Johnson Memorial Hospital in Stafford Springs will pay a $153,500 fine to the state for terminating labor and delivery services without a Certificate of Need (CON) approval, a state agency announced Thursday.
The state Office of Health Strategy said the civil penalty is part of an agreed settlement with Johnson Memorial, which is owned by Trinity Health Of New England. The settlement requires the hospital to fund a grant to support reproductive health, prenatal or postnatal care or other services related to childbirth in its service area.
OHS said it will conduct a community forum to seek input on how the funds should be used and will provide final decisions to the hospital.
“Investing the funds from this civil penalty in the community impacted by Johnson Memorial Hospital’s actions reinforces the responsibility hospitals have to their communities,” said Dr. Deidre Gifford, OHS commissioner. “We look forward to hearing from the community how the funds can be best invested to promote maternal and infant health and well-being.”
OHS will hold the community engagement forum in the greater Stafford Springs community on an as yet undetermined date in the near future and will also accept written comments, it said.
Notice of the forum and instructions for submitting public comment will be published on the OHS website and in the CON portal (search under Docket No. 32486). OHS will inform the hospital of how the funds should be distributed within 90 days of the forum, it said.
Under state law, CON approval is required before terminating inpatient or outpatient services offered by a hospital. Johnson Memorial initially closed labor and delivery services during the COVID-19 pandemic, but did not resume services when the public health emergency ended.
OHS initially issued a more substantial penalty of $1,000-per-day fines in 2022, but agreed to reduce the amount earlier this year.
“The civil penalty covers a period of time when we did not have a quantifiable definition for termination of services in statute,” Gifford said, adding that a definition was codified in state law in 2022 to define termination of services as 180 days of service closure. She said the reduced civil penalty reflects the updated standard.
OHS recently reached an agreed settlement with JMH to allow the permanent closure of the labor and delivery unit. The settlement requires the hospital to hire an independent consultant to conduct a birthing center study to assess the need for and feasibility of establishing a center in the service area.
The agreement also requires the hospital to provide transportation for birthing parents and their partners to a hospital of their choosing within a 50-mile radius of JMH for labor and deliver services at no cost, and meet a number of other requirements to support infant and maternal health.
