The Connecticut Health Foundation (CT Health) was founded over 15 years ago as the result of the conversion of a nonprofit hospital network to for-profit status. The foundation was established with a mission to improve the health status of people in Connecticut, with a particular focus on helping people of color and underserved communities gain access to affordable and high quality care.

CT Health has supported policy and practice improvements in the health delivery system across three priority areas: children’s mental health, oral health, and racial and ethnic disparities. The Foundation’s 2012 strategic plan transitioned its philanthropic focus to addressing health equity issues and promoting systems change, rather than being a categorical funder. The Foundation engaged Impact Catalysts in a planning process from 2016-17 to update its strategy and lay out a course of action amid the political uncertainties over health care. The plan was formally adopted in October 2017 and will be implemented beginning in 2018.

In 2014, the Connecticut legislature approved a hospital regulation bill that removed an obstacle in an existing law that made it difficult for hospitals to operate as for-profits in the state. With the passing of this legislation, Connecticut began to experience an increase in proposed transfers of assets and operations of nonprofit hospitals to for-profit entities. Impact Catalysts (through its predecessor firm, Root Cause) worked with CT Health to explore the feasibility and strategic value of serving as a management vehicle for the nonprofit assets of these conversions.

We led a process to test the premise that CT Health could play this role and analyze the potential value for hospital partners. Using publicly available tax filings, we assessed the financial health of all nonprofit hospitals in the state and identified institutions that were most likely to be acquired by for-profit networks. We interviewed key partners, grantees, and other stakeholders, as well as key experts in the field and potential hospital conversation candidates to test their interest. Based on our findings, we developed a plan with recommendations to guide CT Health’s future approach to this opportunity, with a goal of preparing CT Health to craft a business case that it could use to approach potential conversion prospects and make the case for managing their foundation assets.