WARWICK – About a month after it laid off 14% of its staff, Thundermist Health Center is reportedly in such dire straits that it is seeking a seven-figure bailout to avoid going out of business.
According to a report Monday from WPRI-TV CBS 12, Thundermist executives say the organization needs $8 million from state and federal officials, health insurers, hospitals or others willing to save the organization. If Thundermist doesn’t get the needed financial help, Interim CEO Maria Montanaro told the television news station that the health care organization will go into receivership and close down, let alone not make payroll at the end of the month.
Such closure would result in approximately 62,000 state residents needing to find health care elsewhere in Rhode Island. Montanaro reportedly told WPRI that costs started last year to exceed revenue and no plans were put in place to mitigate the problem.
Montanaro was not immediately available Monday for comment when contacted by Providence Business News.
Last month,
Thundermist laid off 124 of its 907 employees. At the same time, the health organization terminated the contract of CEO and President Jeanne LaChance, who Montanaro blamed for deceiving Thundermist’s board of directors about the organization’s financial status, WPRI reported, and failing to come up with a plan to address the problem.
Larry Berman, spokesperson for House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi, said Monday in an email to PBN that Shekarchi recently met with Montanaro and recommended Thundermist officials have a meeting with Gov. Daniel J. McKee to discuss various budget options before McKee introduces his budget to the legislature in January. Shekarchi, Berman wrote, understands that Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island provided Thundermist with more than $1 million in emergency assistance to help address the problem.
But, Berman said, Shekarchi is “demanding accountability and detailed answers” as to what happened with Thundermist and how its finances plunged into “such dramatic depths” before any bailout legislation is considered.
“As a major provider to the Medicaid populations in the Woonsocket, West Warwick and [Washington] County regions, Speaker Shekarchi is very concerned about Thundermist’s future because of the impact on other health care centers and hospitals,” Berman wrote to PBN.
Shekarchi, Berman wrote, also recommended that Montanaro meet with the Congressional delegation to discuss available federal funding. He said Shekarchi has been in communication with both Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse and Jack Reed, D-R.I., who are assisting Thundermist with an employee retention credit application with the IRS, and “we understand the senators are asking the IRS to expedite its review.”
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on X at @James_Bessette.