PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island Hospital and The Miriam Hospital on Thursday unveiled the first steps they plan to take to follow through on the merger of their operations announced last year.
The two hospitals, which are both part of the Lifespan health system, are being consolidated into “a single entity with two campuses,” the nonprofit hospital network said last year.
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The two initial areas targeted for consolidation are open-heart surgery and orthopedics. The changes are not expected to result in any layoffs, according to a news release.
A new shared open-heart surgery program will be housed at Rhode Island Hospital. Lifespan said the benefits would include practice standardization, lower capital costs, better support for its trauma program and greater researcher and educational opportunities.
The Miriam will continue to maintain “active and robust interventional cardiology services” on its own campus, and those will be “fully integrated into the new, combined” open-heart surgery program, Lifespan said.
In addition, a new Bone and Joint Center of Excellence will be housed at The Miriam. “The program will focus primarily on elective joint reconstructive surgery and create a unique multidisciplinary center focused on the needs of these patients,” according to a news release.
However, Lifespan said Rhode Island Hospital will continue to maintain “a very active orthopedic program” because of the large volume of orthopedic cases at both hospitals.
Hospital officials are now developing a detailed plan for the new programs, which may require regulatory approval from state officials. That work is expected to take several months.
“These changes reflect an ever-changing and demanding health care environment,” Dr. Timothy J. Babineau, president and CEO of both hospitals since last September, said in a statement. “Together, [the] two hospitals can more effectively fulfill our collective missions in a way that is high quality and cost-sensitive.”
Lifespan said the changes followed a seven-month study of ways the two hospitals could most effectively combine operations that involved clinical leadership, employees and other key stakeholders from both hospitals.
The study is also looking at whether the hospitals could do more to combine their oncology programs, but no changes are being made in that area yet.
Additional information is available at lifespan.org.
