Media Release

For: Immediate Release
Date: March 27, 2008

HEALTH and AG Receive Rhode Island’s First Hospital Conversions Application: RehabCare Hospital Holdings and Northern Rhode Island Rehab Management Associates to Convert Ownership of Landmark’s Rehab Hospital

The Department of Health (HEALTH) and the Department of the Attorney General (AG) announced today that RehabCare Hospital Holdings, LLC, and Northern Rhode Island Rehab Management Associates, LP, RHRI, LLC, submitted a Hospital Conversions Application. The application is for a sale of the ownership of Landmark’s Rehabilitation Hospital of Rhode Island located in North Smithfield. This is the first application for a hospital conversion that has come to both HEALTH and the AG. An electronic copy of the application can be viewed at the Health Department’s web site at www.health.ri.gov/merger/application-rehabcare.php or the Attorney General website www.riag.ri.gov.

Within 30 days, HEALTH and the AG will work together to determine whether the application is complete. The applicants will be given 30 days to correct any deficiencies with the application. There is a final ten-day period for HEALTH and the AG to accept the application as complete or reject it.

“We will be looking at the application to ensure that such a sale will be beneficial to Rhode Islanders,” said Director of Health, David R. Gifford, MD, MPH. “Specifically, the Health Department is interested in how this new entity will help meet Rhode Island’s rehab needs, address issues of charity care and specialty care, and utilize health information technology.”

“Pursuant to our responsibilities under the revised Hospital Conversions Act, we have been working with the applicants to ensure a smooth and thorough review of the sale of the Rehabilitation Hospital of Rhode Island,” said Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch. “We are pleased to be able to provide the public with access to the initial application through the Internet, allowing more people to review the application and provide comments about the sale.  I will be paying particular attention to how the new entity will continue the unique mission of the Rehabilitation Hospital of Rhode Island, providing important rehabilitation services to the citizens of Rhode Island.”

Once the application is deemed complete, the review process begins and must be completed within 180 days. The AG and HEALTH will hold at least one public informational meeting during the review process, as public input will be very important given that the sale involves an out of state for-profit entity buying an in-state hospital. The public will be notified of the date(s) of public meeting(s), and the written comment period.

If this application is approved, the newly created Rehabilitation Hospital Center will operate as a for-profit limited-liability company, which will be owned 20% by Landmark Medical Center and 80% by RehabCare Hospital Holdings, LLC, of Saint Louis, Missouri. 

The Rehabilitation Hospital of Rhode Island provides acute inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation services including speech, occupational, and physical therapies and outpatient workers' rehabilitation services.