Prospect agrees to sell Roger Williams, Fatima hospitals to nonprofit

The California company that owns Fatima Hospital and Roger Williams Medical Center has agreed to sell them to an Atlanta-based nonprofit, the two groups announced Tuesday.

Under the agreement, The Centurion Foundation would acquire from Prospect Medical Holdings the CharterCARE Health Partners system – which, in addition to Roger Williams in Providence and Fatima in North Providence, includes Blackstone Valley Surgicare in Johnston, CharterCARE Medical Associates in Providence, CharterCARE Home Health Services in Providence, Roger Williams Cancer Center in Providence, Southern New England Rehabilitation Center in North Providence and St. Joseph Health & Dental Center in Providence.

The deal is subject to approval by the Rhode Island Department of Health and the state attorney general's office, which is often more than a formality.

In April, Prospect's majority owner, a private equity firm named Leonard Green, abandoned plans to exit the company under pressure from Attorney General Peter Neronha.

Hours after Prospect took out its Leonard Green application, Neronha accused the group of greed and looking to "walk away with $12 million more in its pockets and absolved of billions of dollars in debt."

Financial terms of the deal between Prospect and Centurion were not disclosed.

Under the proposed deal with Centurion, Prospect would continue to own its independent physician association Prospect Provider Group and Prospect Health Services of Rhode Island.

CharterCare Health Partners has more than 2,500 employees, according to a news release announcing the agreement. If the deal goes through it "will become a nonprofit health system seeking to increase access and lower the cost of health care services for the local community."

"Centurion of Rhode Island will maintain local leadership and will have a board of directors that includes local community leaders in the health care field," the release said.

QHR Health of Tennessee will "assist in the transition process" and act as a consultant to the new owners, Centurion said.

The United Nurses and Allied Professionals union said in a news release it would will "be intimately involved in this transaction."

"Prospect Medical Holdings came in and tried to suck every last nickel out of our hospitals in the interest of making a bigger profit for shareholders," the union said. "Our health care workers, patients and community members deserve better than that, and as a union we will do everything in our power to make sure that doesn't happen.”

Senate President Dominick Ruggerio, whose North Providence district includes Fatima, said the deal would undergo a "rigorous regulatory review" process.

"I have been very vocal about my concerns related to Chartercare, many of which are directly related to Prospect Medical Holding’s status as a for-profit entity," Ruggerio said in an email.

"Upon the parties’ filing of the required application for approval with this office, our review will be comprehensive and far-reaching, and approval will be granted only if the proposed transaction meets all of the criteria of the Hospital Conversions Act and, ultimately, is in the best interests of Rhode Islanders," Neronha spokesman Brian Hodge wrote about the deal.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Prospect agrees to sell Roger Williams, Fatima hospitals to nonprofit