Partners Healthcare has withdrawn its application to acquire Care New England, scuttling a plan that had the potential to reshape Rhode Island’s healthcare landscape.
Partners is backing off as Gov. Gina Raimondo calls on Rhode Island’s two largest hospital chains — Lifespan and Care New England — to resume talks with Brown University.
“Whether or not Rhode Island affiliates with a larger system at some point, I believe creating a more integrated, locally-run, academic structure first is what’s in the best interest of Rhode Islanders now and in the long run,” Raimondo said in a statement.
Critics of the deal — chief among them Care New England’s largest competitor, Lifespan — said the acquisition would raise costs and divert too many patients from Rhode Island up to Boston for specialty care. A review commissioned by the Office of the Health Insurance Commissioner said it was likely that Partners would try to increase the flow of patients from Rhode Island — called “referrals” — to its hospitals for lucrative specialty care. Care New England and Partners disputed those criticisms, arguing that Rhode Island’s regulations on insurance reimbursement rates would keep costs manageable, and the uptick in referrals would be negligible.
In statements, the CEOs of both Lifespan and Care New England said they had agreed to resume talks toward striking an in-state solution.
