Providence reaches agreement with Care New England, CharterCare

CARE NEW ENGLAND and CharterCARE Health Partners have agreed to pay $1 million and $300,000, respectively, to the city of Providence in a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement, Mayor Angel Taveras announced Friday.  / PBN FILE PHOTO/FRANK MULLIN
CARE NEW ENGLAND and CharterCARE Health Partners have agreed to pay $1 million and $300,000, respectively, to the city of Providence in a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement, Mayor Angel Taveras announced Friday. / PBN FILE PHOTO/FRANK MULLIN

PROVIDENCE – Care New England and CharterCare Health Partners have agreed to pay $1 million and $300,000, respectively, to the city of Providence in a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement, Mayor Angel Taveras announced Friday.

Care New England, which operates Butler Hospital and Women and Infants Hospital in the city, agreed to pay Providence $250,000 annually for the next four years.

“I am deeply grateful that Care New England has agreed to be a part of the effort to strengthen Providence’s fiscal ground and position the city for the future,” said Taveras in a release announcing the agreement. “Our hospitals are vital community pillars and essential partners in our work to make Providence a healthier city for all of our residents.”

“We believe in Providence,” Care New England President and CEO Dennis D. Keefe said in prepared remarks. “We believe a stronger Providence creates a stronger foundation for our community and helps advance our local knowledge district, which holds so much promise for the state’s future.”

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CharterCare Health Partners – the hospital system that operates Roger Williams Medical Center and St. Joseph Health Services of Rhode Island – will pay the city $100,000 annually over the next three years.

Both hospital systems agreed to reassess their agreements at the end of the terms due to “unpredictable reimbursement within the health care industry,” according to a release from Taveras’ office.

“Through our partnerships, we have pulled Providence back from the brink and will be in a stronger position to compete with cities and states across the region and across the country,” said Taveras.

Currently, CharterCare employs more than 2,800 people across the Providence region and provides nearly $20 million of uncompensated care each year.

“This agreement balances our ability to provide needed cash assistance to the city without jeopardizing the many uncompensated services we currently provide to the less fortunate in Providence,” said CharterCare president Kenneth Belcher.

The agreements from Care New England and CharterCare join those from Lifespan, Brown University and Johnson & Wales University, five of the city’s seven largest tax-exempt institutions (Providence College and Rhode Island School of Design have yet to sign new agreements with the city).

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