Hospitals under stress in Rhode Island
One of the major considerations for us in where to settle when we moved to New England was being near high end health care. We lived for 40 years in St. Louis, which has multiple tertiary/quaternary care hospitals, including two academic health care centers. On the other hand, I watched as my parents, who lived for 20 years in rural upstate New York dealt with community hospitals, and when my mom was treated for multiple myeloma, she traveled four hours to Dana Farber in Boston.
While we are only about an hour from Boston, there are several hospitals here in Rhode Island, with physician groups affiliated with Brown University. But the façade of healthcare security is starting to crumble. Roger Williams and Fatima hospitals have been hemorrhaging money for the past several years, and the only buyer so far is an investment company in Atlanta with no experience in healthcare that proposes taking out $160 million in loans, not investing their own money.
Here’s a 12 minute video that summarizes the problem:
Rhode Island hospitals threatened with debt and closure
While we are only about an hour from Boston, there are several hospitals here in Rhode Island, with physician groups affiliated with Brown University. But the façade of healthcare security is starting to crumble. Roger Williams and Fatima hospitals have been hemorrhaging money for the past several years, and the only buyer so far is an investment company in Atlanta with no experience in healthcare that proposes taking out $160 million in loans, not investing their own money.
Here’s a 12 minute video that summarizes the problem:
Rhode Island hospitals threatened with debt and closure
No money down, no equity by the buyer purchase of two hospitals is risky. Other purchases of hospitals in a similar manner has led to their closures as new owners milked them of their capabilities or used them to gain access 340B program access. ie, previous private equity owners “sold (Steward healthcare) for parts” and “walked away with hundreds of millions of dollars.”
In the previous purchase by Prospect, RI AG Neronha has shown a willingness to play hardball when it comes to regulating healthcare. In 2021, he conditioned a change in the ownership of CharterCARE’s parent, Prospect Medical, on the creation of an $80 million escrow account.
Without that money, Neronha said, “these hospitals would be closed. Those aren’t empty words.
Company that operates Arizona hospitals files for bankruptcy: Here’s what to know (fox10phoenix.com)
Offer to turn two Rhode Island hospitals into nonprofits poses more uncertainty – TPR: The Public’s Radio (thepublicsradio.org)