No plans for independent monitors at two CT hospitals following Prospect Medical bankruptcy

CT Insider – Tuesday, January 21, 2025
By Eric Bedner

While the state entered into an agreement with Waterbury Hospital to implement independent monitors, there is no such agreement with Manchester or Rockville hospitals and the state will continue to rely on its own surveyors to monitor care following Prospect Medical Holding’s bankruptcy filing.

State officials, including Gov. Ned Lamont, have vowed that all three of Prospect’s hospitals in Connecticut will remain open and provide quality care throughout bankruptcy proceedings.

When discussing Prospect’s bankruptcy earlier this month, Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Manisha Juthani noted that there are independent monitors at Waterbury Hospital under a consent order agreed to by the state and the hospital.

However, there are currently no agreements with Manchester or Rockville hospitals, which are owned by Prospect but operated by Eastern Connecticut Health Network, according to DPH spokesman Christopher Boyle.

An independent monitor has been in place at Waterbury hospital since late last year following a consent order issued on Nov. 21.

“No consent orders for an independent monitor at Manchester and/or Rockville hospital have been issued,” Boyle said.

Nonetheless, the state is closely monitoring conditions at both ECHN hospitals and will continue to do so throughout Prospect’s bankruptcy proceedings, he said.

As part of DPH’s investigatory authority, the agency may inspect hospitals with its staff or hire a monitor to supplement staff, Boyle said.

Under bankruptcy law, the court will approve a health care ombudsman to monitor and report to the court care provided by the hospitals, he said.

“DPH will work cooperatively with the ombudsman when appointed,” Boyle said.

“We are going through a process where we will identify a protocol to monitor each of the facilities more in depth than they have been to date,” Juthani said earlier this month.

She said at the time that she anticipated DPH monitors on site to compliment routine inspections that are either scheduled or come in response to specific complaints.

“As with any other Connecticut hospital, DPH will continue to conduct routine inspections and investigate any complaints involving patient care and safety at all three Prospect hospitals,” Boyle said.

“Every day, we have monitors there on the ground at these hospitals, floor by floor, doing everything they can to make sure that quality of care is not compromised in any way, shape, or form,” Lamont said earlier this month when discussing Prospect’s bankruptcy. “Every day we’re working to make sure that these hospital maintain top quality health care.”

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