Remember to send your comments to the Office of Health Strategy's Certificate of Need(CON).  Please email you comments to CONcomment@ct.gov.  Reference docket 32538. 

Write or call our state reps and governor's office.  Form letters and list of representatives can be found at savedkh.org.

(re) Remind people to sign our petition.  We are sending the petitions to the CON and numbers can matter.

Bruce has developed some easy talking points for when you have conversations with folks:

Q: My understanding is that if Covenant doesn’t take over DKH, the hospital will go out of business because they have only 30 days of cash on hand.

A: While it may be true that DKH has a limited amount of operating cash on hand, this is constantly being replenished by revenue from patients’ insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, etc. If you think about it, Covenant has only 150 days of cash on hand. Does this mean they are going out of business in 150 days?

A: DKH has a cash reserve which can be used for discretionary purposes, including operating expenses.

A: Covenant and DKH have stated publicly that DKH currently has a two-to-three year financial “runway” before their fiscal situation becomes problematic. They have also asserted that it would take at least five years before any negative impact would be felt if the takeover does not occur.

A: The State of Connecticut would not permit DKH to close their doors precipitously. In order for a hospital to cease operations, they must go through the same Certificate of Need process as they are currently engaged in for this takeover. In the meantime, the State would support the hospital’s operations.

Q: Covenant/DKH claims that the reason they did not merge with Yale New Haven or Hartford HealthCare is because of the distance from DKH to the other hospitals in case the need arises to transfer a patient to one of those care centers.

A: Actually, Covenant’s nearest hospital, in Nashua, NH is 82 miles from Putnam. Hartford is only 48 miles away

Q: But isn’t Covenant a better hospital system?

A: The fact is, Covenant’s hospitals in Maine and New Hampshire are rated lower in service quality and patient satisfaction than DKH. This takeover would drag DKH’s ratings down to their level.

Q: Covenant is saying that the services available to our community won’t really change after the takeover.

A: Actually, many, if not most services related to reproductive health care, like birth control and family planning will be curtailed dramatically.