to communications obtained this week by The Connecticut Mirror, the debt would be added to the “UConn 2000” bonding package, the state’s financing program for capital projects at its flagship university. 

The $390 million in borrowed funds would cover the $13 million acquisition of Waterbury Hospital from Prospect Medical Holdings, a now-bankrupt hospital operator that was formerly backed by private equity investment. The funding would also pay for “other future clinical partnerships,” according to the communication.

Last month, CT Mirror confirmed that UConn Health is also in talks to purchase Bristol Hospital and Day Kimball Hospital in Putnam. It is not clear from the communications whether any of the additional funding would be used to pay for the acquisition of those two hospitals.

A significant portion of the funding would go toward investments in “IT, equipment, deferred maintenance and working capital,” the communication said. Waterbury Hospital, in particular, would need a major influx of capital funding to upgrade its systems, which are still recovering from a crippling cyberattack in 2023.

Gov. Ned Lamont’s office did not respond to a request for comment, nor did Prospect Medical Holdings.

UConn Health spokesperson Jennifer Walker deferred comment to the governor’s office.

The nearly $400 million proposal does not address the hospital provider taxes Prospect owes the state, or its unpaid municipal taxes in Manchester and Waterbury.