Nuvance Health, Northwell Heath complete merger
The merger was first announced in February 2024.
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Nuvance Health and Northwell Health completed their merger Wednesday, creating what they say is the largest not-for-profit health system in the Northeast.
In Connecticut, it impacts four hospitals, with Norwalk, Danbury, New Milford and Sharon now falling under the Northwell Health banner.
"Being large is just part of the goal, being better is what it is all about," Mike Dowling, the president and CEO of Northwell Health told News 12.
However in this case, both companies say that bigger will be better.
"Our ability to just really grow and expand our expertise - that's going to be tremendous - and we will notice that sooner than later," said Peter Cordeau, the president of Norwalk Hospital.
As part of the deal, Northwell is promising to invest at least $1 billion into the Nuvance hospitals.
Dowling says they are already looking to expand ambulatory care, while Cordeau says the impacts will be seen in multiple places.
"We're not going to shrink, if anything, everything in Norwalk is going to grow," he said. "So there will certainly be an expanded breath of physicians over time, and surgical specialties, medical subspecialties available."
Both Dowling and Cordeau also say that if their hospitals do not have the services in house, the expanded network will make it easier for patients to find specialists that are closer to home.
Dowling says the goal is to "enhance convenience, enhance service."
At Norwalk Hospital, Cordeau says all of this will happen without any chances to pricing or insurance coverage, since all existing contracts will stay in place.
Connecticut state Healthcare Advocate Kathy Holt says she'll be watching that closely.
"This could be a win-win," Holt said, "but we have to move forward with caution."
Holt tells News 12 her office is planning listening tours in the areas of the new Northwell hospitals, as a way to make sure patients are not running into any issues.
Holt says she will want to hear about "anything that they're having difficulty accessing services, or their wait times are getting longer or they're not able to get a bill covered, are they receiving appropriate discharges to appropriate settings?"
Northwell executives say they will also be visiting all of their new hospitals starting next week, and working to learn the communities.
