PROVIDENCE – It is no secret that the entire health care delivery system in Rhode Island is falling into a deepening financial crisis, causing it to come crashing down upon the lives of patients and caregivers and families alike.

The questions are: What is the most responsible and trustworthy way to report on the news of the impending collapse? Why is it so difficult to find out exactly what is happening? How can patients and caregivers discern the accuracy of what elected officials are saying? Is it all about political gamesmanship ahead of the 2026 election? 

Some honest and sincere actions are being taken to prevent an impending crash and rescue the state’s failing delivery system, in full public view.

•    On Friday, Aug. 1, R.I. Attorney General Peter Neronha announced that his office was restructuring the financial conditions involved with the sale of the safety net hospitals, Rogers Williams Medical Center and Our Lady of Fatima.

The Attorney General’s goal is to keep the hospitals’ pending purchase by the nonprofit Centurion Foundation based in Atlanta, Georgia, from financial collapse. “Our goal is simple: make sure our safety net hospitals are in the best possible position to serve our communities for as long as possible,” Attorney General Neronha said in a news release accompanying the actions.

The amount of cash on hand needed to finance the transaction was reduced from $80 million to $45 million. Under the newly restructured terms, the Attorney General is now positioned to be able “to tip the hospitals into receivership should we need to do so,” the news release said, giving the Attorney General the legal capability to manage the financial oversight of the new entity. “All Rhode Islanders deserve quality, accessible, and affordable health care,” Attorney General Neronha said in the news release. “The survival of these safety-net hospitals is absolutely critical to the future of Rhode Island’s health care system; we cannot afford to lose them.”

Under the radar screen.    
At the same time, some actions by Brown University Health are being undertaken in response to the growing financial crisis that apparently are not for public consumption.

•    One of the key divisions of Brown Physicians Inc., under the auspices of Brown University Health, has apparently been forced to cut back on mental health services being provided to its patients, in order to cope with the continuing shortfalls in staffing and financial reimbursements.

Translated, while the headlines trumpeted that the birthing center at Newport Hospital was preserved, several other severe cost-cutting measures are being undertaken by Brown University Health, according to several sources.

After the publicized intervention by Gov. Dan McKee [his likely opponent in the 2026 Democratic primary for Governor, Helena B. Foulkes, had been scheduled to speak at an event opposing the Newport birthing center closure], the breakdown of benefits and savings to be achieved by Brown University Health in planned cutbacks remains a work in progress, according to several sources.

New study sows confusion.    
A new WalletHub Study. “Best & Worst States for Health Care 2025,” sought to determine where Americans received the best and worst health care, comparing 50 states and the District of Columbia across 44 measures of cost, accessibility and outcomes. Rhode Island was ranked number two in the study.

The trend fits into a pattern of similar studies and findings, according to several sources. For instance, a 2023 study by The Commonwealth Fund, “Scorecard on State Health System Performance, Rhode Island ranked Number Four. Among the featured performance indicators, there were 232 premature avoidable deaths per 100,000 population, and 133 potentially avoidable visits age 65 and older, per 1,000 Medicare beneficiaries.

The problem, however, according to one source, is that “the more you mush together scales related to different dimensions of measuring quality, the less they mean.”

For instance, how was the quality of health care in Rhode Island impacted in January of 2025 when Emergency Rooms were overwhelmed by a dramatic increase in influenza cases, as patients were backed up waiting in hospital corridors, because no rooms were available?

And, how has the continued fallout from the bankruptcy of Steward Health Care changed the ability of primary care practices to meet the increased demand for services?

Further, how have the increases in pharmaceutical prices impacted the bottom line of health insurance companies?

Is there a hidden agenda?    
Top Rhode Island state officials, including EOHHS Director Richard Charest, have apparently convened meetings with key community agency leaders to talk about how best to shape a response to the current financial crisis gripping the health care delivery system in Rhode Island, several sources told ConvergenceRI last week. Those meetings are occurring at the same time that state officials, through the apparently convenient “mouthpiece” for Gov. Dan McKee, WPRO radio, have been promoting the latest WalletHub study and the number-two ranking of Rhode Island.

With the Trump administration in continuing disarray about its future health care policies, news reporters in Rhode Island have been aggressively detailing the political war chests of potential candidates for Governor in 2026, including Gov. Dan McKee, Helena Foulkes, and current House Speaker Joseph Shekarchi, as a way to read the political tea leaves. Perhaps it might make sense to focus an equal amount of reporting attention to the bottom line of Brown University Health, Care New England, South County Health, and the restructured former CharterCare hospitals. Stay tuned.