{"id":275284,"date":"2025-11-06T14:22:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T14:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/275284\/"},"modified":"2025-11-06T14:22:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T14:22:09","slug":"rhode-islands-health-care-crisis-is-here-who-will-step-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/275284\/","title":{"rendered":"Rhode Island\u2019s health care crisis is here. Who will step up?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ruggerio died in April<\/a> at Fatima Hospital after a long battle with cancer, but he had a soft spot for the two hospitals long before his own health challenges. He led the fight to save the pensions of thousands of employees at Fatima and Roger Williams who were screwed over by the Diocese of Providence years ago.<\/p>\n

Now thousands more employees and patients are at risk because the owner, Prospect Medical Holdings, informed a bankruptcy court judge<\/a> in Texas that the two hospitals could close before the end of the year \u2014 in part because a nonprofit, The Centurion Foundation<\/a>, which wants to buy them, has been unable to secure financing.<\/p>\n

It all sounds like a drop-everything moment for Rhode Island\u2019s entire congressional delegation, Governor Dan McKee, House Speaker Joe Shekarchi, Senate President Val Lawson, North Providence Mayor Charlie Lombardi, and Providence Mayor Brett Smiley \u2014 to call a press conference on the steps of Fatima or Roger Williams and pledge to do whatever it takes.<\/p>\n

Instead, we\u2019re getting an uncoordinated, incoherent, piecemeal response: the governor is in talks with another potential buyer, Prime Healthcare,<\/a> while others issue vague statements about \u201cdue diligence\u201d \u2014 code for figuring out whether all the doctors, nurses, and patients are worth the money<\/p>\n

There isn\u2019t much appetite from Shekarchi or Lawson to bring legislators back into session before January, which could be too late for two hospitals that see a total of more than 50,000 emergency room visits each year and perform countless surgeries, both routine and urgent.<\/p>\n

The one state leader who has been screaming from the rooftops about Rhode Island\u2019s health care crisis \u2014 both these hospitals and the ongoing shortage of primary care doctors \u2014 is Attorney General Peter Neronha, who flew to Texas himself this week to appear before the bankruptcy judge and warn that the state\u2019s health system could collapse if the facilities are closed.<\/p>\n

When I asked Neronha why we aren\u2019t seeing more urgency from other state leaders, he didn\u2019t pull any punches.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Rhode Island, too many leaders don\u2019t lead,\u201d Neronha said. \u201cThey look around, and if they\u2019re smart enough to understand the issue, they make a political calculus about whether it\u2019s beneficial to them to engage \u2014 and to what extent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neronha\u2019s long-running feud with McKee has been on full display for years, but it\u2019s clear his frustration extends beyond the governor. He\u2019s spent more time focusing on health care than any attorney general in state history, yet he doesn\u2019t seem to have the full attention of his colleagues in government.<\/p>\n

Many are supportive with their words, but not their actions. Unlike Ruggerio, no one seems willing to use their power to lean in and make something happen.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the opposite of how Massachusetts leaders, namely Governor Maura Healey<\/a>, stepped up last year to save six of eight hospitals run by bankrupt Steward Health Care<\/a>. There are fair questions about how Steward got into that mess in the first place, but Healey understood that decisive action was needed.<\/p>\n

In Rhode Island, it feels like everyone\u2019s waiting for someone else to swoop in and save the day \u2014 probably because there\u2019s no easy or politically painless solution.<\/p>\n

Realistically, the state is going to have to sweeten the pot \u2014 using taxpayer dollars \u2014 to convince Prime to buy the hospitals, help The Centurion Foundation get its deal across the finish line, or go hat in hand to Brown University Health<\/a> and Care New England, the state\u2019s two largest hospital providers, to take them over.<\/p>\n

No matter what, it\u2019s almost certainly going to cost money we don\u2019t have.<\/p>\n

Neronha can\u2019t do this alone. It\u2019s time for someone else in government to step up and ask, \u201cWhat would Donny do?\u201d<\/p>\n

Dan McGowan can be reached at dan.mcgowan@globe.com<\/a>. Follow him @danmcgowan<\/a>.<\/p>\n