WOONSOCKET—Superior Court Judge Michael Silverstein approved a request presented to the court today by Landmark Medical Center’s Special Master, Jonathan Savage, to enter into exclusive merger negotiations with Caritas Christi Health Care headquartered in Boston.
The request to enter into negotiations with Caritas Christi was agreed to by Dr. Gifford, director of the Rhode Island Department of Health as well as Attorney General Patrick Lynch at the Department of Attorney General.
The decision allows Landmark Medical Center and Caritas Christi Health Care to begin a formal process to develop and outline the nature of the relationship between the two health care entities going forward.
“Any development with the potential to return stability to Landmark Hospital is good news for the people of northern Rhode Island, especially for those who rely on Landmark for access to acute health care services,” said R. Otis Brown, Vice President of St. Joseph Health Services of RI.
Savage together with Richard R. Charest, president of Landmark, and Ralph de la Torre, MD, president and CEO of Caritas Christi attended the court proceeding on September 24.
“I am extremely pleased the judge has granted our request and I look forward to working with the management team at Caritas to forge an agreement that will protect the long-term operations of Landmark,” said Savage. “A potential partnership with Caritas would ensure Landmark continues to provide the same high-quality hospital care, as it always has to the people of northern Rhode Island.”
“We entered into the court-supervised process last year expressly to protect Landmark’s assets and to extend our operations until we could successfully identify and negotiate with a strategic alliance partner,” said Charest. “This is a great day for Landmark, its employees, the Greater Woonsocket community, and most importantly, the patients who utilize the critical services we offer on a daily basis,” he added.
Landmark will remain under the court-supervised special mastership process while the negotiations are ongoing. “As we well know, Caritas and Landmark have a great deal of work ahead of them,” said Brown. “Assuming they can reach agreement, we wish the parties well as they seek to demonstrate to the appropriate regulatory establishment that such a merger will benefit the Rhode Island health care system.”
