Dear Colleagues,
Well, this week we’ve had some not so good news on the legislative front. As you may recall we had one main ask during this short legislative session, namely that UConn Health (and UConn) receive funding to pay for the 4.5% SEBAC (State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition) negotiated wage increases for FY 26 and FY 27. For UConn Health this increase totals $55.7 million, and for UConn Storrs $37.1 million. Unfortunately, this request did not make it into the budget, which the legislature will vote on shortly, which means we will have a $55 million shortfall to address for FY 27.
I should pause here and emphasize that the state has supported UConn Health over the years, and we are thankful for the support despite this disappointing outcome. Our challenge is that other state agencies will receive the full negotiated increase, whereas UConn Health will not. I will update you on the final budget outcome and the target for the next Project Thrive.
Switching to a lighter topic, this week I hosted a two-part senior leadership retreat in the Sandy Cloud Jr. Boardroom at 16 Munson Road. The first part of the retreat included just myself and the UConn Health senior team, the second part included UConn Health Waterbury senior leaders. In the first part we level-set on the vision we crafted in 2024.
I explained that three key aspects of this vision are (1) Growth (2) Decreasing reliance of the clinical enterprise on state financial support and (3) Direct relevance to the state.
The graphic below shows the many new initiatives we are engaged in using the lens of these three aspects of the vision.
RISP refers to the Rapid Inclusive Strategic plan, of which there are over 90 department level initiatives. The 23 beds refers to the increase in bed capacity we received for John Dempsey hospital in February 2025. DOC is the Dept of Corrections. WTBY, Bristol, DKH and Solnit refer to hospitals, and managed care refers to our negotiations with payers.
In the second session with the UCH-Waterbury leadership team, our consultants E-Y educated both teams on Matrix management. This type of management is necessary now that we have a community network. By the way for those not familiar with it, Matrix management is an organizational structure in which employees report to more than one manager. For example a person may have a direct reporting line to one manager and a dotted line to another. It is designed to improve flexibility, resource sharing, and cross‑functional collaboration, but it requires strong communication and clear role accountability to manage competing priorities effectively.
On the topic of managed care, I am happy to announce that we have reached a fair agreement with Cigna and as such will avoid a situation in which our patients will be out of network. Below is the message posted to our website:
UConn Health and Cigna Reach New Multi-Year Agreement
UConn Health and Cigna have reached a new agreement that restores full in-network access to UConn Health’s physicians, hospitals, and clinical services for individuals covered by Cigna plans.
Effective May 1, 2026, Cigna members can schedule appointments and receive care at UConn Health with in-network coverage. Patients whose appointments were previously postponed during negotiations may now contact their provider’s office to reschedule.
As you may have seen reported in the media this week, we have signed letters of intent with both Bristol Health and Day Kimball Hospital to join our UConn Health Community Network. This represents another milestone as we partner with these organizations to expand access to care and bring the expertise of an academic medical center closer to the communities we serve.
Final agreements and required state approvals are still pending, but this is an important step in strengthening these partnerships.
This week we celebrated the opening of our newly renovated sterile processing department, located on the basement level of the Connecticut Tower.
Did you know that “Central Sterile,” as it’s often known, serves clinical areas throughout our enterprise, inpatient and outpatient, in Farmington and beyond – more than 50, including our operating rooms of course but also all our hospital floors, the Outpatient Pavilion, electrophysiology, the cardiac catheterization lab, interventional radiology, labor and delivery, our dental clinics, and our urgent care centers, just to name a few?
An extremely dedicated team works to ensure that all instruments and supplies are sterilized and ready for use. This is an example of the people whose quiet work behind the scenes enables our providers and clinical staff to deliver the safest and highest-quality care that has become our standard.
Nearly three years ago we closed the sterile processing department in the Connecticut Tower to renovate it and replace outdated equipment. During that time all the operations were running out of the University Tower, in space that originally was designed just for the ORs there. I’m happy to say, we have reopened the Connecticut Tower space, now fully updated with state-of-the-art equipment. I’d like to thank Ellen Benson, our university director who oversees Central Sterile, as well as her amazing group of remarkably dedicated employees.
You often hear us talk about the recognition our UConn John Dempsey Hospital continues to get for patient safety and quality, whether it be accolades from Newsweek, Healthgrades, or our straight A’s for patient safety from the Leapfrog Group 10 times (and counting!), none of it would be possible without our outstanding providers on the front line and all our staff members whose work puts them in the position to excel. I want to take a moment today to specifically acknowledge our nurses.
This year we are observing Nurses Week May 3-9. The theme this year is Teamwork/Power of Nursing. Each day itself has a different sprit theme (e.g., Tropical Day, Superhero Day, UConn Spirit Day) and throughout the week we’ll have activities and events to celebrate the contributions of our more than 1,200 RNs, nurse practitioners, and nurse anesthetists.
In 2025:
- 28 new graduate nurses completed our Transition to Practice Program.
- 36 nurses advanced from CN2 to CN3.
- Four nurses advanced from CN3 to CN4.
- 18 nurses accepted PAWS awards.
If you drive by our campus at night, you’ll see we’re lighting red in honor of Nurses Week. Tuesday evening is the annual Nightingale Awards ceremony at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford, where our 2026 Nightingale Nurses (Kristen Cannata, Domenic Cote-Roy, Laura Glynn, Shiela Lafleur, Toni Ann Ryan, and Melissa Revicki) will accept their well-deserved awards.
Speaking of awards, I have the honor of being invited to be part of our annual Nursing Excellence Recognition Ceremony next Friday. We will have many honorees to recognize and celebrate. This is always one of my favorite days of the year, and I am grateful to Caryl Ryan, our CNO and John Dempsey Hospital COO, not only for inviting me to be a part of the ceremony, but also for her incredible leadership and making nursing a point of extreme pride for our institution.
Please join me in acknowledging our outstanding nurses — during Nurses Week, of course, but they are deserving of our support and gratitude all year.
I’d like to end this week with a letter that Patient Relations shared with me (edited for privacy):
I am writing to commend Dr. Anil Adisesh for his exemplary skills. I have been a patient in Occupational and Environmental Medicine for many years. Dr. Adisesh is one of the top two physicians I have seen as a patient during this time.
Dr. Adisesh is highly intelligent, he listens well, and he cares about me as a patient and a person. He connects the dots of disparate pieces of information and brings in medical facts that are related to my medical issues in ways that few physicians do. His breadth and depth of experience, education, and knowledge are superb. Dr. Adisesh has an easy ability to look a patient in the eyes, listen to what they say, and then weaves all the information into a concrete diagnosis and treatment plan. His clinical skills set and interpersonal skills make him an excellent physician.
My most recent visit included watching Dr. Adisesh help train a resident. He watched as she examined me and praised her skills and clinical approach. He asked her relevant questions and supported her growth and development as a practitioner. It was clear that she respected him and trusted him as a mentor.
I have had more than a dozen physicians during the many years that I have been a patient at UCHC. Some have been mediocre, some have been good, only two have been outstanding. In my experience, Dr. Adisesh is right next to the late, great Dr. Eileen Storey for outstanding work as a practitioner and Chief. The UCHC is fortunate to have him on staff, and the patients at Occupational and Environmental Medicine are greatly served to have him as both their physician and the Chief.
Thank you, Dr. Adisesh, for your outstanding care, and to everyone reading this, thank you for all you do.
Andrew C. Agwunobi, MD, MBA
Chief Executive Officer
EVP for Health Affairs
UConn Health
Dear Dr. Andy
Can something be done regarding the delay in getting radiology reports read? It is taking over two weeks for reports to be completed. This is delaying patient care. Our surgeons are having to reschedule important appointments because there are no results to review. Sometimes surgeries are also being delayed because of this. Can we hire more radiologists to avoid this in the future?
Thank you for the question, which I’ve shared with leaders in Radiology. They are actively interviewing and hiring radiologists, and also have partnered with a remote radiology team, DocPanel, which is to go live in a matter of days, with the capability of interpreting 150 studies per day. This will greatly help attack the backlog of reads and get us back to appropriate turnaround times for radiology studies final reads.
Dr. Leo Wolansky, chair of our Department of Imaging and Therapeutics, reports we in fact have broken our record for annual productivity each of the last six years, and despite the increasing scarcity of radiologists, we have approved five additional lines for in-residence faculty radiologists.
The radiology team had been short-staffed, but between the new teleradiology service and two new faculty arriving in July, the landscape is getting better and we will see improvement in the reading times.
Thank you for raising this. I appreciate your concern over potential delays in patient care.
Have something you want to ask Dr. Andy? Submit your question on The Hub.
Hub Highlights
Learn who from our schools were the students’ choices for this year’s faculty awards.
See what two of our nurses were doing at the state Capitol.
We’re celebrating Patient Experience Week.
Read about who’s delivering our 2026 commencement address.
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