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‘We are in crisis’: PBN summit highlights glaring gaps in affordable, accessible health care

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Katie Castellani and Jacquelyn Voghel

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10/30/2025

DR. EDWARD MCGOOKIN, third from the left, speaks during a panel discussion at Providence Business News’ Fall Health Care Summit: Shaping the Future of Care on Thursday. McGookin is chief of primary care at Brown Health Medical Group Primary Care. With him during the first of two panel discussions are, from left, Victoria Williams, assistant professor of health care administration at Rhode Island College; Dr. Roger Mitty, president and chief operating officer of Care New England Medical Group; and Sen. Pamela Lauria, a nurse practitioner. Moderating is PBN Editor Michael Mello, standing. / PBN PHOTO/MIKE SKORSKI — DR. EDWARD MCGOOKIN, third from the left, speaks during an Oct. 30 panel discussion at Providence Business News’ Fall Health Care Summit: Shaping the Future of Care on Thursday. McGookin is chief of primary care at Brown Health Medical Group Primary Care. With him during the first of two panel discussions are, from left, Victoria Williams, assistant professor of health care administration at Rhode Island College; Dr. Roger Mitty, president and chief operating officer of Care New England Medical Group; and Sen. Pamela Lauria, a nurse practitioner. Moderating is PBN Editor Michael Mello, standing. / PBN PHOTO/MIKE SKORSKI

WARWICK – Precarious and vulnerable. That’s how Dr. Edward McGookin would describe the state of Rhode Island’s health care. Two safety net hospitals – Roger Williams Medical Center and Our Lady of Fatima Hospital – are on the brink of closure. The hospital’s owner, Prospect Medical, went bankrupt in January, and the prospective buyer, The Centurion Foundation, has

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WARWICK – Precarious and vulnerable. That’s how Dr. Edward McGookin would describe the state of Rhode Island’s health care. Two safety net hospitals – Roger Williams Medical Center and Our Lady of Fatima Hospital – are on the brink of closure. The hospital’s owner, Prospect Medical, went bankrupt in January, and the prospective buyer, The Centurion Foundation, has struggled for months to raise the funds needed to close the sale. On top of this, the health care system is continuing to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, health care costs have continued to rise, commercial health insurance premiums for 2026 have reached their highest levels in a decade and federal funding for health care has been slashed in recent months. “Our state is finding itself in a very difficult position,” said McGookin, chief of primary care at Brown Health Medical Group Primary Care, formerly known as Coastal Medical, during Providence Business News’ Fall Health Care Summit: Shaping the Future of Care. The event took place on Thursday morning at Crowne Plaza Providence-Warwick. He’s not the only one who's concerned. But McGookin, who acknowledged that he doesn’t usually have a “glass half full” point of view, noted the lessons that health care leaders have learned from the recent challenges will help them address the current challenges. Still, the state simply can’t absorb the loss of two hospitals. “I am very concerned and cautious about how that will play out,” he said. McGookin was one of four panelists who discussed several topics pertaining to the state of health care in Rhode Island, including access to primary care, legislative and policy changes, workforce development and continuing education during the summit. Fellow panelist, Sen. Pamela Lauria, D-Barrington, who has also been a nurse practitioner for years, also said it would be “extremely detrimental” to lose the two hospitals. Not only would the loss strain emergency rooms throughout the state, but it would devastate the workforce at those hospitals. Panelists also discussed how to boost the state’s primary care workforce. While there are shorter-term solutions, a long-term measure being floated is opening a public medical school at the University of Rhode Island. Lauria, a member of the commission studying the feasibility of the medical school, said the economic benefits that come with the school outweigh the costs of establishing and operating the school, which are estimated to include $175 million in startup costs and $22.5 million annually from the state. “We punch above our weight as far as people wanting to go to medical school,” Lauria said. “Obviously, these are difficult economic times for the state, but I believe there is a path where this is economically feasible.” Panelists also included Dr. Roger Mitty, president and chief operating officer of Care New England Medical Group, and Victoria Williams, assistant professor of health care administration at Rhode Island College. A second panel discussed the rising costs of health care insurance, the persistence of health care inequality and where the state stands on addressing substance abuse and access to mental health. The discussion featured Linda Hurley, CEO of CODAC Behavioral Healthcare; R.I. Health Insurance Commissioner Cory King; Adam Martignetti, vice president of state government affairs and advocacy for Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare, a Point32Health company; Dr. Phil Rizzuto, owner of Rizzuto Eyelid and Facial Plastic Surgery and director of the Surgery Center of Rhode Island; and Martha Wofford, CEO of Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island. Panelists presented a largely downcast view of the state's health system in this second discussion, highlighting a shortage of primary care doctors, rising expenses throughout the health care continuum, and the prevalence of the opioid epidemic. Asked to define the state of health care in Rhode Island, Hurley characterized the landscape as featuring “a lot of fear of the unknown." To King, the key term is “unbalanced”; “fragile,” said Martignetti; and “tenuous,” according to Wofford. Rizutto chose to highlight a positive, noting that maintaining a private practice “takes a lot,” but that the Ocean State boasts an impressive innovation ecosystem. But this moment of optimism was brief. Wofford emphasized expenses as "an unbelievable burden" on patients, noting, "when it comes to … affordability, we are in crisis." “We have a crisis on Rhode Islanders’ abilities to afford the premiums that we are putting out in the market,” she said. "And they are driven by these incredibly high health care costs.” And with most employees receiving insurance through their workplaces, King said, “when premiums go up, workers take a pay cut.” Meanwhile, disadvantaged populations tend to have the most obstacles navigating the health care system, Wofford said, prompting a need for in-depth data, including information “at a very specific racial and ethnic level so that we can see where there are gaps in care.” Panelists also highlighted a need to better support primary care physicians, who they described as providing a foundational component of overall health. But it's no secret that these doctors are in remarkably short supply. Hurley said that the U.S. has recorded a 26% decrease in overdose deaths, largely due “the remarkable proliferation of Narcan,” a medication that reverses an overdose. “But what we’re not taking into account is those non-fatal overdoses,” she said. "We’re seeing more and more of that.” For every overdose, Hurley said, there are 15 non-fatal overdoses, which have a high recurrence rate. And with each overdose, an individual incurs brain damage that impacts executive function, impulse control, memory and mental health, alongside new financial burdens for patients as they seek care for these new or intensifying conditions.