Partners & Care New England Sign Definitive Agreement, Brown Begins Negotiations, Lifespan Out?
Thursday, May 24, 2018
The game of Rhode Island healthcare musical chairs entered a new round. Partners HealthCare in Boston and Care New England have taken the next step. The economically fledgling Care New England which has lost more than $120 million and closed Memorial Hospital looks to be losing its local control.
Now, Brown University, which had issued multiple statements lamenting the entrance of Partners into the Rhode Island market, is changing its tune. Lifespan, who had said it was part of the Partners HealthCare deal with Care New England, is now an unknown in today's shuffle. CharterCare has told GoLocal that they will continue to move forward to keep control in Rhode Island.
“Preserving and strengthening healthcare and biomedical research and innovation in Rhode Island continues to be an important priority. As Brown’s discussions with Partners and Care New England continue, I am optimistic that we can address the various concerns that I raised earlier this year,” said Brown's President Christine Paxson in a statement.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe statement was a big switch from her January's comments saying the deal was bad for Brown and bad for Rhode Island. As Paxson said earlier:
"I feel strongly that letting this acquisition go forward would be wrong for Rhode Island and for Brown. Doing so is likely to lead to specialty healthcare shifting to Massachusetts, impeding access to healthcare for Rhode Islanders and especially for members of the state’s underserved communities. It also would likely increase the cost of care and reduce the ability of Rhode Islanders — consumers, businesses, healthcare workers and policy-makers — to have a voice in how our healthcare system works. If the focal point of Rhode Island healthcare shifts to Boston, excellent physicians (many of them Brown-trained) could be less likely to choose Rhode Island as a place to practice."
All of the gamesmanship comes as Partners and Care New England announced on Wednesday that they have signed a definitive agreement.
Definitive Agreement Signed
The definitive agreement signed formalizes Partners’ planned purchase of Care New England. What a definitive agreement is no one knows -- none of the terms of the deal were released. Partners has refused to disclose any of the financial elements of the deal.
“Today marks an important milestone for Rhode Island health care. Care New England has made significant progress in the last year to strengthen our financial outlook, and now while we will work through this important regulatory process, I am confident our affiliation with Partners will help us further invest in quality local care for the community, building upon the tremendous successes already in place,” said Care New England President and CEO James E. Fanale.
David Torchiana, President and CEO, Partners HealthCare added, “We believe that this partnership will further strengthen an already robust local health care system and provide opportunities for new investments in patient care, research, and healthcare innovation in Rhode Island.”
According to the joint press release from Care New England and Partners, the goals of the merger include building on clinical relationships between the parties, ensuring ongoing clinical research and educational collaboration in support of the parties’ charitable missions, enabling the organizations to more efficiently use their resources, and establishing effective and expanded approaches to population health management.
With the signing of the definitive agreement, Partners and CNE will continue discussions with Lifespan.
Partners and CNE invited Lifespan to the affiliation conversations earlier this year because the parties share a mutual desire to improve access, quality, and efficiency of care for all Rhode Islanders.
CharterCARE and UNAP Issue Statements
Following the signing of the definitive agreement, both CharterCARE and UNAP issued statements.
“A Partners acquisition of Care New England will be devastating for Rhode Island healthcare consumers, employers, and insurance providers. Rhode Island regulators have already rung the alarm bell that Partners will use their market leverage to increase reimbursement rates if this merger moves forward. The mere contemplation of this merger has already cost Rhode Islanders hundreds of jobs with the closure of Memorial hospital, and left thousands of residents in the Blackstone Valley with inadequate access to emergency room care," said Bill Fischer, spokesperson for CharterCARE.
Fischer added, “It has been more than a year since Partners and CNE announced their intent to merge and yet again today no details have been provided to the general public explaining how any of this will work.”
UNAP President Linda McDonald released the following statement:
"As with all potential mergers, we are eager to learn more about the details surrounding a formal arrangement between Care New England and Partners HealthCare.
We encourage state regulators to be diligent in their review and at the appropriate time, our union looks forward to participating in thoughtful and productive exchanges with management on preserving local jobs and health services; improving working conditions for bedside caregivers and support professionals, and investing capital in Rhode Island's healthcare system.
Additionally, we were pleased to see Brown University President Christina Paxson walk back the school's previous commitment to pursuing a partnership with Prospect / CharterCare. Prospect has a well-documented record of putting patient safety at risk and we believe it is in the best interest of all Rhode Island patients and health workers to focus on the potential of a Care New England and Partners HealthCare relationship."
Related Slideshow: 7 Implications and Unintended Consequences of a Care New England and Partners Merger
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