Hartford HealthCare to invest $5 million in Quinnipiac health services, academics and career opportunities
January 19, 2022
Hartford HealthCare will give Quinnipiac University $5 million over the next five years to improve on-campus health services, enhance health care academic programs and increase career opportunities for Quinnipiac students and HHC employees.
Quinnipiac President Judy Olian and HHC President and CEO Jeffrey Flaks announced the partnership Jan. 19, during a press conference at the Center for Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences on the North Haven campus.
On-campus health services will be transitioned to HHC services through the organization’s Campus Care program. All aspects of on-campus health care, from physical health and mental well-being services to athletic training for Division I athletes, will be provided and managed by HHC. Olian said this transition will happen this summer ahead of the opening of the new health and wellness center.
According to a HHC promotional video, Campus Care provides “experts in virtually every area of health care” within on-campus services. Current Student Health Services staff members will be offered employment through HHC, but can remain in their existing roles at Quinnipiac, the university wrote in a press release.
The university’s medical records will be integrated through the MyChart platform within Hartford HealthCare’s network. MyChart allows users to connect with their care provider through access to appointment scheduling, test results, medical records and other services.
Through the partnership, HHC will support Quinnipiac’s academic health care programs, including providing new clinical rotation opportunities for students and job opportunities after graduation. HHC will also develop curriculum and recruit clinical faculty for the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine.
Additionally, the collaboration aims to create new career pipelines for Quinnipiac students across all academic disciplines. According to the university’s press release, HHC will be creating “practicums, internships, and research and capstone opportunities” for undergraduate and graduate students across many fields, including supply chain management and computing, data analytics, finance and legal compliance, communications and biomechanical engineering.
Quinnipiac will also provide professional and leadership development opportunities for HHC, including a leadership development program within the School of Business and tuition discount for HHC employees and dependents.
“This is a university-wide collaboration that’s based on a strategic vision that brings together on one hand, a comprehensive university, and on the other, a comprehensive health care partner,” Olian said.
Associate Vice President for Public Relations John Morgan confirmed to The Chronicle that Quinnipiac pursued the partnership with HHC.
Flaks said the decision for HHC to collaborate with Quinnipiac was rooted in a “common culture” between the two organizations. He said HHC did not consider any other universities “for this specific partnership.”
“Quinnipiac is an organization that has a great vision, a president who has a great perspective about the future of health care, about what health sciences needs to be, and President Olian (is) very committed to the future workforce of Connecticut,” Flaks said. “We share those same commitments, and we have a vision on how to transform healthcare. And we felt Quinnipiac was a perfect partner who could help us accelerate the ability to support Connecticut.”
