When Care New England bought Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island in 2013, the Pawtucket institution was already in financial difficulties. But since then, its situation has only gotten worse, to the point that in the last fiscal year it had an operating loss of $23 million when its 294 inpatient beds had an average daily census of 15-20 patients.
CNE looked to unload Memorial to Prime Healthcare Foundation (the owner of Woonsocket’s Landmark Medical Center) at the same time that it was merging into the Partners Healthcare of Massachusetts system, a deal that was announced earlier this year. But six months after announcing the potential sale, CNE has said it cannot make the deal work with Prime, leading it to further contract services offered at Memorial, in effect closing it as a hospital. Is that something the state Department of Health should allow to happen?
