Rhode Island
Prospect files for bankruptcy, leaving its hospitals in R.I. and Conn. in limbo – The Boston Globe
“By engaging with stakeholders and implementing the Hospital Transactions, Prospect Holdings is prioritizing its core strength — focusing on operating community hospitals in California, providing vital care to underserved communities, and promoting patient and physician continuity — while ensuring these hospitals outside of California continue operations with proper financial support,” said Prospect in a press release around 11 p.m. on Saturday.
“Throughout the chapter 11 process, Prospect Holdings’ hospitals, medical centers, and physicians’ offices will remain open, and patient care and services will continue uninterrupted,” Prospect said in the press release.
According to the filing, Prospect named Paul Rundell, the managing director of Alvarez & Marsal’s North American Commercial Restructuring practice, as chief restructuring officer, managing the company’s bankruptcy process. It said Prospect had more than 100,000 creditors. It listed the company’s liabilities as between $1 billion and $10 billion, and its assets in the same range.
Prospect has owned Roger Williams Medical Center and Our Lady of Fatima for more than a decade. Both hospitals care for some of the state’s most vulnerable patients, including many covered by public insurance. Investigators last summer found decaying conditions, such as bedbug infestations, cockroaches, mice, and other problems that put patients at “immediate” risk. In Connecticut, Prospect operates Rockville General Hospital, Manchester Memorial Hospital, and Waterbury Hospital.
Prospect, which also owns hospitals in Pennsylvania, has struggled financially for years.
Since late 2022, they have been trying to sell their two Rhode Island hospitals, and in June 2024 Rhode Island state regulators approved the terms of a deal to sell them to The Centurion Foundation, a Georgia-based nonprofit. Their approval came with dozens of conditions set by the health department and Rhode Island Attorney General Peter F. Neronha’s office, which virtually guarantees that Prospect would not make a profit on the deal if the transaction goes through.
Ben Mingle, the president of The Centurion Foundation, said he remains “fully committed” to acquire Prospect’s two Rhode Island-based hospitals. “This latest development in no way diminishes our interest or enthusiasm,” Mingle told the Globe in a statement.
Neronha’s approval of the aquisition came after almost two years of deliberations between the parties, and working with regulators.
“We will work closely with all parties, including through the bankruptcy process, to advance the sale as quickly as possible,” said Mingle. “It is our hope that the court will recognize that after over eighteen months of formal review by the Rhode Island Department of Health and Rhode Island Attorney General, we have achieved full regulatory approval to secure these safety net hospitals, their 2,700 employees, and the critical role they play serving thousands of Rhode Islanders.
Regulators in several states, including in Rhode Island, have been putting pressure on Prospect over its troubled finances and deteriorating conditions at its facilities.
Neronha said he expects hearings for the Chapter 11 case to begin this week.
“If so, we’ll be there to protect Roger Williams and Fatima hospitals, workers, and patients,” he said. “Expect hospitals to continue as normal as Prospect attempts to effectuate sale to Centurion. We’ll continue to closely monitor.”
Prospect owes millions in back taxes, unpaid bills to vendors, and rent payments to landlord Medical Properties Trust, a national, publicly traded health care real estate investment trust. In its press release on Sunday, Prospect stated it would “pay vendors in full under normal terms for goods and services provided after the filing date.”
The fate of the thousands of patients and nearly 3,000 employees in Rhode Island will be determined by a process in which Prospect’s secured creditors will hold an interest in the system as collateral.
Prospect also has tried to sell its three hospitals in Connecticut to Yale New Haven Health. That transaction stalled after Yale New Haven Health filed litigation seeking to back out of its purchase agreement, citing decaying conditions at the hospitals. In a statement on Sunday, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont said his administration will “continue to hold Prospect accountable.”
“Our number one priority remains maintaining safety and quality of care at Prospect’s three Connecticut hospitals. We currently have an independent monitor overseeing operations at Waterbury Hospital and will increase oversight at Manchester Hospital,” said Lamont. “We will continue to work to evaluate opportunities to transfer these institutions to a new operator.”
Prospect, which was previously owned by a private equity firm, has long been controlled by wealthy financiers Samuel Lee, who now serves as the company’s board chairman, and David Topper, Prospect’s co-chief executive officer. In a statement on Sunday, Prospect’s other co-chief executive officer, Van Crockett, said filing for bankruptcy was “an important step forward” to best serve the company’s patients and employees, and that the company would be “better positioned to prioritize and execute its core strengths.”
“Divesting our operations outside of California will ensure that they receive necessary financial support so that the communities that rely on those facilities will maintain continued access to highly coordinated, personalized, and critical healthcare services long into the future,” said Crockett in the statement. “Through this process, Prospect Holdings will regain its financial footing as we rededicate ourselves to our original mission of serving the community.”
PHP Holdings, LLC and its related subsidiaries, including Prospect Health Plan, Inc., Prospect Medical Systems, LLC and its affiliated medical groups in California, Arizona, and Texas, Gateway Medical Center, and Foothill Regional Medical Center, are not parties to the chapter 11 proceedings.
Prospect executives are still finalizing necessary funding for the duration of the chapter 11 process, according to a company press release.
Neronha said Sunday morning that his office will have attorneys in Texas to represent the interests of Rhode Islanders.
“This is personal to me, as I know it is to Rhode Island residents. I have a couple of physicians in my family who regularly relay to me the challenges of providing quality care in the current healthcare landscape,” said Neronha in a statement. “And I’m certainly well aware of the struggles of our failing system here in Rhode Island.
“This is tough stuff, but it can and should serve as a catalyst for Rhode Island leadership to meet the moment and attempt to provide real solutions, not just lip service,” added Neronha.
This article has been updated to include a statement from The Centurion Foundation.
Alexa Gagosz can be reached at alexa.gagosz@globe.com. Follow her @alexagagosz and on Instagram @AlexaGagosz.
Rhode Island
Prosecutors in Rhode Island drop charge against former Bay View athletic director
Prosecutors in Rhode Island dropped a fugitive from justice charge against a former Catholic school athletic director.
John Sung was arrested in East Providence last month. He was wanted in Florida for a non-violent felony.
After his arrest, he was fired from his position at St. Mary Academy Bay View in Riverside.
Broward County court records show Sung was taken into custody last week. He posted bond.
Rhode Island
The top returning girls wrestlers? Here are 10 to watch this season
Take a look: 2025 RIIL Boys and Girls Wrestling Championships
The 2025 RIIL boys and girls wrestling championships took place Saturday, March 1 at the Providence Career & Technical Academy.
Girls wrestling took off last winter in its second year of state championships.
Exactly 50 participants, across a dozen weight classes, competed in the March extravaganza at the Providence Career and Technical Academy. Each weight class was contested, unlike the first year of the tournaments, and new title winners were crowned.
Pilgrim’s Allison Patten was named Most Outstanding Wrestler for her win at 107. The Patriots’ star also finished runner-up at the New England Championships and is among this year’s returnees. But who else should we be keeping an eye on this winter?
Here are 10 standouts who we think might shine this year.
Enjoy!
Athletes listed in alphabetical order.
Yasmin Bido, Hope
Senior
Bido snagged her first individual crown with a 16-0 decision at 152 pounds. The Blue Wave grappler also finished runner-up at 165 in Year 1 of the tournament.
Irie Byers, North Kingstown
Sophomore
Byers stormed onto the scene with a title in her first year on the mat. She captured the 120-pound championship with an 11-1 win in the finals. The Skipper returnee is one of a few wrestlers who could repeat.
Jolene Cole, Scituate
Sophomore
Cole helped Scituate to the team title in the first year that the award was handed out. Scituate is a bit of a girls wrestling factory, and Cole added to that lineage with her pin at 114 pounds.
Alei Fautua, North Providence
Sophomore
Fautua breezed to the title at 235 pounds with a pin in just 25 seconds. She led the Cougars to a runner-up finish as a team as Scituate edged the Cougars by just seven points. Fautua then finished fourth at the New England championships.
Kamie Hawkins, Exeter-West Greenwich
Junior
This year is all about redemption for Hawkins. She was one of the first state champions and came back last year looking to defend her 120-pound title. It wasn’t meant to be, but make no mistake, Hawkins is one of the state’s best.
Abigail Otte, Exeter-West Greenwich
Junior
Otte was a repeat champion at 138 pounds as she seized the title with a pin in 24 seconds. It’s likely a safe bet that Otte might capture her third crown in three years.
Allison Patten, Pilgrim
Junior
A repeat season isn’t out of the question for Patten. She won the 107 pound title with a pin in 49 seconds. What’s next for the junior? End the season with a New England title, too.
Chloe Ross, Scituate
Sophomore
It was quite the debut for Ross. The state crown was a breeze as the freshman won via pin in 1:16. But then came the New England tournament where the Spartan star snagged second place. Might there be a different ending to her season this year?
Meili Shao, La Salle
Senior
Shao was one of the first wrestling champions when she captured the 132 title two seasons ago. A repeat crown wasn’t in the cards as she finished runner-up in the class. But the Ram has returned and could be out to avenge last year’s finish.
Emily Youboty, Hope
Senior
The Blue Wave wrestler is the returning 100-pound winner after she captured the crown with a 19-3 technical fall victory in last season’s title meet.
Rhode Island
Thieves steal $470K worth of electrical wire from Rhode Island highways
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WJAR) — The Rhode Island Department of Transportation is facing a costly and dangerous problem after thieves stole roughly 11 miles of electrical wire from highways across the state, leaving long stretches of road without lighting and drivers at risk.
RIDOT spokesperson Charles St. Martin said there have been at least 16 thefts in recent weeks, mostly in Providence, but also in Cranston, Johnston and Warwick. The agency first realized something was wrong after drivers began calling to report unusually dark sections of highway.
“Right now, about 16 sites or so around the Providence Metro area down into Cranston and Warwick and Johnston that we have different lengths of highway where the lights are out,” St. Martin said in an interview with NBC10.
Cars driving on the highway with no overhead lights. (WJAR)
St. Martin says thieves accessed underground electrical systems through manholes, cutting and removing large quantities of wire.
RIDOT Director Peter Alviti, speaking on WPRO Radio with NBC10’s Gene Valicenti, said the scale of the problem is staggering and growing.
“You would not believe how many locations throughout the state that we are experiencing the theft of our underground electric cables,” Alviti said. “They’re pulling it out and then selling it for scrap to make money.”
The thefts pose serious safety risks. St. Martin said the suspects are cutting into live electrical wires leaving drivers to navigate dark highways and roads.
The cost to taxpayers is also significant. According to RIDOT, the stolen wire alone carries a material cost of about $470,000, not including labor to reinstall it.
“When you just look at the amount of wire that we are talking about that we are missing now, it is about 11 miles worth of wire,” St. Martin said. “Just the material cost about $470,000.”
RIDOT says it will likely take several weeks to fully restore lighting along impacted highways, including I-195, I-295, Route 37, Route 10 and Route 6. The agency plans to install heavier, anti-theft manhole covers in the coming months and is working with state and local police to identify those responsible.
Drivers like Perry Cornell say the outages make already challenging roads even more dangerous.
“Dangerous,” Cornell said when asked how it feels driving through dark stretches of highway. “It’s unsafe.”
Lights off on the highway. (WJAR)
Cornell said the situation raises questions about whether more could have been done to prevent the thefts.
“Why wasn’t this stopped and why wasn’t there a preventative action taken by RIDOT to stop this from continuing to happen?” he asked.
RIDOT is asking the public to remain vigilant. Anyone who sees suspicious activity near highway manholes is urged to contact local police immediately.
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