Care New England, Southcoast Health end affiliation plans

THE BOARDS OF SOUTHCOAST HEALTH and Care New England have voted to terminate their agreement to affiliate the two not-for-profit health care systems.
THE BOARDS OF SOUTHCOAST HEALTH and Care New England have voted to terminate their agreement to affiliate the two not-for-profit health care systems.

(Updated 2:43 p.m.)
PROVIDENCE – In an unexpected turn of events, Care New England and Southcoast Health have pulled the plug on their plans to affiliate.

According to an Oct. 17 joint statement issued by the hospital systems, Charles R. Reppucci, chair of CNE’s board of directors, and Jean MacCormack, chair of the Southcoast Health board of trustees, announced their respective boards’ decision to terminate the agreement.

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In November 2015, the two health care systems announced that they would study a potential partnership; later, a closer affiliation was announced in May of this year.

After due diligence reviews and preparing regulatory filings, hospital officials discovered that their visions for a combined system were no longer feasible. The statement affirmed that the parting was amicable and the two hospital systems will continue their collegial relationship in the southeastern New England community.

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“CNE and Southcoast share a vision of creating a healthier community through community-based care,” Reppucci said in the statement. “We believe both organizations will continue in their unrelenting pursuit of this goal. Yet, for CNE, we now believe the full extent of our mission as teaching, research and clinical organizations will be better served through today’s decision. We wish all of our colleagues at Southcoast continued success in their commitment to excellence and to community.”

Said MacCormack, “We have a great deal of respect for our counterparts at CNE, their staff and their high-quality programs. However, we believe that it is best for both parties to end affiliation discussions. When we entered into this process, we did so with the promise that we would always keep the best interests of our patients, communities, physicians and staff at the forefront of our deliberations. We held true to that promise throughout this process, including with today’s announcement.”

Regulatory officials in Massachusetts and Rhode Island have been notified of today’s decision. An application seeking approval for the proposed affiliation had been filed with the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission in late August, and work had been underway for several months on the regulatory filings for the respective state offices.

According to Joseph Wendelken, public information officer for the R.I. Department of Health, CNE had filed a request for an expedited review on June 23, which DOH denied. Although DOH advised CNE that it could submit a proposal for a regular review, the hospital failed to do so.
In response to the news, SEIU District 1199NE, which represents more than 2,300 hospital workers in Women & Infants and Butler hospitals, issued a statement. “Since this process began, our members have had many legitimate questions about what the impact of the proposed merger would have been on the vital services that we provide, especially given the fact that the new entity would have been headquartered out of state,” Patrick J. Quinn, executive vice president of SEIU District II99NE said in the statement. “We will remain vigilant to review any future proposed mergers.”

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