The fiscal year 2027 state budget approved by the House of Representatives on Friday includes proposals from Rep. Lauren H. Carson to provide $1.6 million for Newport Hospital’s Noreen Stonor Drexel Birthing Center and to make it harder to close any birthing center in the state.
Carson proposed the funding in response to Brown University Health’s assertion that it needs $4.9 million to keep the birthing center open. Carson, a member of the Coalition for Newport Hospital Birthing Center, countered with a plan to split that cost three ways, with the state, Brown Health and philanthropy each contributing $1.6 million.
The budget bill, which is expected to come before the Senate on Tuesday, was also amended to include separate legislation Carson proposed earlier in the session establishing a “reverse certificate of need” requirement. That measure would prohibit the closure or significant reduction of services at any birthing center without notice, an application, financial disclosure, a public hearing and approval by the state Department of Health.
“I’m very grateful to my colleagues in the House, particularly House Speaker Christopher Blazejewski, for defending women, children and families on Aquidneck Island and the region by including these protections for the Noreen Stonor Drexel Birthing Center in the state budget,” said Carson, a Newport Democrat. She said Brown Health should also be pleased, noting the budget provides funding the system had said it needed, along with increased Medicaid rates and more for uncompensated care.
“The coalition looks forward to working with the hospital. We want it to succeed, and we are committed to ensuring that our birthing center becomes a state-of-the-art facility that provides the best of care to support healthy outcomes for babies and moms in our community and beyond,” she said.
