United Nurses and Allied Professionals announces opposition to Centurion Foundation’s bid to buy Prospect CharterCare’s Rhode Island healthcare facilities

Union urges DOH and AG to reject application 

 

Providence, RI - The United Nurses and Allied Professionals (UNAP), a union representing almost 1,000 employees at Our Lady of Fatima Hospital, Roger Williams Medical Center, and Prospect Home Health and Hospice, today announced their opposition to Centurion Foundation’s bid to buy these healthcare facilities, and is publicly urging the Department of Health and Attorney General Peter Neronha to reject Centurion’s application. 

 

The union cited a business model that is not credible or viable, starting with the fact that Centurion has never owned or operated a hospital or healthcare facility. The union also noted that Centurion will not be bringing any new capital to these facilities, at a time when that’s what is needed most. 

 

“We took a good hard look at the application when it was made public, and it didn’t take long to find a business model that is simply not credible or viable,” stated UNAP General Counsel Chris Callaci. “There are a number of significant issues in Centurion’s application, with the most glaring being the fact that they are an unknown entity that has never owned or operated a hospital or healthcare facility. They are not bringing any capital to the table and plan to saddle our community hospitals with more than $133 million in debt – money they aren’t on the hook to pay back. The closer we look, the worse this application gets.”  

 

The UNAP cited a number of major concerns within Centurion’s application, including:

 

• Centurion doesn’t own or operate any hospitals and doesn’t know how to.

 

• Centurion knows that CharterCARE (Roger Williams Medical Center, Fatima Hospital and Prospect Home Health and Hospice) continues to lose money, which is unsustainable. But Centurion is not going to make any financial commitments to CharterCARE facilities.

 

• Centurion is not putting up any of their own money in this sale. Instead, they expect these community hospitals and healthcare facilities to borrow more than $133 million to stay afloat. Centurion is not on the hook to pay this money back. CharterCARE facilities will have to pay it back with money they don’t have. Since these hospitals operate at a loss, there are no revenues to pay this debt down. 

 

• According to Centurion, these community hospitals and healthcare facilities are supposed to survive by finding cost-savings and new revenue, which they haven’t been able to do for decades now.

 

• At the same time that Centurion refuses to invest any money in these healthcare facilities, they insist on making CharterCARE’s hospitals and facilities pay them numerous fees and charges. Worse, Centurion refuses to tell us what the fees and charges are for, or how much they will be.

 

Callaci continued, “We are going to do all we can to secure the future of CharterCARE. But having an out-of-state corporation from Georgia come to Rhode Island to take advantage of us is not the answer. This company wants to make us borrow a ton of money we can’t pay back. This doesn’t get us anywhere. In fact, it makes our financial situation much worse than it already is.”

 

Lynn Blais, R.N., President of UNAP and a registered nurse at Fatima Hospital, stated, “Having an out-of-state corporation come to RI and take already scarce healthcare dollars away from us in the form of hidden fees and charges is the opposite of what we need to provide quality care. Coming on the heels of Prospect’s disastrous ownership of these important community hospitals and healthcare facilities, it is imperative that the next owner is willing to put healthcare first and be a true community partner – someone who is willing to invest in the patients, the workforce, the hospitals and our community. Based on this application, Centurion clearly does not fit that bill.”

 

Blais concluded, “For these reasons, we’re calling on the Department of Health and the Attorney General to reject this application. This model doesn’t work for employees or their families. It doesn’t work for the patients and family members we serve. And it doesn’t work for Rhode Island. It only works for Centurion.”

 

The UNAP launched a comprehensive public campaign today to inform the public of the union’s concerns and urge the rejection of Centurion’s application. The campaign consists of radio ads, print ads, direct mail, and social and digital media that will run until a decision is made on this application. The campaign’s website is CenturionFoundation.com.