A state senator is again slamming a state decision to essentially end most in-patient services at Rockville General Hospital.
VERNON, CT — Exactly one week after state officials ran a regulatory bulldozer over Rockville General Hospital's century-long run as a full-service hospital, a north central Connecticut physician, who also happens to be a state senator, renewed a series of scathing comments about the move.
State Sen. Jeff Gordon called it "a disgrace" and "madness" and just about called for a regulatory revolution.
The state Office of Health Strategy on May 23, while most of the region was clearing out for the long holiday weekend, approved RGH parent company Prospect Medical Holdings' request to seek consolidation of the hospital licenses of RGH and Manchester Memorial Hospital.
MMH was established in 1920 and RGH opened in 1921.
The full decision can be viewed here, but in essence, once the licenses are consolidated into a new Connecticut Department of Public Health license, RGH must have a 24-hour emergency department while also offering in-patient behavioral health services for three years. That's it.
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Prospect must also give advance notice to the Office of Health Strategy of any decisions to relocate inpatient beds or relocate outpatient services, and they must be relocated within 30 miles of the Rockville General campus, according to the decision. The public must also be informed of any service terminations via a circulated publication and via the RGH website. All potential bids in an ongoing bankruptcy case must be divulged, according top the decision. Prospect filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January to "advance a strategic pathway to realign organizational focus."
The scenario continues to draw the ire of Gordon.
Gordon (R-35th District) slammed the OHS and its top officer — Commissioner Diedre Gifford — in a lengthy set of remarks released Friday:
“This isn’t just a failure – it’s a disgrace. Once again, OHS has shown it is completely out of touch with the real health care needs of Connecticut families and seniors. This is what happens when a state government agency becomes unaccountable and structurally broken.
"It took years for OHS to even begin investigating Prospect Medical’s unauthorized service cuts, despite everyone knowing what happened. Now, instead of holding them accountable, the state rewards them with a green light to pull the plug on vital hospital services, leaving only an emergency room and behavioral health services. This is not a win for patients. This is a win for private equity profiteers who have financially fleeced the hospital system and drove it into bankruptcy, and it comes at our communities’ expense.
"The governor, the attorney general, the comptroller, where are they? Why is no one stepping in to stop this madness? Who is looking out for our patients, our healthcare workers, our local communities?
"As both a doctor and a senator, I’ve been sounding the alarm for years. The certificate of need process is broken. OHS is broken. This agency has proven time and again that it lacks the judgment, the transparency, and the backbone to stand up for the public interest.
"Worse still, Connecticut has two agencies with overlapping authority over health care administration: OHS and the Department of Public Health. That’s not efficient government, that’s redundancy, waste, and confusion. The people of Connecticut are paying the price for a system that doesn’t work.
"It’s time to consolidate. OHS has shown it is incapable of managing the responsibility it’s been given. We should eliminate it, streamline operations under the Department of Public Health, and redirect the resulting savings to areas where they’re actually needed, like public education or special education, where schools and families are crying out for support. It's time now for Commissioner Gifford to go.
"We need reform that puts patients before profits, accountability before bureaucracy, and common sense before politics. The people of Connecticut deserve nothing less. This is what I am fighting for.”