Sen. Jeff Gordon Slams State Decision to Let Rockville General Hospital Keep Needed Inpatient Services Closed: Calls Out State Sell Out To Private Equity & Misguided Priorities

HARTFORD, CT – State Senator Jeff Gordon (R-Woodstock), who is a doctor, issued the following statement in response to the Office of Health Strategy (OHS) Commissioner Diedre Gifford approving a settlement that clears the way for Prospect Medical Holdings to keep shut down almost all inpatient services at Rockville General Hospital in Vernon and to possibly in several years to close its emergency department and behavioral/mental health unit.

“This isn’t just a failure – it’s a disgrace. Once again, OHS has shown it is completely out of touch with the real health care needs of Connecticut families and seniors. This is what happens when a state government agency becomes unaccountable and structurally broken.

It took years for OHS to even begin investigating Prospect Medical’s unauthorized service cuts, despite everyone knowing what happened. Now, instead of holding them accountable, the state rewards them with a green light to pull the plug on vital hospital services, leaving only an emergency room and behavioral health services. This is not a win for patients. This is a win for private equity profiteers who have financially fleeced the hospital system and drove it into bankruptcy, and it comes at our communities’ expense.

The Governor, the Attorney General, the Comptroller, where are they? Why is no one stepping in to stop this madness? Who is looking out for our patients, our healthcare workers, our local communities?

As both a doctor and a senator, I’ve been sounding the alarm for years. The certificate of need process is broken. OHS is broken. This agency has proven time and again that it lacks the judgment, the transparency, and the backbone to stand up for the public interest.

Worse still, Connecticut has two agencies with overlapping authority over health care administration: OHS and the Department of Public Health. That’s not efficient government, that’s redundancy, waste, and confusion. The people of Connecticut are paying the price for a system that doesn’t work.

It’s time to consolidate. OHS has shown it is incapable of managing the responsibility it’s been given. We should eliminate it, streamline operations under the Department of Public Health, and redirect the resulting savings to areas where they’re actually needed, like public education or special education, where schools and families are crying out for support.  It’s time now for Commissioner Gifford to go.

We need reform that puts patients before profits, accountability before bureaucracy, and common sense before politics. The people of Connecticut deserve nothing less.  This is what I am fighting for.”