End debacles like Roger Williams and Our Lady of Fatima Hospitals

Kathy Fogarty and Linda Ujifusa introduce bills to pushback on private equity hospital take-overs

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Sen. Linda Ujifusa and Rep. Kathleen A. Fogarty have filed two companion bills to protect Rhode Island’s health care system from abuses associated with private equity ownership and the corporate practice of medicine (CPOM).

The legislation is based on model legislation developed by the National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP), informed by analyses conducted by researchers at the Center for Advancing Health Policy through Research (CAHPR) at the Brown University School of Public Health. The bills would strengthen transparency, oversight and accountability for corporate actors operating within Rhode Island’s health care system.

The first bill (2026-S 2492, 2026-H 7720) addresses private equity ownership in health care, in which financial firms acquire or exert control over hospitals and medical practices in ways that prioritize short-term financial returns over long-term patient care and workforce stability. National research has linked private equity ownership to hospital closures, reduced access to care, and deteriorating working conditions for health care staff. 

Rhode Islanders have seen the consequences of corporate financial decisions affecting care delivery at facilities such as Our Lady of Fatima Hospital and Roger Williams Medical Center, as well as the growing financial pressures facing community-based providers such as South County Hospital.

The second bill (2026-S 2459, 2026-H 7721) addresses the corporate practice of medicine, including corporate rollups that consolidate independent medical practices under centralized corporate ownership or management. These arrangements allow non-clinical entities to influence medical decision-making without being subject to the same professional, ethical or public accountability standards as licensed health care providers. 

CPOM structures weaken clinical independence, obscure responsibility for patient outcomes and allow corporate owners to profit from health care delivery while avoiding accountability for harms affecting patients, workers and communities.

“This legislation strengthens transparency, oversight and accountability for private corporate actors that can currently extract profits from Rhode Island health care providers with little public scrutiny, often at the expense of patients, health care workers, and community stability,” said Representative Fogarty (D-Dist. 35, South Kingstown).

Senator Ujifusa (D-Dist. 11, Portsmouth, Bristol) added, “Private corporate control of health care can distort clinical decision-making, force staffing and service cuts, and divert resources away from patient care and into shareholder pockets. When profit comes before patients, people get hurt and lives are put at risk.”