Brown Health wants state aid for Newport Hospital birthing center. Lawmakers want answers first.

by Nancy Lavin, Rhode Island Current
May 5, 2026

Brown University Health made a hazy promise to keep Newport Hospital’s birthing center open if it can secure an extra $4.9 million in state and philanthropic aid. But lawmakers aren’t ready to deliver any taxpayer money without assurances.

“We don’t just take what somebody puts on a piece of paper and say, ‘Let’s go figure it out from there,’’’ Sen. Lou DiPalma said.

Newport Hospital birthing center supporters swarm RI State House to demand policy protections

DiPalma, a Middletown Democrat and head of the Senate Committee on Finance, has asked hospital executives to explain the situation to the legislative panel at its meeting on Thursday. The scheduled presentation comes more than a month after Brown Health announced it would keep the 10-suite birthing center open with the help of not-yet-solidified state aid and philanthropic support. 

Community residents, activists and officials were cautiously optimistic after Brown Health’s April 3 announcement, which reversed prior warnings that the landmark labor and delivery unit might close under financial pressure. But, they remained worried about how the projected funding gap would be filled, and the long-term future of Aquidneck Island’s only labor and delivery unit. 

Nicole Searles, a spokesperson for Newport Hospital, has declined to provide a copy of the consultant report that informed the conclusions on the birthing center, citing confidentiality. A community advisory panel set up by the hospital last fall to review birthing center operations has continued to meet — most recently on April 28. The 12 members also signed confidentiality agreements limiting what they can share with the community, and their meetings are not open to the public.

“I still don’t know how the number was arrived at,” Cassie Voll, co-founder of Moms over Margins and a leader of the Coalition for Newport Hospital Birthing Center, said of the $4.9 million funding gap. “We haven’t heard anything since the announcement.” 

Brown Health has not submitted a formal funding request to the Rhode Island General Assembly as of Tuesday, Larry Berman, a spokesperson for House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi, said in an email.

DiPalma acknowledged that some information may have to remain confidential, but said the hospital needs to share more details about existing and forecasted finances and operations if it wants state funds.

Shared pain 

A rise in un- and underinsured patients, combined with new caps on pass-through federal funding from states to hospitals that treat Medicaid patients, are expected to hurt health care operators across the state and nation. Women & Infants Hospital and South County Hospital exceed Newport Hospital in births, with the former responsible for delivering over 80% of babies in the state each year.

Recognizing the existing formula-driven methods through which the state reimburses hospitals for Medicaid patient services, DiPalma warned against a “whack-a-mole” funding approach that singles out one facility.

“If I’m Care New England, I’d be knocking at the door and saying ‘what are you doing for me?’” DiPalma said, referring to the other major hospital operator in Rhode Island. “This is really an issue of reimbursement rates and how do we help all our facilities on this?”

But Newport birthing center advocates, including workers at other hospitals, say the unit’s closure would add pressure across the strained healthcare system.

That same logic spurred lawmakers to authorize an $18 million state reserve to help the new owners of Roger Williams Medical Center and Our Lady of Fatima Hospital secure the investor financing needed to close the sale. 

“The reality is that hospitals across Rhode Island are operating under significant fiscal pressure that jeopardizes hospitals’ financial stability and services,” Lisa Tomasso, senior vice president for the Hospital Association of Rhode Island, said in an emailed response Tuesday. “HARI remains committed to working with the General Assembly to address these structural issues to preserve access to care and protect patients.”

A spokesperson for Care New England did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday. 

The Rhode Island Office of the Health Insurance Commissioner is currently reviewing the state’s primary care provider reimbursement rates, with recommendations due Sept. 1 — too late for the fiscal 2027 budget, but they could be incorporated into the fiscal 2028 spending plan.

A three-way split 

Across the rotunda, Rep. Lauren Carson, a Newport Democrat, is also seeking details as part of legislation introduced on April 29. Her bill establishes a $4.9 million fund for the birthing center for fiscal 2027, with three, equal $1.3 million contributions from state general revenue, philanthropy and Brown Health. In order to receive money through the state health department-controlled account, Brown Health would have to submit quarterly financial reports and a longer, one-year breakdown of the use and impact of the funding.  It would also have to commit to keeping operations at current levels — roughly 15 employees and 480 babies delivered a year, according to a report commissioned by the birthing center coalition —  while developing a long-term plan with community input for a “state-of-the-art women’s and maternal health care facility.”

Carson emphasized the reporting and operational conditions, rather than the dollar figure, as the most important piece of her proposition.

“We don’t want to go down this path and six months from now, be in the same position,” she said. “We need strings attached.”

Voll also praised the inclusion of financial contributions from Brown Health as a way to ensure fiscal responsibility.

Searles did not comment directly on the proposed use of hospital funding for the birthing center, as outlined in Carson’s bill. The hospital operator previously suggested a combination of philanthropy and state revenue for the birthing center, but did not volunteer to spend any of its own money to fill the funding shortfall.

“We appreciate Representative Carson’s partnership on issues affecting Newport Hospital and the broader community, and share her commitment to maintaining high-quality, accessible care for Newport County residents,” Searles said in an emailed response Tuesday.  “We are working with elected officials to raise Medicaid rates to protect the Newport Hospital Birthing Center and other services.  Without adequate Medicaid reimbursement rates, sustaining access to high-quality care becomes increasingly difficult. Stable, sufficient reimbursement is what allows hospitals to meet community needs – not just today, but for the long term.”

However, Carson said the $1.3 million contribution from the hospital operator was “not a lot of money.”

Brown Health posted a $17.6 million loss in the first quarter of its new fiscal year, which ended Dec. 31, dragged down by poor performance at its Massachusetts hospitals. Company executives also forecast $100 million to $200 million in net annual operating losses under restricted Medicaid eligibility and federal funding cuts from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Gov. Dan McKee’s fiscal 2027 budget proposal includes $441 million for hospitals, of which $147 million would come from state revenue. The breakdown of money to each hospital has not been determined, but is set by federal formulas based on the mix of Medicaid, Medicare and commercial patients. 

Carson said she thought the $1.3 million in state revenue for the birthing center could be sectioned off from the existing allocation to Brown Health within McKee’s budget proposal.

Shekarchi declined to comment on Carson’s hospital funding bill, awaiting a legislative hearing on the proposal, which has not been scheduled as of Tuesday. A Senate companion has not been introduced. 

Rhode Island Current is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Rhode Island Current maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Janine L. Weisman for questions: info@rhodeislandcurrent.com.