Charlotte Hungerford Hospital held a virtual Public Forum on June 25th on its affiliation with Hartford HealthCare given by Hospital’s  the Northwest Region Leadership Team. The report included an update on progress, plans and an opportunity for comments and questions. Members of the public are invited to join by phone or electronically by laptop computer, smartphone, tablet or other smart device.

For information on the topics covered in the Forum, click here: Final HHC-CHH Affiliation Update + Monitor Report – Public Forum 6-25-20

Questions from the Public and Summary Responses

Prepared by: Brian Mattiello, Vice President for Strategy and Community Development

NOTE: We received two questions in advance of the community forum and 1 question following the presentations.  The questions and a summary of the response are below:

Question 1. I assume there is pent up demand from people avoiding care during the pandemic.  As you open up, how is recovery going – are consumers reticent to come into care?
Response: Paul Scalise, M.D. Vice President for Medical Affairs – As we move to address both worlds – COVID and our regular care – it has gone remarkably well.  Today, after only a few short weeks, we are at 100% of our surgical, imaging and many ancillary service volumes pre-COVID.  Our outpatient is coming along as well.  We have effectively communicated the safety measures we have taken and it is nice to see the trust consumers continue to place in our care.  We will remain a COVID ready hospital and hope that if there is a resurgence of COVID we can maintain services without being as disruptive as we were the first wave.

Question 2. There is an anticipated HHC financial loss for this fiscal year due to the COVID impact.  Does this change the fiscal commitment that HHC made to CHH during the affiliation?  If so, how will the commitment be impacted?
Response: Susan Schapp, Vice President for Finance NW Region – HHC will honor its commitment – although the timing may differ given the disruptive nature of COVID in this fiscal year, the financial support from the System to the Region as contemplated in the Affiliation Agreement stands.

Question 3. Is CHH meeting its anticipated financial goals (without the COVID impact) set by HHC?  If no, why and what needs to be done to achieve the goals.
Response: Susan Schapp, Vice President for Finance NW Region – Controlling for the financial impact of COVID, CHH is on target for meeting the budget goals of CHH as set by HHC.  We are exactly where we are expected to be in terms of our overall financial performance.

If you have further questions, please email them to joyce.germano@hhchealth.org.

You may also mail your questions for a response to:

Charlotte Hungerford Hospital
540 Litchfield Street
Torrington, CT
06790
Attn: Joyce Germano