Conditions On Hartford HealthCare Takeover of Rockville General Hospital Designed For 'Continuity'

VERNON, CT — The wait is finally over for what officials have been touting as stable ownership for Rockville General Hospital.

The keyword for state officials has been "continuity."

This week, the Connecticut Office of Health Strategy issued a decision approving Hartford HealthCare’s Emergency Certificate of Need application (DN 25-32843-ECON for those who like the official document) for the transfer of Manchester Memorial Hospital, Rockville General Hospital and "other assets." They had been under the Eastern Connecticut Health Network banner and parent company Prospect Medical Holdings.

The decision comes 40 days after the OHS deemed the application complete.

"The expedited decision ensures continuity of care for Eastern Connecticut residents, while imposing specific conditions designed to ensure preservation of healthcare access and quality and control cost growth,” Acting Commissioner Amy Porter said. "The OHS staff conducted a rigorous and highly efficient process made possible by the emergency CON statute."

Vernon Mayor Dan Champagne was elated at the approval.

“We are glad the state Office of Health Strategy completed its review in a timely manner and approved Hartford HealthCare’s purchase of Rockville General Hospital, Manchester Memorial Hospital and parent company Eastern Connecticut Health Network," Champagne said. "This is a great day for Vernon and our region. This sale protects not only the hospitals, but the medical infrastructure in Vernon and beyond."

The decision does impose certain conditions on the transfer of ownership that are designed to "address potential areas of concern OHS identified with the transaction." Among other things, these conditions require the Hartford HealthCare subsidiary purchasing the hospital to:

• Provide an initial assessment of the condition of Manchester Memorial Hospital and Rockville General Hospital, as well as a strategic integration plan, within nine months
• Engage the community in both strategic planning and community health needs assessment processes within nine months
• Maintain services offered under the Manchester Memorial Hospital license, which includes the Rockville campus, for the later of three years from the closing of the transaction or 90 days after the publication of the second CHNA, including current labor and delivery and intensive care services
• Maintain service levels unless OHS grants prior approval for reductions
• Notify OHS within 30 days of any reallocation of inpatient beds or relocation of outpatient services

In addition, the conditions require the "preservation" of a 24/7 emergency department in Vernon for at least three years and maintenance of the full complement of inpatient behavioral health services at or within 30 miles of the Rockville campus.

"This is a positive outcome to an initially challenging situation," said Governor Lamont. "Ensuring quality services remain both accessible and affordable for our families and communities has always been one of my top priorities, and I am very happy that Hartford HealthCare has made this commitment to Manchester, Vernon and the surrounding communities."

The Emergency CON decision also features conditions designed to slow cost growth. They require that the Hartford HealthCare subsidiary purchasing the hospital:

• Adopt all existing reimbursement rates with healthcare payers
• Negotiate future rates for Manchester Memorial Hospital separately from other hospitals in the Hartford HealthCare system
• Constrain growth in commercial reimbursements and tie negotiated rates to the Cost Growth Benchmark and the Consumer Price Index for Medical Care in New England (CPI-U Medical)
• Maintain existing ECHN outpatient, non-hospital physician offices, or any offices resulting from future acquisitions, without converting to hospital-based status for billing or reimbursement purposes for a period of three years

The Connecticut Office of the Attorney General and Department of Public Health also have regulatory oversight of components of this transaction. Additional conditions may be imposed by one or both of these entities.

OHS worked closely with the Governor’s office to establish an Emergency CON process in anticipation of the State’s need to address the situation created by Prospect Medical Holdings’ declaration of bankruptcy. Legislation passed and was signed by Governor Lamont as part of Public Act 25-2 on March 3, 2025, and became effective upon passage.

This decision represents the first completed Emergency CON. The University of Connecticut Health Center filed an Emergency CON application (DN 25-32853-ECON) related to the transfer of ownership of Waterbury Hospital and related assets on December 5, 2025.

Champagne said the effect is not just related to the hospital campus, but the many local health care offices affiliated with ECHN and those doctors who rely on the hospital for pay and benefits and related services, such as laboratories.

"The hospitals are only part of why this approval was so important to our communities," he said. "I look forward to continuing to engage with Hartford HealthCare as the integration
process moves forward.

"Hartford HealthCare will continue to have an emergency department at Rockville General Hospital, which will benefit Vernon residents and those in nearby communities, as well as the emergency medical services in Vernon and nearby towns. Many patients who call an ambulance request to be taken to Hartford Hospital or St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center, rather than Rockville General Hospital. That means ambulances are out of town more.

"With about 6,000 EMS calls a year in Vernon, this is a big issue. That’s about 16 calls a day. Having Hartford HealthCare managing the emergency department at Rockville General Hospital will likely cause more patients to want to go there, rather than make the longer trip to Hartford, and free up our ambulances sooner."

State Sen. Jeff Gordon, a practicing physician whose 35th district includes Rockville General Hospital, had an equally strong opinion.

"As both a doctor and a state senator, I have fought for years to stop the downward spiral these hospitals have suffered under the for-profit private-equity ownership of Prospect Medical Holdings. Rockville General is in my district, and I have worked tirelessly to protect it and the patients and families it serves. Today’s approval marks a critical turning point that I have worked hard to help bring about," Gordon said.

The expedited approval this week not only meant "to ensure continuity of patient care," but broke free from "years of financial instability and service reductions," Gordon said.

"Hartford HealthCare, selected through bankruptcy proceedings, will now begin stabilizing the hospitals and planning for long-term investment," he said. "I will continue working closely with OHS, Hartford HealthCare, the workforce, and local communities throughout the transition and beyond to ensure this takeover delivers what eastern Connecticut deserves: stable hospitals, quality care, and a health-care system that puts people, not private-equity profits, first."