Care New England Pulls Out Of Lifespan, Brown Collaboration

PROVIDENCE, RI — One month after Governor Gina Raimondo called for Care New England, Lifespan and Brown University to come together to form a local, join hospital consortium, one of the major players has walked away from negotiations. On Tuesday, Care New England announced in a statement that its board had voted to pull out of discussions, as they said they were no longer believed to be in the company's best interest.

"Yesterday, after careful deliberation, the CNE Board voted to formally withdraw from tri-party discussions with Lifespan and Brown University. CNE was an active and willing participant, meeting in good faith, as requested by Governor Raimondo," said Care New England's CEO and chairman of the board in a statement. "The discussions have been collaborative, mutually respectful, and held honestly and transparently. We would like to thank the Governor's Office, The Rhode Island Foundation, and The Partnership for Rhode Island for their leadership throughout this important process."

The statement continued that the board no longer believes the tri-party discussions are in the organisation's best financial interest, citing factors such as "capital requirements and financial stability of the combined system, community need, anti-trust considerations, organizational stability, and implementation risks."

In June, Governor Raimondo called for the three major players to come together to form a single, Rhode Island-based hospital consortium after Partners Healthcare withdrew its bid to buy out Care New England.

"A thriving hospital system is critical to the health care of all Rhode Islanders," Raimondo said at the time. "With that in mind, I have called on Care New England, Lifespan and Brown to sit down once again and consider a joint solution."

Care New England said that considering its "remarkable turnaround," the board thought it best to "step back and continue on the dedicated path of improving quality, service, and access to health care for our patients."

The full statement is available on Care New England's website.

"I'm disappointed that the parties were not able to come to an agreement," Governor Raimondo said in a statement. "I continue to believe that a locally-run, academic medical center is what’s in the best interest of Rhode Island. I have encouraged the parties to keep an open mind, remain open to future discussions, and to continue to pursue expanded collaboration that could pave the way to further integration down the road."