PROVIDENCE – Though an incomplete application for a merger between Care New England and Boston-based Partners HealthCare has been filed with the state, Lifespan Corp. wants a chance to renew its own talks with CNE, Lifespan President and CEO Dr. Timothy J. Babineau said on Thursday.
“I can’t point to one positive thing about that merger,” Babineau said during a meeting with the editorial board of Providence Business News. “We’re willing to get back to the table, if so invited.”
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Two years ago, Partners and CNE began talks on a potential merger. They announced an agreement to merge in January of last year. The following month, Lifespan said it was joining talks with Partners and CNE but those discussions ended in October without a deal involving Lifespan.
That wasn’t the first time Lifespan, the state’s largest employer, and CNE tried, without success, to merge. The two health care systems began talks to merge in 2007 but walked away from the potential deal in 2010.
But Babineau and other Lifespan officials said that the acquisition of Care New England by Partners has the potential to funnel jobs, money and patients to Boston, leaving depleted health care resources in Rhode Island.
Should the deal go through, he predicted, higher-priced health care at the many Boston hospitals and clinics owned by Partners will begin to affect Rhode Island.
“The higher cost of health care will eventually end up down here,” he said.
Departments such as neurology, which require a dense network of doctors and often provides emergency care, would likely suffer serious losses, said Dr. Ziya L. Gokaslan, neurosurgeon-in-chief at Rhode Island and The Miriam hospitals.
“We’re not going to have the critical mass of people to support the infrastructure,” he added.
“Our goal is to get enough interest in this to have someone get us back to the table,” Babineau said, explaining why Lifespan officials are speaking out now.
He added he has spoken informally with Gov. Gina M. Raimondo about his concerns, but has not requested she call a halt to the review process.
Raimondo’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
A request for an expedited review of the merger application between Partners and Care New England was filed in December with the R.I. Department of Health and the Office of the Attorney General. At the time, state health Director Nicole Alexander-Scott said “one or more” hospitals operated by Care New England, including the now-shuttered Memorial Hospital, were considered “distressed.”
Partners and CNE also have finalized an agreement with Brown University allowing the school’s Warren Alpert Medical School to be their primary academic research and teaching institution in Rhode Island.
The state’s review of the merger application has yet to begin because officials have requested more information, which is common with large applications, health department spokesman Joseph Wendelken said.
“When we have all the material that we need, we deem the application ‘complete’ at that point, and the timeline starts on our review,” he said.
Officials then will have 90 days to conduct the review, which will include an opportunity for the public to comment on the proposal.
Babineau said there was no opportunity for Lifespan to weigh in with the state on the request for expedited review. He added he also is prevented from speaking directly with CNE about reigniting merger talks, due to the latter’s merger agreement with Partners-owned Brigham Health
Dr. James E. Fanale, president and CEO of Care New England, confirmed Brigham would need to approve renewed talks between CNE and Lifespan. CNE, however, is only focused on joining Brigham Health, the entity within Partners that CNE would be merged into.
“We have always stated we want to move forward with the current acquisition process,” he said.
“We don’t want to wait a year, or two or three,” he said. Re-engaging in talks with Lifespan, he said, would create “another year or two of delay for us.”
“There is always a possibility to get back to the table and talk [with Lifespan] – in the future,” he added. “[But] we really want to get our deal done” now.
Lifespan officials painted a picture of a weakened health care system across the state if the merger is approved, fearing Rhode Island patients and services would increasingly be funneled to Boston, where the merged health system could collect higher reimbursement rates for services.
But Fanale called it “a fairy tale that patients are going to go to Boston, en masse. It’s ludicrous.”
His vision for Care New England under a merger with Brigham Health is for an “expansion of services in Rhode Island.”
“We will be able to do a better job taking care of our patients” and have greater “access to capital to improve our buildings and infrastructure,” he said.
Elizabeth Graham is a Providence Business News staff writer. She can be reached at graham@pbn.com.
