Rehabilitation Hospital of RI may change ownership
NORTH SMITHFIELD – The Rhode Department of Health this week started review of a change in effective control application for the Rehabilitation Hospital of Rhode Island at 116 Eddie Dowling Highway effective Aug. 24.
The review will consider the replacement of Kindred Healthcare, LLC, in the current ownership partnership with Landmark Medical Center’s parent Prime Healthcare with LifePoint Rehab, LLC, a newly created subsidiary of LifePoint Health Inc. of Brentwood, Tenn.
LifePoint merged with Kindred Healthcare in 2021 as part of a restructuring of the healthcare companies that created Kindred Rehabilitation Services (KRS) as a business unit of LifePoint Health according to the company’s website.
Kindred had joined Prime Healthcare in creation of Rhode Island Rehabilitation Hospital LLC in February of 2020, with Kindred owning 60 percent of the rehab facility operation and Landmark-Prime, 40 percent, according to the R.I. Department of Health.
The current operations of Rehabilitation Hospital of R.I. provide specialized treatment programs for patients recovering from stroke, brain injury, neurological conditions, trauma, spinal cord injury, amputation and orthopedic injuries along with a number of other illnesses, according to the facility’s web postings.
Patients received a minimum of three hours of rehabilitative therapy a day, five days a week under a care program featuring specialized therapy with rehab-trained nursing care,
rehabilitation physician participation and disease management tailored to the patient’s needs.
Rehabilitation Hospital of Rhode Island, the former Fogarty Hospital at 116 Eddie Dowling Highway, opened as a subsidiary of Landmark in 1994 and is currently licensed by the Department of Health to operate with 82 rehabilitation beds.
The review announcement notes Prime Healthcare Services-Landmark, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, operates Landmark Medical Center, an acute care hospital in Woonsocket (“Landmark”), and co-manages RHRI.
The submitted application notes that in addition to Landmark and RHRI, Prime-Landmark also operates Rhode Island Department of Health licensed facilities at the following locations in Rhode Island:
186 Cass Avenue, Woonsocket (The Heart Center)
116 Eddie Dowling Highway, North Smithfield, Rhode Island (Oncology Practice);
400 Putnam Pike, Smithfield, (Laboratory & Radiology)
2130 Mendon Road, Cumberland, (Laboratory & Radiology & Primary Care)
and, 166 Cass Ave., Woonsocket, (Wound Care).
Prior to LifePoint’s acquisition of Kindred, the LifePoint network consisted of over 100 hospitals and other healthcare providers, employing over 60,000 people, and generating over $8 billion in annual revenues, according to the application.
LifePoint Rehab, LLC, is a newly-created Delaware limited liability company intended to hold LifePoint’s equity in the various inpatient rehabilitation facilities it acquired from Kindred and its subsidiaries.
Kindred owned KND IRF Development 44, LLC, which holds the company’s 60 percent stake in Rhode Island Rehabilitation Hospital, LLC, according to the application.
As a result of the transaction, the direct ownership of Rhode Island Rehabilitation Hospital, LLC, will not change, according to the application.
“Prime-Landmark will continue to own 40 percent of RHRI and KND IRF will continue to hold the remaining 60 percent just as before the Transaction and Reorganization,” the application states.
The application also notes that Rehabilitation Hospital of Rhode Island is accredited by the Joint Commission and will maintain that accreditation after the transaction under review.
The Department of Health will have a period of 90 days to complete the review by the Office of Health Systems Development with hearings before the Health Services Council for a recommendation and the rendering of a decision by the Director of the Department of Health under the state’s Hospital Conversion Act.
Landmark did not have an immediate response to a query about the proposed change in ownership for its partnership in Rehabilitation Hospital of RI.