Johnson Memorial Hospital’s challenge of a $394,000 fine imposed by the Office of Health Strategy is based on a familiar refrain: the post-pandemic worker shortage.
A hearing officer is considering the Stafford hospital’s appeal of the penalty for closing its labor and delivery unit on Oct. 14, 2020 – and then not reopening it.
Attorneys for the hospital and OHS have until Jan. 13, 2023 to file briefs following a hearing held Nov. 16.
Officials from Johnson Memorial are asking the hearing officer to revoke or reduce the fine, saying they never intended to terminate the service, only to suspend it temporarily. While they hoped workers would return, they say they were forced to close the unit once they realized workers weren’t coming back.
“Johnson Memorial Hospital trained several nurses for labor and delivery services and ultimately this training was so successful they took jobs at other hospitals,” said Attorney David DeBassio, of Hartford-based Hinckley Allen, according to a transcript of the hearing.
The hospital suspended its labor and delivery unit without OHS approval, based on an executive order from Gov. Ned Lamont. However, when the executive order expired May 29, 2021, the labor and delivery remained closed.
OHS imposed the civil penalty on June 22. Johnson Memorial filed a certificate of need application to terminate labor and delivery services on Sept. 29.
An attorney for the OHS, Lara Manzione, said during the Nov. 18 hearing that the hospital violated state law, which requires hospitals to apply for a certificate of need (CON) to terminate any inpatient service, and to continue providing that service until the CON is approved.
Johnson Memorial’s parent company, Trinity Health Of New England, makes a similar claim in a lawsuit against Hartford HealthCare that is pending in federal court. In the complaint, Trinity accuses Hartford HealthCare of violating antitrust laws by poaching its physicians.
In a Dec. 5 letter to the OHS, Johnson Memorial said it had resumed elective and emergent inpatient and outpatient surgical services at Johnson Memorial because it had successfully recruited “the appropriate number of qualified staff” to safely do so.
