Alisa Savetamal, MD, FACS, FABA
This Op-Ed originally appeared on CT Insider on March 16, 2026.
Connecticut takes pride in its world-class hospitals and the trusted care they provide to our communities. However, despite our hospitals’ proven ability to manage a wide range of emergencies, there is one kind of lifesaving treatment many cannot deliver: advanced burn care. When a serious burn occurs, every second counts, but in many parts of the country, patients must travel hours or cross state lines for specialized burn care. Our state is fortunate to have had the Connecticut Burn Center at Bridgeport Hospital in our own backyard for more than 50 years. It is essential that state leaders recognize the Connecticut Burn Center as a critical statewide resource and invest in it to ensure it can continue delivering expert care when disaster strikes.
Burn care is unique, complex and expensive—and lifesaving. Severe burn patients average four trips to the operating room, and the length of stay averages between 50-100 days for major burns. Their care demands intensive skin grafting, advanced skin technologies, frequent dressing changes and labor intensive therapy delivered by a highly specialized clinical team. For Connecticut, all this care, and the associated costs, are concentrated in a single facility: the Connecticut Burn Center at Bridgeport Hospital.
Despite the need to act incredibly quickly when a burn occurs, there are only ~80 American Burn Association verified burn centers nationwide for the entire U.S. population. The need for this critically necessary care remains, yet there are significant financial challenges associated with maintaining this care, which incurs high supply and labor costs that can be difficult to sustain, particularly for non-profit hospitals. Across the country, these pressures are forcing states and health systems to close their burn centers: Mississippi’s sole accredited burn center closed in 2022, the Nathan Speare Regional Burn Treatment Center in Pennsylvania permanently closed in 2025, and most recently, Mass General Brigham has moved to close its inpatient burn unit at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
The Connecticut Burn Center is not immune to these pressures. Growing volume, increased costs and lagging reimbursement rates (particularly among government payors) are putting this vital resource for our state at risk. Approximately 40 percent of the Connecticut Burn Center’s patients are covered by Medicaid, which in Connecticut, pays hospitals just 62 cents for every dollar it costs to deliver care. As a result, the Connecticut Burn Center has spent $1.5 million annually caring for Medicaid patients, driving more than $1 million in total operating losses each year for the past three years.
Each year, nearly 1,500 patients are treated by the Connecticut Burn Center, which delivers high-quality, timely burn care and supports patients and their families from emergency response to treatment and recovery. The Connecticut Burn Center, while operated by Bridgeport Hospital, functions as a statewide safety‑net resource that is there to support every Connecticut resident should they need it. As the only verified burn center that hospitals, first responders and families across Connecticut can rely on for definitive burn care, it deserves the same kind of state investment we devote to other critical public infrastructure. Connecticut has made similar commitments before: the Connecticut Poison Control Center at UConn Health is safeguarded through state and federal funds because, as the state’s only poison center, it serves an essential public good. The same can be said for the Connecticut Burn Center, yet it does not receive the same recognition or level of support from our state government.
Connecticut must recognize the burn center’s role as part of the state’s critical emergency infrastructure and invest in it accordingly. Through increased Medicaid reimbursement, bonding support and an ongoing state partnership, our legislature can act now to ensure this resource remains ready and accessible to every resident and first responder. When a burn occurs, every second counts. Lives depend on the Connecticut Burn Center’s ability to deliver expert care to every patient, regardless of circumstance.
Anne Diamond, DBA, JD, DHL, CNMT, is President of Bridgeport Hospital
Alisa Savetamal, MD, FACS, FABA, is Medical Director of the Connecticut Burn Center
