Pulmonary & Sleep Medicine specialties are expanding their office space. Sleep services will remain in Suite D-24 and Pulmonary will move to Suite D-21, 25 Newell Road in Bristol, beginning March 25.

Bristol Hospital Declare Profit | Bristol Health CT News

By Hartford Courant

April 05, 2019

Boosted by its new behavioral health and psychiatric unit for senior citizens, BristolHospital announced Wednesday that it posted a profit of $1.97 million last year.

The strong financial performance was a sharp turnaround from 2017, when the independent hospital suffered a $6.15 million loss, its worst performance in years.

At their annual meeting Wednesday morning, hospital administrators also announced they will open the new 60,000-square-foot downtown medical office and lab building on June 10.

“It’s really nice to see something going on across the street in the wastelands and have some company downtown,” said Thomas Barnes, chairman of theBarnes Group, which has its headquarters downtown.

The hospital is looking for the new building to consolidate specialists’ offices that are currently spread through a half-dozen towns. Outpatient care in cardiology, neurology, urology, rheumatology and orthopedics will be offered there.

“When you can provide easier access for patients across your care services, it removes a layer of stress,” President Kurt Barwis said.

The building is the most highprofile of several recent initiatives, including the creation of a 15-bed senior behavioral health unit in early 2018. It admitted more than 170 patients during its first year in operation, administrators said. That included more than two dozen patients referred from hospitals as far away as Greenwich, Danbury and NewLondon.

Bristol Hospital also has been recruiting physicians for years and opening offices under its Bristol Hospital Multi-Specialty Group corporate name in New Britain, Southington and elsewhere in the region.

Louis Auletta Jr., chairman of the hospital board’s finance committee, noted that overall revenue from patient services was up by $8 million from the previous year and that outpatient visits surpassed 225,000, the highest ever and roughly 11,000 more than the previous year.

The hospital is embarking on a multimillion-dollar expansion of its emergency room this year and announced Wednesday that it is rebranding itself as Bristol Health. The business will continue to operate the hospital, the current network of physicians and the Ingraham Manor nursing home.

Don Stacom can be reached at dstacom@courant.com.