In a strongly-worded letter to the Connecticut Office of Health Strategy, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) is calling on the agency to reject Sharon Hospital’s plans to close its labor and delivery unit.
Blumenthal is asking that the agency reject the application of Vassar Health Connecticut/Nuvance Health, the hospital’s parent company,
In his two-page Oct. 14 letter, Connecticut’s senior senator writes: “Certificates of Need (CON) are not just about dollars and cents. Ending a CON service cannot be justified solely because the holder cannot make a profit on a discreet health service. It cannot be ended because the holder finds it difficult to fill certain health care professional positions… Rather the key word in CON is need. And, in this instance, it is clear that Sharon Hospital’s labor and delivery services are critical to ensuring people in the region have a safe, readily accessible place for their maternity health needs.”
In its December letter to OHS, Sharon Hospital said it wanted to close the unit into a progressive care unit. The facility’s plan, according to CT Insider, was to “consolidate critical care services within a new medical-surgical/telemetry,progressive care unit.”
Sharon Hospital President Dr. Mark Hirko told CT Insider in January 2022 that the hospital had lost about $40 million since Nuvance purchased the facility in 2017. The closure plan, Hirko said at the time, was intended to save money while also maintaining services.
An OHS public hearing scheduled for Oct. 18 was postponed; a new date hasn’t been announced.
Sharon Hospital is not the only hospital in the state with plans to close its labor and delivery units. Johnson Memorial Hospital in Stafford Springs has also put in requests to close its labor and delivery unit.
