For retiring L+M president, departure a ‘bittersweet’ decision

The Day – Sunday, April 5, 2026
By John Penney

New London — For nearly three years, Lawrence + Memorial Healthcare President Rich Lisitano has worked out of an upper-floor office at the New London facility, a traditionally decorated administrator’s office where a small goat tchotchke sat on a round table on Thursday.

When asked about the unusual ornament — it emits a bleating “scream” when pressed — Lisitano’s face lit up recalling his initial difficulty in finding the toy at the hospital’s gift shop.

“I went down and tried to buy one, but they were sold out,” he said, grinning. “Someone later found one and brought it in for me.”

Under Lisitano’s tenure — he is president of L+M and Westerly hospitals — that gift shop now boasts the region’s first outpatient pharmacy, located a few floors below the new hospice unit he insisted on funding.

A “bittersweet” departure

The 65-year-old Lisitano, who began his career with New Haven Health nearly four decades ago as an assistant director of pharmacy and eventually rising to become executive vice president of the health care group, will retire in June, a decision he called “bittersweet.”

“It’s difficult for me because I love the job, but you know when the time is right,” said Lisitano, who also serves as executive vice president of Yale New Haven Health. “My biggest regret is not coming here sooner.”

Aside from helping usher in or continuing some major infrastructure projects, Lisitano also oversaw improvements to L+M Healthcare’s reconstructive and cardiovascular surgical programs, as well to the breast cancer services at Waterford’s Smilow Cancer Hospital.

“A hospital is a capital-intensive beast — you can easily spend $20 million a year just on improvements,” he said. “But I’m also proud of our focus on employees and the development of leadership skills — that’s the engine of progression.”

Lisitano, a Guilford resident, will be succeeded on an interim basis by Dr. Oliver Mayorga, L+M’s chief medical officer.

Overcoming funding, hiring challenges

Lisitano said he’s thought long and hard about the challenges he predicts health care groups will face in the coming years, both in southeastern Connecticut and throughout the state.

“The big one is the financial challenges of operating here 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year where we treat anyone — and I mean anyone — that comes to us,” he said.

But since hospitals aren’t fully reimbursed for Medicaid coverage — the joint federal and state program that covers care for patients with limited incomes and resources — that means less money is available for reinvestment into services.

“I’m up a lot of nights at 2 or 3 a.m. thinking about the next funding challenge,” Lisitano said.

He said it’s also been difficult attracting young people to the health care field, specifically for those technician jobs that enable surgical, diagnostic imaging and pharmacy departments to function.

“It’s getting kids to realize we don’t just need doctors and nurses,” Lisitano said.

The other major issue confronting Connecticut patients is the dearth of primary care doctors, with about 200 more needed to serve the state. To that end, the hospital plans to open a new three-year family residency program in 2028 at its Multispecialty Center on Howard Street.

That program, which will require a $10 million investment, will accept eight newly minted medical school graduates each year who will be trained specifically to practice family medicine. This means there will be 24 new doctors in the program at any one time.

“Statistics show 40% of residents stay in the broad geographic area where they train,” Lisitano said. “And we’d plan on working with the state and the city to see if there’s some sort of incentives to keep those doctors here.”

Putting a premium on community outreach

Soon after being named L+M president in 2023, Lisitano began contacting a host of community and municipal leaders, including Cathy Zall, executive director of the New London Homeless Hospitality Center.

“He reached out from minute one,” Zall said. “The hospital has had a real challenge with patients experiencing homelessness, which complicates their medical care.”

She said Lisitano’s predecessors helped create a “respite area” at the center where discharged patients got extra attention.

“Rich leaned into that and wanted to come over and see our center,” Zall said. “He’s so approachable and a fabulous listener with incredible compassion and curiosity.”

That community outreach also extended to the city’s new community recreation center that opened last year. L+M, with Lisitano’s blessing, became a “legacy partner” of the facility after agreeing to donate $250,000 over a five-year period.

“That wasn’t done so we could see our name on a wall, but because it allows us to leverage access to our community wellness programs,” Lisitano said. “It allows us to magnify our voice, to give people who might not want to come to the hospital for a class a place to meet.”

Felix Reyes, the city’s director of economic planning and development, recalled sitting in his car when Lisitano called about making the donation.

“He asked if it was enough and I nearly choked,” Reyes said. “Rich was the first one that came to us with a donation that big. He’s a community-driven guy who’s always been open to helping the city.”

Lisitano said he’s already planning to spend more time with his wife and boat.

“And work on improving my golf handicap,” he said.

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