CT's St. Francis, Johnson Memorial explore affiliation

Officials from Johnson Memorial Medical Center and St. Francis Care, the parent company of St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center, announced Thursday that the two healthcare organizations are considering an affiliation. David Morgan, Johnson Memorial's interim president and CEO, said an agreement with St. Francis would help stabilize the Stafford Springs-based hospital, which emerged from bankruptcy last September. "We felt that looking to the future to ensure long-term service of the institute, we need to be affiliated to a larger network," he said. "Immediately, it sends a message to the community that the institution is here to stay. St. Francis has agreed to work with us and do some things in the market and make us more efficient." All the economic factors challenging healthcare facilities in the past few years, he said, affect Johnson Memorial even more dramatically.