Norwood – A joint hearing of Massachusetts congress was held last week to discuss Bill H.2525, which will accelerate the process to reopen Norwood Hospital. At least that’s what its presenters hope.
“The legislation will enhance the determination of need process at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health” Representative John Rogers (12th Norfolk) said in an exclusive interview with Inside Norwood. “We want representation throughout that process. [this bill] gives the people, through us, more of a say as to what they want to hear in Norwood.”
Alongside Senator Mike Rush (Norfolk/Suffolk), Representative Rogers presented H.2525 in order to create a high-level working group to study and recommend the establishment of a new acute care hospital in Norwood.
The bill, aimed at filling the critical healthcare gap left since Steward Health Care’s Norwood Hospital ceased operations, would task the Secretary of Health and Human Services with convening the working group. The group’s central mission will be to develop a viable plan to provide services comparable to those available prior to June 28, 2020.
During last week’s H.2525 hearing, Senator Rush noted since the closing of Norwood Hospital, emergency runs by area paramedics have been rerouted to Needham, Brockton and Boston hospitals. These transports add time, and increase delay to emergency medical care Rush said.
The working group created by the bill will study the range of acute care services previously offered by Norwood Hospital under Steward Health Care and solicit input from a broad array of stakeholders and experts in public health, construction, and hospital operations to ensure a comprehensive and practical plan.
Once the working group defines (or confirms) the need, and construction of the new building is complete, then what? I posed this question to Representative Rogers who assured me there is legislation currently pending to answer that. “We filed legislation that Mass Medical to take on the ownership of Norwood Hospital and the construction would be completed by the Mass School Building Authority” Rogers said. That bill presently sits in committee.
When pressed as to who will run Norwood Hospital, Rogers said “(W)e know that there are providers that are interested now.” He went on to say those discussions are under NDA’s (non-disclosure agreements). However, Senator Rogers is confident any medical provider who takes over will be profitable based upon the last 24 months of Norwood Hospital’s operation, before the flood, when its net profit was 36 million dollars.
In the end, Representative Rogers wants openness and transparency in the future of Norwood Hospital by ensuring Norwood’s local government is represented during the process. He assures the people of Norwood he and Senator Rush are the only ones at the state house who are working hard toward reopening Norwood Hospital. “They don’t care about the people of Norwood,” referring to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and his colleagues in the house/senate. “There’s two people up there who do, only two: me and Mike Rush.”
Bill H.2525 sets an aggressive timeline. It mandates that the working group must hold its first meeting no later than 30 days after the bill’s final passage. Following that initial meeting, the group is required to issue a final report of its findings and recommendations within 120 days. This report will be submitted to the House and Senate clerks, the Joint Committee on Public Health, and the Joint Committee on Ways and Means.
“We remain committed to working together to ensure that [a] provider can move forward without delay, so our residents regain access to the hospital care they deserve,” Representative Rogers said. -RD
