PROVIDENCE – Jennifer White, chief financial officer of the R.I. Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals and former interim CEO of Eleanor Slater Hospital, has been placed on administrative leave, Gov. Daniel J. McKee’s office announced Monday.
Additionally, the governor’s office announced that Dr. Brian Daly, chief medical officer at Eleanor Slater Hospital, will resign effective July 31.
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McKee’s office said it could not comment on the reason for the action taken against White.
Regarding Daly’s resignation, McKee spokesman Matt Sheaff issued a statement that said, “Ensuring high-quality patient care at Eleanor Slater Hospital is a top priority for BHDDH and the [McKee] administration and we are committed to identifying a strong candidate for the position of chief medical officer.”
Eleanor Slater Hospital is a system of four hospital buildings in Burrillville and Cranston, and includes some of the state’s most vulnerable patients who have significant physical or psychiatric diagnoses.
The state-run hospital system has been plagued by controversy of late, drawing accusations of mismanagement, maintenance and facility issues, neglect and staff misbehavior.
According to WPRI-TV CBS 12, both White and Daly have raised concerns about improper billing practices at the hospital.
Both have also been criticized by union groups for contributing to a volatile work environment at the hospital. At least one union group has taken a vote of no confidence in their leadership.
“At this point it has become clear that the current hospital management …. should be removed while investigations are pending,” AFSCME Rhode Island Council 94 leaders wrote in a joint memo to lawmakers last week. “Council 94 maintains that a new management team would be able to build a better relationship with patients, families, stakeholders and employees.”
McKee, in May, ordered a state two-month, independent review of the hospital, and subsequently, the Joint Commission, a nonprofit that accredits health care organizations nationwide initiated an unannounced review of the the hospital, issuing a preliminary denial of accreditation, WPRI-TV CBS 12 reported. The accreditation is a requirement to receiving federal funding for the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
It was not immediately clear if the announcement of White’s administrative leave, or Daly’s resignation, were directly related to either review.
Prior to McKee becoming governor, a reorganization begun under former Gov. Gina M. Raimondo sought to streamline the services provided by Zambarano Hospital in Burrillville.
The move was instigated by a loss of federal funds.
When the federal government learned the state had admitted more people with mental illness diagnoses than was allowed under the Zambarano license, it ended Medicaid payments, a financial penalty that compelled Raimondo to consider the hospital reorganization.
This included the discharge of mentally ill patients, a move that A. Kathryn Power, the former director of the BHDDH, said was intended to allow people to live in a less-restrictive environment, where appropriate. Her critics said she was releasing people into settings that were not capable of supporting them.
