Senator Jeff Gordon Responds to Report on the Windham Hospital Labor & Delivery Situation: “This is Exactly What I Warned Would Happen”

HARTFORD, CT – State Senator Jeff Gordon (R-Woodstock), a physician and leading advocate for rural healthcare access, issued a strong response today following the release of a report from Guidehouse, a consulting firm hired by the Office of Health Strategy (OHS), which determined that a standalone outpatient birthing center is not feasible to replace the shuttered inpatient labor and delivery unit at Windham Hospital.

“This is deeply disappointing, but unfortunately not surprising,” said Senator Gordon. “I’ve been warning for years that the Office of Health Strategy’s process is broken and being used to quietly eliminate essential inpatient healthcare services, especially in rural areas.”

Senator Gordon highlighted a disturbing pattern in how OHS has handled the termination of hospital inpatient services Eastern Connecticut. Despite proposed decisions stating that Windham and Johnson Memorial hospitals failed to meet legal requirements to shut down labor and delivery services, both hospitals engaged in appeals, followed by closed-door settlements that reversed those findings and allowed the closures to stand.

“OHS can try to call it something else, but let’s be honest, it was a behind-the-scenes negotiated settlement,” said Gordon. “That is not how public healthcare policy should be made.”
With a similar review now underway for Johnson Memorial Hospital in Stafford, Gordon warned that the outcome is likely to mirror what happened at Windham.

“This is exactly what I predicted, and it’s part of a larger failure to protect women’s access to labor and delivery services close to home,” he said. “These decisions are adversely affecting care for women and families in our state.”

Gordon reaffirmed his commitment to reforming the Certificate of Need (CON) process and restructuring the Office of Health Strategy to restore transparency and prioritize patient access.
“Our state government should not be in the business of making it harder for women to get the care they need,” said Gordon. “I will continue fighting for real reforms to protect essential services and ensure every Connecticut resident, no matter where they live, has access to quality, local healthcare.”