Cardiology Associates of Waterbury to Join the Waterbury Hospital Network

New relationship will enhance and streamline heart health care services in the Greater Waterbury Region 

Two of Greater Waterbury’s major health care providers – Cardiology Associates of Waterbury (CAW) and Waterbury Hospital – have entered into a relationship in which CAW has been acquired by Waterbury Hospital. 

CAW is the largest cardiology practice in the region. Its acquisition by Waterbury Hospital is expected to enhance the exemplary level of care that both parties currently provide to patients. 

“We are enormously pleased with this arrangement, as we believe it will position both Waterbury Hospital and CAW to continue providing high quality cardiac care to patients across the region for the foreseeable future,” said John Tobin, Waterbury Hospital President and CEO. 

Tobin said the acquisition follows a national trend in which practices are aligning themselves with hospitals and other large providers in an effort to streamline and improve patient care.

 “There is ample evidence that integrated health care systems where physicians and hospitals are part of the same organization, provide higher quality and more cost effective medical care than the current, fragmented model can provide,” Tobin explained. “For just this reason, several provisions of the recently enacted health care reform legislation will push hospitals, physicians and other providers into such relationships.” 

CAW cardiologists said the practice shares the belief that close collaboration will be the key to success and growth in the future. 

“Both parties are looking to the future. A partnership makes sense for both of us in today’s environment,” CAW cardiologists said in a joint statement. 

Patients of CAW physicians will continue to receive the highest quality care and treatment during their visits to the CAW medical building at 455 Chase Parkway in Waterbury. Inpatient and outpatient services at Waterbury Hospital and Saint Mary’s Hospital will also continue as currently provided. CAW physicians will maintain their privileges at Saint Mary’s Hospital, and will continue to treat patients there. 

Patients of the Heart Center of Greater Waterbury, which provides a full range of cardiac services under a joint relationship with Waterbury Hospital, Saint Mary’s Hospital and the University of Connecticut Medical Center, will also continue to receive the same high level of care that they do today, and will see no change in how service is provided. 

The two parties closed on the acquisition last week, and it is expected to be effective by March 2011.
 

Waterbury Hospital is the largest private employer in the Greater Waterbury region, and serves a vital role in the economic vitality of Western Connecticut. It is a private, non-profit acute care teaching hospital licensed for 367 beds and affiliated with the Yale School of Medicine, the University of Connecticut School of Medicine and Connecticut Children’s Medical Center. Founded in 1890 as Waterbury’s first and Connecticut’s fourth hospital, Waterbury Hospital is a full-service community health-care institution with centers of excellence in primary care, cardiac services, behavioral health and orthopaedics.