United Nurses and Allied Professionals, which represents almost 1,000 workers at CharterCare Health Partners, announced Monday its opposition to the Centurion Foundation’s proposed purchase of CharterCARE.
In a statement, UNAP called on Attorney General Peter Neronha and the Rhode Island Department of Health to reject the Atlanta-based nonprofit foundation’s attempt to acquire CharterCARE.
“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,” said 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.”
CharterCARE, currently owned by California-based Prospect Medical Holdings, operates two safety-net hospitals, Roger Williams Medical Center in Providence and Our Lady of Fatima Hospital in North Providence, and Prospect Home Health and Hospice.
Prospect faces a lawsuit from Neronha for allegedly violating a 2021 agreement, and the attorney general has expressed growing concern about the future of Roger Williams and Fatima.
Centurion’s application to buy CharterCARE was deemed complete in December.
But Callaci said the Centurion Foundation is “not bringing any capital to the table.” He said the foundation plans to require the two community hospitals to borrow more than $133 million to stay afloat.
Since the hospitals continue to operate at a loss, Callaci said, there were be no revenue to pay back the debt. “The closer we look, the worse this application gets,” he said.
Otis Brown, a spokesman for CharterCARE and Centurion, said Centurion was disappointed by UNAP’s opposition.
“We want to be very clear. Centurion’s proposal provides the best path to economic and workforce stability for CharterCARE,” Brown said. “In fact, the Centurion acquisition will recapitalize CharterCARE and, ironically, provide the financial wherewithal for CharterCARE to offer our union employees, all employees, fair and market competitive compensation, which our present financial conditions prevent. This model will also return jobs to Rhode Island that have been handled by a regional and corporate office.”
In response to some of the concerns cited by UNAP, Brown said Centurion is a financing company, not a hospital operator, and that its role is to stabilize and recapitalize CharterCARE.
Public hearings on Centurion’s proposed purchase are scheduled for March 19 and 26. A decision on the deal is due in June.
UNAP said it is launching a public information campaign, consisting of radio and print ads, direct mail and digital and social media, to share its concerns about Centurion’s effort to acquire CharterCARE.
Prospect was initially seen as a savior when it acquired CharterCARE in 2014. Over time, the company was criticized for steering hundreds of millions of dollars in dividends from its national network of hospitals to senior executives and degrading its hospitals.
This story has been updated.