Hospital’s requested cutbacks stoke fear in Dutchess County

MILLERTON — A Save Sharon Hospital (SSH)  roundtable  on Wednesday, Oct. 5, drew residents who expressed fears that the hospital’s application to carry out cutbacks ultimately will lead to a loss of critical services that will effectively turn the now five-star rated facility into an urgent-care center.

There also was concern about whether the needs of Dutchess County residents — who use the hospital more than those in the Northwest Corner — will matter to Connecticut officials who will decide the fate of the hospital’s application to eliminate labor and delivery services  and replace its Intensive Care Unit with a Progressive Care Unit.

The Annex at the NorthEast-Millerton Library filled  with about 30 residents who came to the third of four roundtables held by SSH. Two doctors related longstanding concerns that the hospital’s application to the Connecticut Office of Health Strategy (OHS) marks the beginning of a decline that threatens to transform the hospital, operated by its nonprofit parent Nuvance Health,  into a stopover for transfers elsewhere.

Drs. Howard Mortman and David Kurish have practiced in the area for decades. Mortman is an obstetrician with 31 years in Sharon. Kurish is a cardiologist and internist with 43 years experience in the community. Another SSH participant, Victor Germack, who has a financial background, spoke first about the history of the hospital and then about its financial status. Nick Moore, who serves on the seven-member SSH board, also spoke and introduced the speakers.

The recurring themes presented by SSH center on concerns that a beloved community hospital, founded in 1909, where in the past patients would receive treatment without regard to financial status, and where the rate of successful patient outcomes has led to a 5-star rating, risks losing that reputation. Sharon Hospital is one of only three in Connecticut with that distinction.

“What maternity operation in the United States makes money?” Germack asked. “They are loss leaders, a gateway service.”

The meeting ran for an hour and 20 minutes, during which Germack explained, based on his background as an accountant, that he doesn’t believe Sharon Hospital’s claims about how much it loses annually.

“We concluded that the numbers were bogus,” he said.

The hospital is part of a seven-hospital network in the Hudson Valley and Connecticut operated by nonprofit Nuvance Health.

Questions from residents at the roundtable about finances or about the eventual outcome for hospital services if Nuvance’s application is granted remained mostly focused  on the hospital’s decline.

“Two years from now this whole hospital could close,” said Heidi Hoeller, an accountant from Lakeville.

Gregg Pulver (R-19), chair of the Dutchess County Legislature who is running for county executive, echoed the sentiment. “This idea that they could close labor and delivery. That’s just a death toll for this hospital. Most people go to this hospital because they were born in this hospital. I was born there. Everything I do, I go to that hospital.”

Pulver said that regardless whether it loses $1 or $3 million, the labor and delivery unit brings people and families into the hospital.

“Labor and delivery services are an investment in the hospital. Once they lose labor and delivery, there’s no need to have 24-hour surgery, there’s no need to have an ICU. If there’s no need to have an ICU. Let’s face it, you’re going to end up with urgent care at Sharon Hospital.  “We don’t deserve that. We have to have a full-blown hospital.”

Nuvance maintains that with less than one birth per day, the cost to run the labor and delivery service threatens its financial viability. The hospital also has been adding services based on community input, including a telehealth kiosk allowing virtual care for oncology, neurology and infectious diseases, enhanced stroke support and care, state-of-the-art imaging and expanded senior behavioral health and women’s health services.

With decades of practice in the community, the physicians presented their own accounts of the quality of care they say is  jeopardized by the requested cutbacks, urging everyone to join in a planned Zoom public hearing scheduled by OHS on Oct. 18 at 3 p.m. for the public portion and to submit testimony orally or in writing. Written testimony is due Oct. 17. Details are at www.savesharonhospital.org.

Mortman referenced a White House blueprint for addressing what was described as a “maternal health crisis” due to the outcomes before, during and after childbirth that lead to the deaths of American mothers at a higher rate from pregnancy-related causes than in any other developed nation.

“In 31 years that I’ve been here, we haven’t lost one mom,” he said. Referring to Sharon Hospital’s application, he said, “Whatever the excuses, whatever the rationale, it makes no sense. “

Mortman cited the goals in the White House report, which include increasing access to “comprehensive, high-quality maternal health services, including behavioral health services.”
“They’re [the White House] saying we don’t have enough of it, and somehow we’re going to go backwards here,” he said.

Mortman also said that it’s very hard to recruit physicians to the area. “I’ve been told by doctors that there’s no way I’m going to be practicing in Sharon Hospital if there’s no OB [obstetrics].”

Kurish told the audience that he has witnessed a decline in operations at Sharon Hospital in the last few years “because of the way the hospital has been managed,” he said, noting what he said were drops in Emergency Department volume, laboratory volume and admissions.

“They’re worried about transferring patients from here to Danbury and New Milford.”

Referring to the wealth in the community, Kurish appealed to the community to provide the “$3 to $5 million difference that they need” for maternity. “We’re not Appalachia,” he said.

SSH plans  another roundtable on Wednesday, Oct. 12, at 6:30 p.m. at St. Andrew’s Parish in Kent. It also plans a rally Sunday, Oct. 16, at 2 p.m. at the town Green in Sharon.

Gregg Pulver (R-19), chair of the Dutchess County Legislature, spoke at a Save Sharon Hospital roundtable in Millerton on Wednesday, Oct. 5. Photo by John Coston

Dr. Howard Mortman, center, an obstetrician, spoke about Sharon Hospital’s cutback plans along with Victor Germack, at left, and Dr. David Kurish at the NorthEast-Millerton Library on Wednesday, Oct. 5. Photo by John Coston

Gregg Pulver (R-19), chair of the Dutchess County Legislature, spoke at a Save Sharon Hospital roundtable in Millerton on Wednesday, Oct. 5. Photo by John Coston