Expedited review of Care New England, Southcoast Health affiliation denied

PROVIDENCE – By denying the June 23 request for an expedited review of the proposed affiliation between Care New England and Southcoast Health, the Rhode Island Department of Health, in effect, reset the clock. Joseph Wendelken, DOH public information officer, said that once the parties submit an application for a standard review of the affiliation and the application is deemed complete, the DOH has a 120-day window to make a decision.

“We’re not anti-merger; we want to make sure it goes through protecting services and the employment [of] folks who are currently employed,” said Patrick J. Quinn, executive vice president, District 1199 SEIU New England, which represents most of CNE’s employees, including registered nurses, nursing assistants, laboratory workers, and aides. “I don’t want to be overly negative, but southeastern Massachusetts is a distressed area; it’s not Silicon Valley or Boomtown.”
Noting that the medical services provided and the payer mix all change with the relative income of a community, Quinn added, “We don’t want to be in a position where all the high-end services get migrated to Boston. We want to ensure all the jobs are maintained, all the services are maintained and [we can] take care of Rhode Islanders.”

Both District 1199 SEIU New England and 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East Massachusetts, which represents Southcoast Health’s health care employees, applauded the DOH’s decision, which DOH Director Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott announced in her July 21 letter to Hinckley Allen and Snyder LLP, counsel for CNE and the proposed new nonprofit entity, Newco Heath System Inc. If the affiliation is approved by Rhode Island and Massachusetts’ regulatory authorities, Newco would be the sole corporate member of CNE and of Southcoast. According to recent documentation from Charles W. Normand, of Hinckley, Allen and Snyder, Newco is a Delaware non-profit corporation, with co-incorporators Keith A. Hovan, Southcoast Health’s president and chief executive officer, and Dennis D. Keefe, CNE’s president and chief executive officer.

“As we have suggested to the Massachusetts attorney general, this transaction, if approved, would create a cross-state, regionally dominant health care organization with the potential to raise health care costs,” Tyrék D. Lee, Sr., executive vice president, with 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East Massachusetts, wrote in a statement. “Given this reality, regulators and the affected communities in [both states] need more time to study the potential merger and determine whether the proposed entity is indeed likely to provide high quality, cost-effective care to residents in both states.” Nearly 1,000 members of this union are Rhode Island residents, Lee wrote.

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