Salisbury Forum shines light on Northwest CT ‘healthcare crisis’

FALLS VILLAGE —March’s Salisbury Forum brought community healthcare leaders to Housatonic Valley Regional High School for a thoughtful and timely discussion on the Northwest Corner’s “healthcare crisis.”

Nancy Heaton, who is President and CEO of the Sharon-based Foundation for Community Health, began the discussion by describing the region’s healthcare landscape as equally challenging for patients and providers alike.

“Two of the main challenges of providing rural healthcare are low population base and travel distances,” Heaton explained, factors which have compounding effects on workforce availability, patient accessibility and many other logistical issues that impact every level of the healthcare process.

“These two factors alone ensure that without innovation, each unit of rural service is likely to be more expensive to deliver than in an urban setting,” she emphasized. She further explained that government reimbursement programs for service providers, such as Medicaid, often aren’t designed with a rural setting in mind.

“These reimbursement rates really have not kept up with costs, and our providers are hurting,” Heaton said.

When Heaton opened the floor, Medicaid emerged as a significant concern shared by the panelists.

Joanne Borduas, CEO of the Community Health and Wellness Center, a Torrington-based federally qualified health center (FQHC) that recently opened a facility in North Canaan, maintained that the future of Medicaid in the current federal climate is “very concerning.”

As an FQHC, Community Health and Wellness Center is obligated to turn no one away, and as such approximately 60% of patients seeking services are on Medicaid — services which are at risk.

Borduas explained that Connecticut pays out approximately 30% less than neighboring states for Medicaid services, which means many practices cannot afford to see most Medicaid patients. Borduas warned that if further cuts are made at a national level, then drastic changes will need to be made in the state’s reimbursement strategy to ensure providers are able to continue to offer their services.

Borduas also chairs non-profit Community Health Center Association of Connecticut, which recently took legal action against the state Department of Social Services for insufficient Medicaid reimbursement.

State Rep. Maria Horn (D-64), who also sat on the panel, shared Borduas’ worry about funding from Washington drying up. She described the situation as “shadow boxing with what might happen at the federal level.”

Other panelists brought up more regionally focused obstructions to adequate and accessible care, with Meghan Kenny citing a lack of affordable housing as prohibitive to maintaining a workforce. Kenny is the director of SVNA Home Assistance and Litchfield County Home Assistance and says her work’s vital role of bringing care to homebound patients is jeopardized by losing employees who are priced out.

Christina McCullough, who is the President of Sharon Hospital, reported that attracting a workforce to the hospital — which she described as a “critical and vital” component of Northwest Connecticut’s healthcare landscape — has proven to be a real challenge, alongside financial insecurity and patient scarcity.

Borduas pointed out that rural healthcare is plain hard work, and doctors in the countryside are often overworked and burned out. Many younger physicians coming out of medical school are pursuing specialized careers, she reported, while the reservoir for family doctors — especially those willing to live and work in rural communities — is drying up.

While the situation may seem grim, all is not lost, the panelists affirmed. Concluding the Q&A session, which was conducted via anonymous index cards, Heaton chose to read a unique submission: “What can this audience do to help you?”

The entire panel chimed in to respond, with Borduas emphasizing a “strength in numbers and power in advocacy” approach to activism.

Horn encouraged civilians to utilize the modern convenience of remote testimony to make their voices heard in Hartford.

McCullough championed self-education and participation, and Kenny echoed her call for education.

“I do think now, more than ever, people need to be engaged,” said Heaton as a final remark for attendees to chew on as they made their way out of the school and into the cold night.