Connecticut
CT governor meets with Yale New Haven and Prospect Medical to try for deal on hospitals
Gov. Ned Lamont met with the two chief executive officers involved in the plan for Yale New Haven Health to purchase Prospect Medical Holdings on Wednesday in an effort to move the stalled negotiations out of the courtroom.
Lamont met for more than an hour with YNNH CEO Chris O’Connor and Prospect Medical CEO Von Crockett in his office at the state Capitol Wednesday morning.
The two sides and their lawyers left without an agreement but are expected to meet again Thursday on their own. An attorney from Medical Properties Trust — an entity also involved in the proposed deal because it owns the Manchester Memorial, Rockville General and Waterbury hospital buildings that Prospect operates — also participated in the meeting.
When asked by The Connecticut Mirror if he thought that a deal could be made, Crockett responded, “Doesn’t everybody want a deal?”
Asked if residents should be concerned about the financial status of the three Prospect hospitals, Crockett said, “No one should be concerned that any of the hospitals will close.”
Lamont’s spokesperson Julia Bergman said the governor was encouraged by the meeting even if the parties left without an agreement.
“This is the first time the two CEOs have been in a room together, so we take that as a sign of progress,” Bergman said.
She said that Lamont did not offer to put any state money into the deal, as Yale had requested. Lamont has maintained that it is a private deal and the two parties need to work out.
“The governor wanted to get everyone back together, away from the courtroom, to see if there was a way to move this forward,” Bergman said. “He continues to see this as the best deal and Yale as the best owner for the three hospitals.”
Dana Marnane, a spokeswoman for YNHH, said Lamont sought the meeting with hospital executives Wednesday, but she declined to provide details about the discussion.
“At the request of Gov. Lamont, Yale New Haven Health leaders were in Hartford today meeting with the governor and representatives from Prospect and Medical Properties Trust,” she said. “We thank Gov. Lamont for facilitating this discussion and we will keep our community apprised if there are any updates to share.”
The state authorized the acquisition in March. The Office of Health Strategy had been criticized by some lawmakers for taking more than a year to issue its approval, which won’t take effect if the two sides can’t reach a sale agreement.
YNHH had announced in 2022 that it reached a deal with Prospect to buy the hospitals for $435 million.
But following a cyberattack in August and revelations that Prospect owes tens of millions of dollars to vendors, physicians under contract at the hospitals and the state in taxes, Yale asked Prospect to revise the purchase price, which Prospect has been reluctant to do so.
As part of the proposed acquisition in Connecticut, YNHH wants to purchase back the real estate of the three hospitals from MPT, which would mean they would no longer be on the hook for rent payments. Under the current sale proposal, MPT would receive $355 million, or roughly 80% of the total deal value.
Earlier this month, Yale filed a lawsuit against Prospect Medical, charging that Prospect breached its contract with Yale by defaulting on rent and tax liabilities, allowing its facilities to deteriorate, mismanaging assets, “driving away” physicians and vendors and engaging in “a pattern of irresponsible financial practices.”
The CT Mirror previously reported that surgeries at Prospect’s Connecticut hospitals were being postponed because health care providers didn’t have the needed resources. Contracts with traveling nurses and technicians were in jeopardy and had remained in place only on a “week-to-week” basis at one point last fall, physicians at the hospitals said.
The cyberattack, which crippled operations for over six weeks last August, also set the hospitals back further financially, executives have said.
In January, the CT Mirror reported that Prospect neglected to pay $67 million in taxes. The state has filed three liens against the California-based company.
“Prospect and the selling entities have not complied with their obligations to providers, failing to pay their physician groups, medical staff and vendors and, in turn, damaging irretrievably their relationships with the very individuals and entities that allow the businesses to provide medical care to their patients,” the lawsuit claims.
“Prospect and the selling entities have failed to ensure that their information technology systems have even the most basic protections against data breaches.”
In a statement when the lawsuit was filed, Prospect Medical officials called the lawsuit “a blatant, 11th hour attempt by Yale Health to back out” of the contract.
“Despite the claims made by Yale in its complaint, Yale only notified Prospect for the first time of its concern that there had been a material adverse effect on the hospitals’ finances and operations on March 27, 2024. In response, and following Yale’s failure to obtain an $80 million grant from the state, we offered Yale a good-faith price reduction in an attempt to move the negotiations forward and complete the transaction.”
Prospect officials said patient volumes and finances at their Connecticut facilities have “rebounded significantly.”
Senate Republican Leader Stephen Harding, Sen. Heather Somers, Ranking Senator on the Public Health Committee and Sen. Jeff Gordon, a doctor and a member of the Public Health Committee said in a joint statement, “We are encouraged that the governor and the CEOs met today for an extended period of time. Bringing the parties together is a positive development, and the discussions must continue. We are also encouraged to hear that there should not be a concern that any hospitals will close. We remain available to all stakeholders to assist with a swift resolution on this matter. Our collective communities’ health care accessibility – as well as access to health care jobs – depends on it.”
Dave Altimari and Jenna Carlesso are reporters for The Connecticut Mirror (https://ctmirror.org/ ). Copyright 2024 © The Connecticut Mirror.
Connecticut
Once the only game in town, Stop & Shop’s dominance is under siege. CT is ‘hyper competitive market’
Stop & Shop supermarkets — the grocer where three generations of Connecticut shoppers filled their carts — remains the most popular place to pick up produce, meat and dairy in the state, but that dominance is under siege.
Quincy, Mass-based Stop & Shop’s recent announcement that it will shutter as of now an undisclosed number of “underperforming” stores — some likely in Connecticut where it operates nearly 90 outlets and is working to grow its online business — comes as it faces intensifying competition on all fronts and at a time of price inflation.
Low-price grocery juggernauts such as Walmart Supercenters and Aldi have expanded rapidly in Connecticut in the last decade. Those competitors are forcing Stop & Shop to examine its pricing, which some experts say is as much as 14% higher.
On the other end, pushes by upscale grocers such as Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s are putting pressure on Stop & Shop to up its game on quality. Experts say Stop & Shop took a hit when it began phasing out in-store butchers in favor of pre-packaged meat.
“You’ve got a hyper competitive market in our little state,” said Wayne Pesce, president of the Connecticut Food Association, a state trade organization. “All these plates are shifting and Stop & Stop who’s got the most to protect, right?”
Pesce, whose trade group promotes food retailing in Connecticut, said there is no letup in sight.
Norwalk-based boutique grocer Stew Leonard’s has firmly established its brand in Newington and is now setting its sights on New Haven County. Wegman’s of New York, with outlets throughout the Northeast, is now building its first store in Norwalk that is expected to open next year.
All the jockeying by grocers in Connecticut is likely to have an upside for consumers in both price and food quality, Pesce said.
“You have competitors investing in the market,” Pesce said. “That is happening, and that is good for consumers.”
‘That’s not enough’
Stop & Shop was founded in Massachusetts more than a century ago, opening its first Connecticut store in 1941. Today, Stop & Shop now has nearly 400 stores in five states. Along with other U.S. grocers such as Food Lion and Hannaford, Stop & Shop is owned by Dutch retail and wholesale giant Ahold Delhaize.
JJ Fleeman, chief executive of Ahold Delhaize’s U.S. operations, told investors last month that Stop & Shop has made significant strides in enhancing loyalty programs, which extend rewards, discounts, or other special incentives to keep customers coming back to shop. In addition, steps have been taken to build its digital customer base.
“But that’s not enough, and it’s not where we want or need to be,” Fleeman said, according to a video of the investor meeting. “As Stop & Shop embarks on its next phase, we will be decisive and take deliberate and appropriate actions to ensure a stable future for the brand.”
In addition to pricing and a “focus on quality, fresh products and well-stocked shelves,” Fleeman said there will be an emphasis “on fantastic service in each of its stores.”
While Stop & Shop has invested in remodeling 190 stores, it will make “difficult decisions” to close locations so the grocer can “create a healthy store base for the long term and grow the brand.”
John Minchillo/AP
Stop & Shop has nearly 90 stores in Connecticut and about 400 in five Northeast states. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
In a separate statement, Stop & Shop said Connecticut remains a priority for the grocer, and it plans to continue investing in store upgrades in the state.
The initiatives come at a critical time for Stop & Shop, at least in Connecticut, where the grocer has been a familiar anchor at shopping centers for 40 years.
In 2003, Stop & Shop had a market share of 40.4% in the Hartford area, according to New York-based Strategic Resource Group, a retail industry consultant. That market share had eroded to 26.8% as of 2023.
Over the same period, Walmart Supercenters, which offer full-service grocery, went from virtually no market share in 2003 in the Hartford area to 12.9% last year. Across Connecticut, 26 Walmart Supercenters opened in that time period, Strategic Resource Group said.
ShopRite, another low-cost competitor, said it has opened two new Connecticut stores in Cromwell and Vernon and has remodeled seven stores in the last five years. This week, two remodeled stores in Stamford will mark grand re-openings.
ShopRite stores and its sister grocer Price Rite are part of a cooperative in which independent family-run businesses operate stores. All together, the cooperative, Keasby, N.J.-based Wakefern added 27 stores in Connecticut since 2003, boosting its market share in the Hartford area from 2.7% to 11.1%
Emails seeking comment from Walmart, Big Y, Costco, BJ’s Wholesale Club and Aldi weren’t returned.
David Cadden, a professor emeritus of entrepreneurship and strategy at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, said there has been a dramatic shift in how consumers buy their groceries, at least on the cost-saving end of the shopping spectrum.
“The key thing is people are much more willing to become less brand loyal to particular retail outlets and begin to take a look for the best bargain and the best value that they can find at different locations,” Cadden said.
The option of calling in orders can “minimize the annoyance of going to different locations,” Cadden said.
‘Get back to business basics’
Stop & Shop long had a reputation for investing in quality and service, some experts say, but that has shifted in recent years. Perhaps the most notable example is the decision to move to pre-packaged meats, phasing out meat cut to order in the store.
The purchase of meat, particularly in the U.S., is central to weekly shopping trips, not only to consumers but grocery stores.
“Meat is the keystone in the bridge of the shopping basket to get the average customer instead of spending $35 to $40 per average transaction to spend $75 to $95,” Burt Flickinger, managing director of Strategic Resource Group, said. “And in many cases, numbers far exceed $100 per transaction.”
Stop & Shop didn’t appear to see that coming, Flickinger said.
“That shifted the customers over to Big Y, some of the ShopRites, but the lion’s share of the customers went fleeing to Costco,” Flickinger said.
Flickinger said centralizing some meat packaging is all right, but there still has to be the service at the store, the master meat cutter or butcher.
“It seems like they should get back to business basics and fresh foods, starting with meat and produce,” Flickinger said. “And to prices that are more competitive.”
Step forward, step back
Experts warn that cost-cutting through store closings like what Stop & Shop is pursuing can touch off a retailer’s downward spiral, with closings leading to more.
But in Hartford, the prospect of a potential shuttering is raising other concerns. The Stop & Shop on New Park Avenue in the city’s Parkville neighborhood is the sole full-service supermarket in Hartford.
Martha Page, chair of the Hartford Advisory Commission on Food Policy, said the loss of the Stop & Shop would be a critical setback to increasing access to healthful food in a city that long struggled with food insecurity.
“You go a step forward and then a step back,” Page said. “There’s no question about it, if that store closes, that leaves a hole. That not only leaves a gap in the food landscape but it leaves a challenging site, real estate wise.”
The city has long pushed for more food shopping alternatives in Hartford if it is to continue on its redevelopment trajectory. One such effort that is on-going is to bring a grocery store to the city’s North End neighborhoods.
Jennifer Barr Brogan, a Stop & Shop spokeswoman, said the supermarket chain couldn’t provide specific store locations that may be shuttered or a timeline. It is too early in the process, Brogan said, in an email.
“Stop & Shop can confirm that the broader community impact of a store closure will be considered,” Brogan said.
Here is a look at the major Connecticut grocers and how the food retailing landscape is shifting:
1. Stop & Shop
Founded: 1914
Headquarters: Quincy, Mass.
No. of CT stores in ’23: 81
Change from ’03: +12
Hartford area market share in ’23: 26.8%
Hartford market share in ’03: 40.4%
2. Walmart Supercenter
Founded: 1962*
Headquarters: Bentonville, Ariz.
No. of CT stores in ’23: 28
Change from a decade ago: +26
Hartford market share in ’23: 12.9%
Hartford market share in ’03: n/a
*first U.S. supercenter opens in 1988
3. ShopRite/Price Rite
Founded: 1946
Headquarters: Keasbey, N.J.
No. of CT stores in ’23: 39
Change from ’03: +27
Hartford area market share in ’23: 11.1%
Hartford area market share in ’03: 2.7%
4. Big Y
Founded: 1936
Headquarters: Springfield
No. of CT stores in ’23: 37
Change from ’03: +21
Hartford area market share in ’23: 9.4%
Hartford area market share in ’03: 11%
5. Costco
Founded: 1983
Headquarters: Issaquah, Wash.
No. of CT stores in ’23: 9
Change from ’03: +5
Hartford area market share in ’23: 8.5%
Hartford area market share in ’03: 3%
6. BJ’s Wholesale Club
Founded: 1984
Headquarters: Westborough, Mass.
No. of CT stores in ’23: 11
Change from ’03: +6
Hartford area market share in ’23: 4.4%
Hartford area market share in ’03: 1.2%
7. Aldi
Founded: 1961
Headquarters: Essen, Germany
U.S. headquarters: Batavia, IL
No. of CT stores in ’23: 26
Change from ’03: +24
Hartford area market share in ’23: 2%
Hartford area market share in ’03: n/a
SOURCES: Strategic Resource Group, Company websites
Kenneth R. Gosselin can be reached at kgosselin@courant.com.
Postal worker alerts family after beagle gets bitten by venomous snake
A postal worker alerted a Georgia family that their dog had been bitten by a copperhead snake through the family’s security video. (Credit: Kelsey Proctor via Storyful)
HAMDEN, Conn. – A dog in Connecticut faced a risky mountaintop rescue after being bitten by a venomous copperhead snake.
The terrain at Sleeping Giant State Park in Hamden was extremely treacherous as firefighters and local animal control officers rushed to the scene Wednesday to provide the dog with urgent medical attention.
A team of six people, including the dog’s owner, worked together to move the injured dog to safety on a stretcher.
“Thank you goes out to the two firefighters who did most of the carrying,” expressed Hamden Animal Control on social media, along with photos of the rescue operation.
NEW STUDY SUGGESTS CERTAIN COLORS YOU WEAR COULD ATTRACT MOSQUITOES TO BITE
A dangerous mountaintop rescue was required for a dog in Connecticut after it was bitten by a venomous copperhead snake at Sleeping Giant State Park in Hamden on Wednesday. (Hamden Animal Control)
The dog received antivenom and is currently under observation at a local animal.
“This is just a reminder to be careful out there, there are northern copperheads at Sleeping Giant,” animal control officers warned. “Their habitat includes rocky hillsides, open woods, as well as edges of swamps and meadows.”
CAN DOGS EAT CICADAS? WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THIS SUMMERTIME INSECT AND MAN’S BEST FRIEND
Connecticut is home to two venomous snake species: the timber rattlesnake and the northern copperhead.
Wildlife officials emphasize that these snakes are not aggressive and will only bite if threatened or handled; if left undisturbed, they do not pose a threat to people.
LINK: Get updates on this story at more at foxweather.com.
Several people in Bridgeport are being provided shelter after a lightning strike caused a structure fire Friday night.
Bridgeport firefighters responded to 80 Lindley St. around 8 p.m. for reports of lightning striking the roof of a multi-family home, according to Bridgeport’s Director of Public Information Tiadora Josef. As firefighters arrived to the home, flames were observed coming from the roof area. The fire was quickly put out and no injuries were reported.
The Red Cross is providing shelter for six adults, two children, and two pets that lived inside the home. The fire is being investigated by the Fire Marshal’s Office.
Stephen Underwood can be reached at sunderwood@courant.com
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