Saud Anwar

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Joe O’Leary | Joe.OLeary@cga.ct.gov | 508-479-4969

April 22, 2026
 

Today, State Senator Saud Anwar (D-South Windsor), Senate Chair of the Public Health Committee, led the Senate’s advancement of legislation seeking to limit private equity’s presence in Connecticut health care.

“In recent years, private equity ownership in Connecticut healthcare harmed the care patients received and the services provided at several hospitals, an unacceptable lapse in the care many in their communities relied on,” said Sen. Anwar. “This legislation will take action to counter past mistakes by the state by limiting hospitals from entering sale-leaseback transactions and requiring hospitals to attest private equity presence in their ownership. These measures will help prevent the damage our state experienced in the past from bad-faith health care ownership.”

“Connecticut came dangerously close to watching a rogue private equity firm only interested in control of the board and stripping hospitals of their assets sacrifice the quality of care from hospitals that our communities depend on. Profits-over-people is not a health care policy — it is a predatory model, and it has no place in our state’s hospitals. This bill limits private equity ownership, restricts the financial arrangements that allow owners to drain resources from the very hospitals they are supposed to steward, and makes clear that Connecticut puts patients first. We will not allow Wall Street to treat our hospitals as profit centers at the expense of the people who need care,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Martin M. Looney (D-New Haven) and Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff (D-Norwalk).

Senate Bill 196 takes two specific steps to limit private equity presence in Connecticut healthcare. First, it will prevent sale-leaseback transactions on or after July 1, 2027 among Connecticut hospitals on their main campuses, ending a practice that previously allowed private equity owners to make significant money while leaving hospitals in weaker financial position. Those transactions would see hospitals sell their properties to another party, then lease back that land over time.

As of February 2027, the bill would require hospitals to annually attest to the Department of Public Health that private equity does not have controlling interest in their main campus operations or is allowed to influence the hospital’s adoption of policies interfering with clinicians’ judgment or decisions.

Violations would lead to civil penalties of up to $2,000 per violation. The bill does allow agreements with physician/physician group service agreements and hospital coordination with parent health care systems.

The bill was a priority for many lawmakers including Sen. Anwar because of recent history in the state’s health care field. Most prominently, the mismanagement of three Connecticut hospitals by for-profit Prospect Medical Holdings, Inc. saw the quality of service decline at those institutions until Prospect’s 2025 bankruptcy. Manchester Memorial and Rockville Memorial Hospitals were purchased by Hartford Healthcare, while Waterbury Hospital was acquired by UConn Health, in recent months.

Among other actions, Prospect engaged in sale-leaseback agreements for its three hospitals, increasing its revenue while leaving the hospitals themselves to pay increased costs, directly targeted by the bill.

The Connecticut Hospital Association endorsed the legislation, noting “the damage that unregulated private equity investment has caused… when it controls a healthcare facility.” It noted the bill is “measured” in its approach and puts controls in place without jeopardizing healthcare investments.

The Private Equity Stakeholder Project testified that SB 196 can join a growing trend opposing private equity “by increasing its oversight authority over sale-leaseback transactions and strengthening its laws against corporate practice of medicine abuse.

The Senate advanced Senate Bill 196 by a 27-9 vote after it previously passed the Public Health Committee by a 29-2 tally in March. It next heads to the House floor for further consideration.