Saturday, November 9, 2013 10:26 PM EST

By SCOTT WHIPPLE STAFF WRITER

NEW BRITAIN Health care change is coming, and whether we like it or not, we want to be leaders of that change, to be proactive rather than reactive.

That is the message from Lucille Janatka, president of Hartford HealthCares new Central Region, which includes The Hospital of Central Connecticut and the MidState Medical Center in Meriden. Janatka is now chief executive of both facilities and retains oversight of VNA HealthCare and Connecticut Senior Health Services.

Introducing her management team this week at HOCC, Janatka stressed that in restructuring, HHC can become a leader in health care transformation while delivering high-quality care efficiently at a lower cost.

HHC made the strategic decision in September to keep ahead of health care changes by creating three regions in the state East, Central and Hartford. Hartford HealthCare, parent organization of Hospital of Central Connecticut, is a health care network with more than 16,000 employees and $2 billion in net revenue.

We wanted to better immerse ourselves in the communities we serve and transform health care delivery statewide, explained Jeff Flaks, HHCs new chief operating officer. As COO he is responsible for the three regions and its system-wide service lines.

Members of the Central Region management team are:

/ Carolyn Freiheit, Hartford HealthCare regional vice president, finance. Most recently, Freiheit was vice president and chief financial officer for The Hospital of Central Connecticut. Before that, she was director of finance at HOCC.

/ Mary Morgan, Hartford HealthCare regional vice president, human resources. Morgan, formerly vice president of human resources at The Hospital of Central Connecticut, joined the former New Britain General Hospital in 1999 and has served in various human resources positions, including director.

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