(Hartford, CT) – The Connecticut Office of Health Strategy (OHS) reached an agreed settlement with Prospect ECHN, Manchester Memorial Hospital (MMH) and Rockville General Hospital (RGH) requiring preservation of the current services at RGH. As part of the settlement, Prospect has agreed that Connecticut will have, subject to bankruptcy court approval, have a $300,000 claim in the bankruptcy case relating to the termination of services since March 2020. The agreement also resolves the OHS inquiry into those service terminations.
“Ensuring community access to emergency care in Vernon and preserving inpatient behavioral health beds in the region, under current and future ownership, protects critical resources for East of the River patients and their families,” said Deidre Gifford, MD, MPH, commissioner. “As various courts unravel the complex issues surrounding current and future ownership of the Prospect hospitals, our top priority continues to be the health and well-being of the patients and employees.”
The RGH facility will be required to continue 24 hour/seven days per week operation of its emergency department at the Union Street, Vernon location for 3 years. The facility’s existing inpatient behavioral health services must also be preserved either at or within 30 miles of their current location on the RGH campus.
The agreed settlement also allows Prospect to seek approval of consolidation of the Rockville General and Manchester Memorial hospital licenses from the Department of Public Health. OHS had originally approved pursuit of consolidation under an agreed settlement related to the proposed transfer of ownership of the Prospect Hospitals to Yale New Haven Health. That transfer of ownership never occurred and has been followed by multiple lawsuits and a bankruptcy filing by parent company Prospect Medical Holdings.
“Each aspect of this agreement holds the Prospect applicants responsible for their actions and requires the company to notify all potential bidders in the bankruptcy case of the terms of the agreement,” said Gifford. “The agreement also holds the Prospect applicants accountable to the community, requiring public notice of past terminations and development of a strategic plan for the consolidated hospital. The plan must be developed with community input and presented to the community in a public forum.”
The bankruptcy court-supervised bidding process is ongoing. Governor Lamont signed legislation earlier this year to create an emergency CON application process specifically to preserve continuity of care in the event of a hospital bankruptcy. OHS has established an emergency CON application and published it online. The expedited process requires OHS to issue a final decision no later than 60 days after the application has been deemed complete.
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Additional information is available via the OHS CON portal under Docket No. 20-32405-CON and Docket No. 24-32755-INQ, as well as Yale New Haven/ Prospect Docket No. 22-32549-CON.