We Must Stop the Behind The Scenes Dismantling of Rural Healthcare

By State Senator Jeff Gordon – 35th Senate District

As both a physician and a legislator, I have made it my mission to protect access to essential healthcare services, especially in our rural communities, where access is already limited and resources are stretched thin. So, it comes as no surprise, but still a deep disappointment, that the latest report from Guidehouse, expensively commissioned by the Office of Health Strategy (OHS), concludes it is not feasible to establish a standalone outpatient birthing center in place of the closed inpatient labor and delivery unit at Windham Hospital.

This isn’t just a bad decision. It’s a terrible pattern.

And I fully expect we’ll see the same disappointing conclusion when the ongoing review of Johnson Memorial Hospital’s closed labor and delivery unit in Stafford is finalized. This isn’t speculation. It’s a continuation of a deeply flawed process, one that I’ve been warning about for a long time.

The way this has been handled by the Office of Health Strategy is wrong. OHS initially issued proposed final decisions stating that Windham and Johnson Memorial hospitals did not meet the statutory requirements to permanently close their inpatient labor and delivery services. The hospitals disagreed. They appealed the decisions and OHS allowed behind-the-scenes negotiations out of sight from the public. What followed was a complete about-face: a negotiated settlement that reversed the findings and allowed the closures to stand.

Let me be clear: these actions have real and harmful consequences for the women and families in our rural communities. The loss of local labor and delivery services means longer travel times during one of the most critical moments in a woman’s life. It means higher risk for worse outcomes.

Why is our state government letting this happen?

This is not how healthcare policy should be made. Quiet negotiations behind closed doors, sudden reversals of public decisions, and a continued failure to prioritize local access are unacceptable. The Certificate of Need (CON) process, meant to ensure that essential health services remain available, is being misused to justify reductions in care, rather than to preserve or improve it.

That’s why I have been a leading voice in the legislature calling for major reforms to the Office of Health Strategy and the Certificate of Need process. Our healthcare system should be working for patients, not for paperwork or profits, and certainly not for backroom deals.

Women in eastern Connecticut, and across the state, deserve better. They deserve access to labor and delivery services close to home. They deserve transparency, accountability, and real advocacy from their state government that works for them.

This fight is far from over. I’ll keep speaking out.  I’ll keep pushing for reform.  You deserve it.