The Rockingham Health Center plans to shut its doors next year as it cares for fewer and fewer primary care patients, the facility announced earlier this month.
The Bellows Falls facility — which is part of North Star Health, a federally qualified health center with locations in Vermont and New Hampshire — will halt operations Jan. 1.
Rockingham providers will move to other North Star clinics in Springfield and Charlestown, New Hampshire, the facility said. Patients will be able to follow their current provider or choose others who are accepting new patients at other North Star locations.
“This necessary decision reflects the evolving healthcare landscape and our commitment to ensuring long-term access to care,” Joshua Dufresne, North Star’s chief executive officer, wrote to Rockingham patients in an Oct. 21 email.
North Star administrators have blamed the decision on a decline in patients — the clinic has seen a nearly 50% drop in primary care patients since 2020 — as well as staffing shortages, aging buildings and low reimbursements from insurers for primary care.
“The decision to consolidate the Rockingham Health Center did not come lightly,” Dufresne said in an emailed statement. “Due to rising operational costs and inadequate reimbursement, it’s no longer sustainable to maintain the same footprint across our service area. The Rockingham Health Center was the most expensive to operate and we must prioritize long-term sustainability in delivering high quality care.”
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In 2020, Springfield Medical Care Systems — which included medical and dental clinics — separated from Springfield Hospital during a restructuring as part of Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. The network of clinics rebranded as North Star Health in 2022, and currently operates facilities in Bellows Falls, Springfield, Ludlow, Londonderry, Chester and Charlestown, New Hampshire.
But North Star has struggled over the past few years, according to an audit submitted to the federal government earlier this year.
“The Organization has incurred operating losses for the past two years and has declining working capital and days of cash on hand,” according to the audit report for North Star, facts that “raise doubt regarding the Organization’s ability to continue as a going concern” from 2024 through 2025.
According to auditors, who examined balance sheets from 2022 and 2023, North Star Health had an operating deficit of $2.17 million and had $3.47 million on hand as of September 2023.
A North Star dental and medical clinic were damaged by flooding that year, according to the audit, and facility administrators told auditors they had placed a hold on hiring certain positions and “increased monitoring activities related to over-time hours.”
Community members have reacted to the news of the Rockingham Health Center closure with dismay.
“I’m very sad to see this happening because if you live in Bellows Falls, you shouldn’t have to drive 10 or 15 miles to go see a doctor,” said John Gregg, a Westminster patient at the facility.
“I think people see it as a tragedy,” said Rep. Leslie Goldman, D-Rockingham, who is also a nurse practitioner. “It’s going to affect low-income people the most — people without transportation and with lesser resources.”
The health center is a tenant in a former hospital owned by the nonprofit Greater Rockingham Area Services. Local officials are trying to find another medical provider to replace the health center, according to Rick Cowan, the chair of the Rockingham Selectboard.
“But our small population (2762 in the village; 4786 in the town) makes that a heavy lift,” Cowan wrote in an email.
Without a local facility, he said, many community members will likely struggle to get medical care.
“The closing of our health center leaves our most vulnerable citizens without access … since many of the clinic’s patients don’t own cars,” he wrote.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Rockingham Health Center to close in January.