PROVIDENCE – Months after announcing they were strengthening ties, Lifespan Corp. and Brown University have reached a definitive agreement.
The definitive agreement is currently in “final review stages” with the R.I. Attorney General Peter F. Neronha’s office and the R.I. Department of Health, Lifespan Chief Financial Officer Peter Markell said Thursday. It was not immediately clear when the agreement was reached, but it comes after Markell previously said it would be finalized by the end of March.
The definitive agreement includes several items including: an amended and restated affiliation agreement; an investment participation agreement; a trademark license agreement and bylaw revisions.
Markell did not go into specifics on each part of the agreement, but said he hopes regulators will sign off on it by the end of June. He also said the agreement will hopefully boost Lifespan’s branding, recruitment, research and innovation and capital.
In October 2023 Brown President Christina H. Paxson said that the university and Lifespan had voted on the “parameters of a new nonbinding term sheet” that would allow the institutions to “strengthen existing affiliation and licensing agreements.” Though there were little details about the terms of the expanded partnership, Lifespan spokesperson Kathleen Hart previously said there’s a chance it could include rebranding the state’s largest health system.
Hart did not specify whether Lifespan's name would change as a result of the new agreement and did not immediately respond to questions on Thursday about whether a name change was included in the discussions.
The new agreement come as Lifespan and Brown’s existing affiliation expired on Dec. 31. Also, while they are strengthening their ties, Paxson said in October that Lifespan and Brown would remain two “separate and distinct nonprofit organizations” and the new agreement would not affect the university’s affiliations with other health care providers, including Care New England, the VA Providence Healthcare System, HopeHealth and Brown Physicians Inc.
Along with the definitive agreement Markell said all the Lifespan, Brown and Care New England Health System have reaffirmed their commitment to the aligned research collaboration, known as the Brown Innovation and Research Collaborative for Health or BIRCH that was signed in 2022.
Brian Clark, a spokesperson for Brown, said the university had nothing definitive to report about the agreement.
(ADDS 6th paragraph on potential name change and last paragraph with Brown comment.)
Katie Castellani is a PBN staff writer. You may contact her at Castellani@PBN.com.
