PROVIDENCE – The Centurion Foundation has finalized its purchase of Roger Williams Medical Center and Our Lady of Fatima Hospital, moving 500 beds and 2,400 staff back to nonprofit ownership under CharterCARE Health of Rhode Island.
"Today is an extremely good day," said Lynn Blaise, a registered nurse at Our Lady of Fatima Hospital and United Nurses and Allied Professionals president. "I can finish my career in the place where I started. We’ve waited a long time for this day to come."
Friday's announcement by state and hospital officials marked the conclusion of a multi-year effort to secure the two medical facilities' future after their previous owner, Prospect Medical Holdings, filed for bankruptcy last year.
"It wasn’t easy. It was probably one of the hardest things we’ve ever done," said Ben Mingle, CEO and chairman of the Georgia-based nonprofit Centurion Foundation. "We were committed to seeing this through. We didn’t care what happened if we failed, we wanted to see this to the end."
The purchase now restores nonprofit status of the two safety net hospitals and preserves hundreds of jobs - a milestone Gov. Daniel J. McKee credited to broad collaboration.
"We made this happen because the health care these two hospitals provide are needed, and we want to make sure we keep people working here,” McKee said.
McKee also noted that regulators required $80 million to be placed in escrow in 2021 as a financial backstop for the hospitals - a safeguard he said helped keep them operating as the bankruptcy case unfolded.
"We wouldn’t be able to keep this place open while going through bankruptcy court in Dallas,” he said Friday.
Another key factor in stabilizing the hospitals was a state-backed $18 million bond backstop, McKee added, assembled with help from Chief of Staff Anthony Alfonso, the Rhode Island Health & Education Building Corporation and other state leaders.
"Earlier today, Bank of America led the successful closing of $101 million of bonds to fund the acquisition of Roger Williams and Fatima Hospitals as well as providing critical working capital for the hospital system," RIHEBC spokesperson Chris Hunter said on Friday. "These community hospitals are critical to the health and safety of our state."
"[The deal] wasn’t happening without bonding, without our infrastructure bank, without everyone in the community coming together," McKee said.
The bond package was approved by lawmakers earlier this year as part of the final push to close the sale.
On March 2, a federal bankruptcy judge in Texas had set March 6
deadline to close the sale, underscoring the urgency.
After the announcement of the sale Friday, Mingle emphasized the nonprofit’s commitment to breaking even in the first year, upgrading to state-of-the-art equipment, and supporting staff throughout the transition.
(UPDATE: Adds Blaise is United Nurses and Allied Professionals president in second paragraph, corrects the Rhode Island Health & Education Building Corporation in 9th paragraph and adds comment from corporation in 10th paragraph.)
Matthew McNulty is a PBN staff writer. He can be reached at McNulty@PBN.com or on X at @MattMcNultyNYC.
