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Encompass Health’s Danbury facility, which opened in October 2025, has already exceeded projections and shows the demand for inpatient rehab in Connecticut, company officials told state regulators at hearing on April 16, 2026.<\/p>\n
Encompass Health\/Encompass Health\/Office of Health Strategy<\/p>\n
When Josh Brooks\u2019 91-year-old neighbor in Branford had a health crisis a few years ago, she had one request for post-hospital rehab.<\/p>\n
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\u201cShe didn\u2019t want to go to New Haven,” said Brooks, Branford\u2019s first selectman.\u00a0\u201cShe didn’t want to be that far. She didn’t want to go — she wanted to be home or as close to home as possible.”<\/p>\n
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A new $70 million rehab hospital<\/a> in Branford proposed by for-profit Encompass Health would offer shoreline residents a welcome option for recovery after hospital care, Brooks said, speaking at a state regulatory hearing on the project on April 16. If approved, the new 50-bed hospital would rise on a Main Street property that was once home to Hilltop Orchards.<\/p>\n \u201cThe town of Branford not only fully supports the Encompass facility, but is excited about the opportunity,\u201d Brooks said.\u00a0<\/p>\n But positive statements by Brooks and other local officials were countered by hours of testimony at the hearing in opposition to the Encompass Branford project by nonprofit competitors who warned of disruption to the state\u2019s health system. The\u00a0nonprofits, acting as \u201cintervenors\u201d in the hearing, also raised questions about the for-profit firm\u2019s safety practices.<\/p>\n \u201cEncompass will try to attract the better reimbursed Medicare and commercial populations currently being served while the majority of Medicaid patients remain with the existing providers with a significant potential negative financial impact on the existing not-for-profit providers,\u201d Gaylord Chief Strategy Officer George\u00a0Kyriacou said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Nonprofits question for-profit at hearing<\/p>\n Representatives of Gaylord, located in\u00a0Wallingford, and New Britain\u2019s Hospital for Special Care joined forces to grill Encompass executives at the April hearing, which was hosted by state health regulator the Office of Health Strategy. Encompass, based in Alabama, needs approval from the regulator to build the new hospital under the state\u2019s Certificate of Need law.<\/p>\n Make CT Insider a preferred source on Google to see more of our journalism when you search.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n A new hospital competing for scarce nurses and other medical staff in a tight market will push struggling providers to the edge, the nonprofits told regulators at the hearing.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cApproving an additional for-profit (rehab hospital), which will aggressively compete for scarce clinicians in our state, risks undermining our ability to continue as a going concern,\u201d said Laurie\u00a0Rudman CFO at Hospital for Special Care. The 236-bed New Britain rehab hospital projects $6 million in operating losses for fiscal 2026, she added.<\/p>\n \u201cThese losses are not sustainable for an independent, not-for-profit healthcare whose mission\u00a0is to care for the state’s most fragile patients,\u201d Rudman said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Encompass officials countered that there was a documented need in Connecticut for more beds in \u201cinpatient rehabilitation facilities,\u201d which offer shorter-term and less intensive care than \u201clong-term acute care hospitals\u201d like Gaylord and Hospital for Special Care. Facilities like the one proposed for Branford have an average length of stay of 12 days and are aimed at treating patients recovering from ailments like fractures rather than those with complex medical needs.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are confident that if granted the CON for Branford, that patients receiving care there would not only get the great clinical care that they deserve, but also a great overall experience,\u201d said Mathew\u00a0Gooch, president of Encompass\u2019s Northeast Region.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Nonprofits highlight need, staffing issues<\/p>\n The entry into Connecticut of the for-profit company — the nation\u2019s largest operator of inpatient rehabilitation facilities — also stirred controversy in Danbury several years ago, drawing opposition from\u00a0Nuvance Health\u2019s Danbury Hospital. The for-profit provider was not needed in the area and could raise costs, the hospital said.\u00a0<\/p>\n After a study of the region\u2019s rehab capacity, the regulators disagreed. \u201cEncompass Danbury will address a gap in care for western Connecticut residents,\u201d OHS said in its final approval, dated April 19, 2023.<\/p>\n The Danbury hospital opened in September of 2025 and has exceeded its projected volume numbers every month since,\u00a0Gooch said, \u201cwhich demonstrates an unmet need for services in the state of Connecticut.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n In statements after the hearing, both Gaylord and Hospital for Special Care urged the state to reject Encompass\u2019s Branford application. Among the hundreds of pages of materials submitted as part of the CON process was a link to a joint New York\u00a0Times-KFF News investigation<\/a> that found a range of safety issues at the company\u2019s hospitals elsewhere in the country. (Encompass countered with filings alleging bias in the reporting.)<\/p>\n \u201cWe do not believe Encompass Health has demonstrated a genuine community need for a new rehabilitation hospital in Branford, and we stand firmly behind the concerns raised in our testimony,\u201d said Sonja LaBarbera, president and CEO of Gaylord Specialty Healthcare. \u201cApproving this proposal without clear evidence of unmet demand risks fragmenting an already finite healthcare workforce in Connecticut, straining specialized staff capacity, and increasing healthcare costs across the state without meaningfully improving access or quality of care.\u201d<\/p>\n The Hospital for Special Care also cited staffing concerns in a statement, along with doubts about the need for a new facility in the state.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOpening a new facility that will pull clinical staff from other facilities (that are already struggling to meet patient care demands due to staffing shortages) should not be permitted,\u201d the statement said. \u201cAdding another inpatient rehabilitation facility to the market, when there is a different 42-bed inpatient rehabilitation facility in\u00a0Waterbury, CT that is due to open relatively soon, is premature at best.\u201d<\/p>\n For-profit PAM Health is nearing completion<\/a> of a $35 million acute care and rehabilitation center at the corner of Harpers Ferry Road and\u00a0Reidville Drive in Waterbury.<\/p>\n Encompass did not respond to a request for comment through their website, but company officials told regulators at the hearing there was both a need and a demand for their services.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Experts says scrutiny needed for health projects<\/p>\n The next step in the regulatory process is a May 4 final call for documents relating to the Encompass Branford application, which was filed on July 25 of last year. A decision is expected to come in the following months or years: OHS approved Encompass Danbury\u2019s application in April 2023 following a public hearing in October 2021.<\/p>\n