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The controversy over the University of Connecticut Health Center came back to the Senate floor on Monday when Sen. Joan Hartley of Waterbury raised the issue of the contract oversight for an upcoming study.

Both the House and Senate had already voted for the state Office of Health Care Access to oversee the contract for a study of UConn's controversial plans to construct a new, $495 million replacement for the John Dempsey Hospital on the Farmington campus. But OHCA was removed in a last-minute maneuver that was buried on page 115 of the 161-page budget bill. Some legislators spotted the change late Friday night, not long before the House debate began on the budget.

Hartley, the co-chairwoman of the higher education committee, wants OHCA back in the picture.

Even high-ranking legislators like Hartley, including those involved in the issue on the higher education committee, were unaware that the change was being attempted.

"This came out of the blue,'' Hartley said.

Hartley noted that the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering will conduct the study, but she says the group should be overseen by OHCA - not by the Office of Legislative Management, which had been inserted into the bill at the 11th-hour. OHCA, she said, has the expertise in the highly detailed work of determining how many hospital beds would be needed in the Hartford region in the future.

"Who's going to do that better?'' Hartley asked. "A bunch of engineers from CASE? Hello?''

Rep. Denise Merrill, co-chairwoman of the budget-writing appropriations committee, had said it would be a conflict of interest for OHCA to oversee the study because OHCA is the same agency charged with deciding whether to grant a certificate-of-need for UConn's plans.

But Hartley is receiving support from the governor's office. "OHCA should be involved,'' but not have the lead role on the study, said Christopher Cooper, Gov. M. Jodi Rell's spokesman.

Sen. Dan Debicella, a Shelton Republican who serves as the higher education committee's ranking member, strongly backs Hartley.
source:blogs.courant.com