AG to Mayor: Direct Plea for Action on Sale at Landmark, Prime Healthcare

A day after Mayor Leo Fontaine wrote Gov. Lincoln Chafee seeking his influence in thawing Prime Healthcare's frozen purchase of Landmark Medical Center, the AG's office said he's asking the wrong person.

Both regulators (AG Peter Kilmartin's office and the Dept. of Health) of the sale of Landmark to Prime Healthcare suspended the application process in late March to give the parties time to complete the application, which had lingered incomplete for months past the deadline.

"...Mayor Fontaine must be aware that the Office of the Governor has no oversight, formal or otherwise, over the Office of Attorney General and the critical role the office plays in the regulatory review of hospital conversions," reads a statement sent Thursday from Kilmartin's office.  

"The reason that my effort was directed to the Governor is that he was the one who actually came to the city to tour the hospital and made the specific point that he would do all he could to help the process along," Fontaine said when asked about the AG's response, "I believe that he is in the perfect position to be able to bring all the parties together at the state level to ensure that every possible opportunity is being taken to assist in bringing the sale of the hospital to a successful conclusion. That includes bringing in representatives from Prime as well if necessary," Fontaine said.  

"Unfortunately, the Mayor has been conspicuously silent on this transaction for months.  Political expediency by him will not short circuit the common law and statutory duties of the regulators," the AG's statement continues. 

Fontaine did not directly respond to that criticism, but he did note the steps he has taken to aid the purchase process with Sen. Roger Picard (D-Dist. 20). "We have testified at the hearing level, been present during court proceedings, and worked with Congressman’s Cicilline’s office when he made a similar call for action when there was a previous delay.  We have also met and offered assistance to each of the proposed buyers and have also met with both management and employee representatives from Landmark throughout this process," Fontaine wrote.

"In the end, it is the long-term health of the hospital and its ability to provide quality care to Mayor Fontaine’s constituents and those of the region that we are most concerned about," The AG's statement continues, "Mayor Fontaine should be calling on the Prime and the Special Master to completely answer all of the questions necessary in an effort to ensure the process moves forward.  We have afforded the transacting parties every opportunity, and continue to do so, to complete the necessary disclosure for the regulators to move forward with the process."  

Amy Kempe, public information officer for Kilmartin's office, said every hospital conversion act application is a unique process. She said in the case of Westerly Hospital's sale to Lawrence Memorial Hospital of New London, CT, the process was started after Landmark and Prime's, and is now finished.

The merger of Memorial Hospital of RI, in Pawtucket and  Care New England hospital group in Providence, Kempe said, also started after the Landmark-Prime application, was recently approved by the Health Department and will likely be approved by the AG in July. 

Key differences between those and Landmark's sale to Prime, Kempe said, include the fact that Westerly Hospital and LMH were both non-profits. In the case of Memorial and Care New England, it was not technically a sale, but an affiliation change that still required a Hospital Conversion Act application.

In comparison, Kempe said, Prime is a for-profit hospital group seeking to buy a non-profit hospital. The application has to be complete, she said, to ensure the quality of patient care, an accounting of the hospital's charitable assets and the economic health of Landmark under Prime's stewardship. "Its a very comprehensive process," she said.

Recently, Kempe said, Prime Healthcare and Landmark provided more information that the AG's office and the Health Department are reviewing to ensure it meets the application's requirements. She could not offer an estimate on how long the assessment of the new information would take. 

"I appreciate the Attorney General’s commitment to the process and look forward to all parties coming together to ensure that Landmark and the people of or area can count on their service as they have for well over a hundred years," Fontaine said.