{"id":371663,"date":"2025-11-11T13:57:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T13:57:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/371663\/"},"modified":"2025-11-11T13:57:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T13:57:14","slug":"in-twist-nurses-union-blasts-state-interference-on-chartercare-sale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/371663\/","title":{"rendered":"In Twist, Nurses Union Blasts State \u201cInterference\u201d on CharterCARE Sale"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tuesday, November 11, 2025<\/p>\n

GoLocalProv News Team<\/p>\n

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Roger Williams Hospital PHOTO: File<\/p>\n

The United Nurses and Allied Professionals (UNAP) has scheduled a press conference for Tuesday, Veterans\u2019 Day, \u201cdemanding the State stop interfering in the Centurion deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Centurion, the Georgia-based company, has been trying to buy the bankrupt CharterCARE hospitals for more than three years.<\/p>\n

Now, the proverbial clock is on the field as CharterCARE’s parent company, Prospect Medical Holdings, has filed with the federal bankruptcy judge to close the hospitals.\u00a0 Last week, the court gave the parties 60 days to close a deal, or the hospitals will be closed.<\/a><\/p>\n

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Deal in Focus<\/strong><\/p>\n

UNAP has flip-flopped on this proposed sale a number of times. The union, which claims to represent around 1,000 employees at Our Lady of Fatima Hospital, Roger Williams Medical Center, and Prospect Home Health and Hospice, will hold a press conference calling on state leaders to \u201cstop interfering with the Centurion deal, and keep the focus on closing the deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

The union specifically will call on Governor McKee and Secretary of Health and Human Services Richard Charest, a former CEO of Prime-owned Landmark Medical Center, to stop unlawfully interfering with the Centurion deal.<\/p>\n

According to UNAP, “Prime has recently sent email communications that include quotes from Secretary Charest \u2013 quotes that intentionally mislead the public about Prime\u2019s record.”<\/p>\n

Prime recently entered the sweepstakes to buy the hospitals. READ GOLOCAL’S EXAMINATION OF PRIME’S RECORD<\/a><\/p>\n

The Centurion deal, however, has failed to close.<\/p>\n

Last February, when Chief Judge Stacey Jernigan of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas\u00a0gave approval for the sale of the CharterCARE hospitals to Centurion.<\/p>\n

That deal has repeatedly stalled. The state\u2019s financing agency, RIHEBC, has tried to sell $150 million in bonds for nine months, but Wall Street has repeatedly rejected the deal.<\/p>\n

S&P has rated the bonds BB- with a negative outlook, and has raised further concerns since the passage of the federal Big Beautiful Budget bill, which is expected to reduce Medicaid payments to hospitals like Roger Williams and Fatima.<\/p>\n

While UNAP may not like the McKee administration\u2019s involvement in the deal, it is the state that needs to approve the sale of the CharterCARE hospitals. A deal would need approval from both the Rhode Island Department of Health and the Rhode Island Attorney General.<\/p>\n

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UNAP Previously Blasted the Sale to Centurion<\/strong><\/p>\n

On March 4, 2024, UNAP announced its opposition to Centurion Foundation\u2019s bid to buy the CharterCARE healthcare facilities.<\/p>\n

UNAP had urged the Department of Health and Attorney General Peter Neronha to reject Centurion\u2019s application. UNAP had approved the initial sale of CharterCARE to Prospect more than a decade ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A GoLocal report unveiled that Centurion employs just one full-time employee.<\/a><\/p>\n

The union said the proposed business model “is not credible or viable, starting with the fact that Centurion has never owned or operated a hospital or healthcare facility.”<\/p>\n

The union also noted that Centurion “will not be bringing any new capital to these facilities, at a time when that\u2019s what is needed most.”<\/p>\n

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Chris Callaci of UNAP PHOTO: GoLocal<\/p>\n

UNAP on Record<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe took a good hard look at the application when it was made public, and it didn\u2019t take long to find a business model that is simply not credible or viable,\u201d stated UNAP General Counsel Chris Callaci. \u201cThere are a number of significant issues in Centurion\u2019s 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. They are not bringing any capital to the table and plan to saddle our community hospitals with more than $133 million in debt \u2013 money they aren\u2019t on the hook to pay back. The closer we look, the worse this application gets.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

UNAP cited a number of major concerns within Centurion\u2019s application, including the following claims:<\/p>\n

“Centurion doesn\u2019t own or operate any hospitals and doesn\u2019t know how to. Centurion knows that CharterCARE (Roger Williams Medical Center, Fatima Hospital and Prospect Home Health and Hospice) continues to lose money, which is unsustainable. But Centurion is not going to make any financial commitments to CharterCARE facilities.<\/p>\n

Centurion is not putting up any of their own money in this sale. Instead, they expect these community hospitals and healthcare facilities to borrow more than $133 million to stay afloat. Centurion is not on the hook to pay this money back. CharterCARE facilities will have to pay it back with money they don\u2019t have. Since these hospitals operate at a loss, there are no revenues to pay this debt down.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to Centurion, these community hospitals and healthcare facilities are supposed to survive by finding cost-savings and new revenue, which they haven\u2019t been able to do for decades now.<\/p>\n

At the same time that Centurion refuses to invest any money in these healthcare facilities, they insist on making CharterCARE\u2019s hospitals and facilities pay them numerous fees and charges. Worse, Centurion refuses to tell us what the fees and charges are for, or how much they will be.”<\/p>\n

Callaci continued, \u201cWe are going to do all we can to secure the future of CharterCARE. But having an out-of-state corporation from Georgia come to Rhode Island to take advantage of us is not the answer. This company wants to make us borrow a ton of money we can\u2019t pay back. This doesn\u2019t get us anywhere. In fact, it makes our financial situation much worse than it already is.\u201d<\/p>\n

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