It isn”™t quite a matter of “everything old is new again” for William Jennings ”” but it”™s close.
The onetime president and CEO of Bridgeport Hospital is returning to the Park City after three-plus years as president of a hospital in Pennsylvania. But this time it”™s to be president of Hartford HealthCare”™s Fairfield region, which includes Bridgeport”™s St. Vincent”™s Medical Center, starting on July 19.
Having spent eight years at the helm of Bridgeport Hospital, “I have a lot of fondness for Bridgeport and Fairfield County,” Jennings told the Business Journal.
Besides the 473-bed St. Vincent”™s, HHC”™s Fairfield region includes the Spine Wellness Center in Westport and physicians”™ offices in Stamford and Norwalk, among others.
Jennings, who also will be a system-level senior vice president with HHC, will replace the system”™s current regional Fairfield County president, Vincent DiBattista, who will “continue to lead major system initiatives, focusing on the successful integration of clinical practices and programs, until his planned retirement in September 2022,” according to a press release.
Jennings is exiting not only Reading (Pennsylvania) Hospital, but also the system to which it belongs, Tower Health, where he was an executive vice president.
Tower Health has had a rocky ride of late. It posted an operating loss of nearly $250 million on $206 million in revenue for the 12 months ended June 30, 2020, and reportedly is facing an operating loss of at least $300 million for the fiscal year that concludes at the end of this month.
In early May it announced a restructuring plan designed to save about $70 million, at the cost of 95 health care providers and 100 support staff.
The six-hospital system, which was downgraded last October by both Fitch and Standard & Poor”™s to junk bond status, has roughly $1.5 billion in bond debt and has actively been seeking a larger system as a partner, but the University of Pennsylvania Health System and Pittsburgh”™s UPMC have both passed, according to reports.
Meanwhile, Tower Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Gary Conner resigned in January, and its President and CEO Clint Matthews followed suit in February.
The one bright spot for Tower Health has been the 738-bed Reading Hospital, which Jennings joined in 2018; it was the only one to make a profit, $66.6 million, in fiscal 2020.
While acknowledging that Tower Health “is struggling economically,” Jennings preferred to focus on Reading”™s performance under his leadership, noting that its “cash generation and economic performance have exceeded expectations.”
He has certainly moved to a more financially stable situation. St. Vincent”™s, acquired in 2019 by HHC for $244 million, is now part of a system whose total consolidated operating revenue in fiscal 2020 was $4.3 billion.
Jennings, who characterized both St. Vincent”™s and HHC as “being built on very strong foundations,” said part of his mission is to attract additional specialists to the region in such areas as cancer, neuroscience and orthopedics.
He was also pleased to note that, as of June 2, the hospital had not had any new Covid cases for the past several days. “That”™s a very significant position to be in,” he said. “We have returned as an industry to normal levels of activity in all areas except for emergency services.”
By providing more “points of access,” including an ongoing reliance on telemedicine, Jennings said he was confident that HHC could draw more patients to its facilities across the region and the state.
He also noted the hospital”™s ongoing support for the Thomas Merton Center, a social services organization in Bridgeport, whose mission includes providing a daily average of 400 meals to the area”™s needy. St. Vincent”™s provided free medical services to adults in need during a June 5 event at the center.
“Taking care of some of the community”™s most vulnerable citizens is an important part of what St. Vincent”™s is about,” Jennings said.
There is also the personal connection to the area.
“My wife Kristin and I missed so many things about the community, the restaurants, the church and most of all the people,” he said. “We”™re very much looking forward to getting back there.”
