Nuvance Health Ambulance seeks to add branch units in Sharon and Norwalk to speed interfacility transfers

Nuvance Health Ambulance representatives told a licensing hearing they seek permission to add branch ambulance stations serving Sharon Hospital and Norwalk Hospital to improve interfacility transfers and overall hospital throughput.

Matthew Casavechia, director of emergency services and operations for Western Connecticut Health Network Affiliates Inc., doing business as Nuvance Health Ambulance, said the applicant currently operates branch locations in the greater Danbury–New Milford area with “nine ambulances, seven non-transport units and six” vehicles described in testimony as “invalid coaches,” and that the existing footprint handles about 15,000 calls with a roughly 10% increase in call volume over the past two years. “We’re basically looking at the needs of both Norwalk and Sharon for dedicated ambulance transportation resources at the ready,” Casavechia said.

Casavechia said the application focuses on patient conveyance activities—interfacility transports among Connecticut hospitals and other health-care facilities—and that the projected-call totals in the application deliberately exclude conveyance activity that crosses into New York. He said EMS regional councils for regions 1 and 5 reviewed the proposal and “endorsed and support[ed] the application,” and counsel offered those endorsement letters as exhibit 1.

The hearing officer pressed the applicant on several operational details. On the service-area map in attachment J, the officer asked about color-coding that appeared to mark some towns as backup paramedic-service areas; Casavechia confirmed the colored stripes denote backup paramedic services and that the overall outlined area in the document represents the proposed patient‑conveyance service area. On primary service-area (PSA/PSAR) designations, Casavechia clarified that the licensed entity, WCHN Affiliates Inc. DBA Nuvance Health Ambulance, does not hold the Danbury PSAR designation.

The hearing officer also asked whether the application contemplates no‑charge interfacility transports. Casavechia said the application does not propose a blanket free-transport policy; instead, because the provider is a not-for-profit within a larger health network, it follows the network’s charitable-care criteria and would honor that policy for patients who meet the financial-eligibility standards.

On fleet capacity, the applicant requested seven additional ambulances. Asked whether those vehicles would cover overflow or simply meet expected growth, Casavechia said they would serve both functions and noted that trip distance, mileage and the rural nature of large portions of the proposed service area make it difficult to report a single per-ambulance annual-transport figure.

The hearing officer identified a legibility problem with the projected-call methodology chart in attachment five and ordered counsel to submit a clearer, enlarged version as a late filing; counsel agreed and the hearing officer set a due date of May 1 for that “late file number one.” The hearing concluded without a licensing decision; the record was left open for the ordered submission.

The hearing record includes sworn, pre-filed testimony from four hospital executives who adopted their filings for the record: Christina McCullough, president of Sharon Hospital; Peter Cordeau, president of Norwalk Hospital; Dr. William Begg III, chair of emergency medicine at Danbury New Milford Hospitals and EMS medical director; and Dr. Thomas Kubic, executive director and chief of staff at New Milford Hospital. Counsel offered each witness’s pre-filed testimony as exhibits and the hearing officer entered them into the record.

Next steps: the record remains open for the clearer attachment five chart due May 1; no decision was announced at adjournment.