Partners, Care New England add Lifespan to talks

Providence, R.I.-based Lifespan has joined neighboring system Care New England in proposed merger talks with Boston’s Partners HealthCare.

The announcement added a new wrinkle to the potential deal as Partners, the largest healthcare provider in Massachusetts, looks to expand its reach into Rhode Island. The news came about a month after Brown University and California-based hospital company Prospect Medical Holdings intervened by pitching an unsolicited proposal to acquire Care New England if the talks with Partners fall through.

Care New England and Partners approached Lifespan— the owner of three hospitals including the state’s largest, Rhode Island Hospital—to combine the resources of the “like-minded” organizations to create a “national model that fully leverages the integration and coordination of care,” the organizations said in a joint statement that offered minimal detail. Together, they said, the combined entity could meet market challenges and mandates to improve outcomes and lower costs.

Brown and Prospect had previously argued that Rhode Island would suffer if the Partners and Care New England deal went through. Specialty care would shift to Massachusetts, reducing access for Rhode Island consumers and increasing the cost of care.

Brown University President Christina Paxson said in a statement that the university has advocated for this kind of in-state dialogue for years to create an integrated academic medical center. But “a business relationship between Partners and Lifespan that further consolidates market power could have additional adverse effects on Rhode Islanders.”