Democrats Demand Trump Administration Halt Collection of Patients’ ER Records

The Trump war on privacy expanded to emergency rooms

By Amanda Seitz, Maia Rosenfeld, and Darius Tahir

A group of Democratic lawmakers is calling for the Trump administration to suspend a new surveillance program it quietly launched to collect the personal and identifiable health data of Americans who visit emergency rooms.

KFF Health News first reported that the Consumer Product Safety Commission — a federal agency tasked with monitoring injuries from household items — was pressuring hospitals to provide a private company with personally identifiable health information for analysis. The rollout of the program has inspired broad pushback from hospitals and privacy advocates.

The CPSC’s goal is to obtain millions of Americans’ medical records from emergency rooms for most injuries, even when a consumer product is not involved, internal emails and documents reviewed by KFF Health News revealed. The agency instructed hospitals to share detailed patient information for more than 10,000 types of injuries or conditions, such as vaccine reactions, suicide attempts, or stingray stabs.

The scope of data CPSC is collecting far exceeds the agency’s mission and should be immediately suspended, Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey, who sits on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, and other House and Senate Democrats wrote in a letter to CPSC acting Chairman Peter Feldman.

Why did no one challenge this?

Trump Has Quietly Throttled an Agency Devoted to the Safety of American Healthcare

More foolish, dangerous cuts

By Arthur Allen

The Trump administration has effectively shut down most of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s activities, closing the spigot on federal funding estimated to have saved thousands of lives and billions of dollars over the past 27 years by improving medical practice.

In a July 15 letter, the small Department of Health and Human Services agency known as AHRQ told researchers it was halting at least 104 grants, many aimed at improving patient safety. Although Congress appropriated $345 million for AHRQ for this fiscal year, the agency has spent less than $15 million on grants and hasn’t issued a new one in over a year, according to a review of federal records. About 75% of agency staffers have been fired or quit since Donald Trump took office last year, according to HHS.

Trump and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have sought to slash the federal government’s investment in biomedical research, terminating grants and forcing scientists out of agencies across the health department. The gutting of AHRQ strikes some of the administration’s critics as particularly shortsighted, though, because of the agency’s noncontroversial focus on patient safety and its overall alignment with Trump and Kennedy’s “Make American Healthy Again” campaign against chronic illness.

Why your doctors keep leaving

It's more than about money, though that is a biggie

By Lesley Henton, Texas A&M University

Edited by Robert Egan

If it feels harder to keep the same doctor, you're not imagining it. Health care leaders say retirements, burnout and changing workforce expectations are making it complicated to keep experienced clinicians in place.

A new study published in the Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety suggests the reasons go beyond staffing shortages. Leaders from four major health systems in one of the nation's largest metropolitan areas say generational shifts are reshaping who enters health care, who stays and why clinicians leave.

"We've talked about clinical workforce shortages as a numbers problem involving training and retention," said study co-author Dr. William Sage, founding director of the Texas A&M University Institute for Healthcare Access in Fort Worth. "What these leaders described was something more complicated, as health care organizations are struggling to meet growing patient needs while accommodating five distinct generations of clinicians with different needs and perspectives about work, well-being and career longevity."

Trump Administration Demands Hospitals Share Emergency Room Records

Perverting privacy protections for Trump's agenda

By Amanda Seitz, Maia Rosenfeld, and Darius Tahir

A tiny federal agency tasked with protecting the public from injuries caused by lawn mowers and coffeemakers is demanding that some of the nation’s biggest health systems turn over detailed, personally identifiable medical records of all patients who seek help at their emergency rooms.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission, responsible for tracking and issuing recalls of dangerous products sold in the U.S., began discreetly pressuring hospital executives this year to share personally identifiable health data with a private contractor. 

But hospital lawyers and other industry experts have questioned the agency’s authority to collect, its ability to safeguard such a swath of sensitive information, and whether it has followed the legal process to overhaul its surveillance system.

After KFF Health News asked the CPSC about the new system, the agency announced the program on July 21. Left unmentioned, however, is the alarm it has raised among hospital executives, as well as the nature and extent of the agency’s data demands.

In a stark departure from its product-focused mission, the agency’s goal is to obtain millions of Americans’ medical records from emergency room visits for most injuries, from a broken bone to a childhood vaccine reaction or even a suicide attempt, according to documents and emails obtained by KFF Health News, as well as interviews with five people involved or familiar with the discussions.

A CPSC official also insisted in the emails that the institutions provide all ER patients’ identifiable information — such as names, addresses, diagnoses, and other personal details — to the contractor, Konza Health, for analysis. In correspondence with hospital executives, Konza representatives described participation as “mandatory” or “required.”

As a condition of viewing the correspondence, KFF Health News agreed not to republish some of the emails it obtained.

The CPSC wants at least 100 hospitals to start sending detailed medical records by the end of this year, according to an internal memo.

“The whole thing is troubling,” said Sharona Hoffman, a professor of health law at Case Western Reserve University who noted that giving a private entity access to a sweeping collection of data will introduce risks to patient privacy. “If this company really is collecting identifiable information, that is worrisome for patients.”

Ticks already sending more people to the ER in RI

Rhode Island has a tick expert in its own backyard.

RINewsToday News Team

Tick season is not waiting for summer.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says emergency room visits for tick bites are running higher than normal in many parts of the country. In all U.S. regions except the South Central United States, weekly rates of ER visits for tick bites are the highest for this time of year since 2017.

For Rhode Island, the warning is especially relevant. The state remains a high-risk area for Lyme disease and other tickborne illnesses, with cases typically rising during the warmer months. The Rhode Island Department of Health says most Lyme disease cases are reported during the summer, with a peak in July. Washington County consistently has the highest Lyme disease rate in Rhode Island, with a 2024 rate of 723 cases per 100,000 people.

And Rhode Island has one of the country’s best-known tick resources in its own backyard: the University of Rhode Island’s TickEncounter Resource Center.

Led by Dr. Thomas Mather — URI’s “TickGuy” and one of the nation’s foremost tick experts — TickEncounter provides practical, plain-language guidance on tick identification, tick-bite prevention, and what to do after finding a tick. URI’s TickEncounter site also includes tools and videos to help people understand which ticks are active and how to reduce the risk of tickborne disease.

Mather has long emphasized that conditions matter. Ticks do not like dry weather, while damp, shady, leafy areas create more favorable tick habitat. In a URI summer-prevention update, he said Rhode Islanders can often judge tick risk by looking at yard conditions, including whether lawns and surrounding areas are dry or damp.

Ticks are not the only warm-weather pest concern. The National Pest Management Association is also warning that ticks, mosquitoes, ants and stinging insects become increasingly active as summer approaches. Mosquitoes can breed in small amounts of standing water and may transmit illnesses such as West Nile virus and Zika virus. Stinging insects are also a seasonal risk, especially for people with allergies.

The advice is simple, but important: act early, before pest activity peaks.

What to do now

New hospital safety ratings show Westerly Hospital with an “A” and South County with a “C”

South County Hospital needs help

By Will Collette

The latest ratings on hospital safety just came out from the Leapfrog Group, the leading ranking service in the country. Under its rankings for Rhode Island, Miriam Hospital continues in the top spot as the safest in the state.

South County’s two non-profit hospitals have bracketed hospital ratings for safety and effectiveness over the past couple of decades, one usually ranked at or near the top, the other at or near the bottom.

When Cathy and I returned to Rhode Island in 2001, it was South County Hospital with the great scores and Westerly Hospital with the poor ones. That changed about ten years ago.

In 2012, Westerly Hospital was on the brink of shutting down, having run out of money with a management that had run out of ideas. They were saved, barely, when they were purchased by Lawrence & Memorial Hospital of New London. L&M management brutally cut staff and services at Westerly, while also engaged in a bitter strike with their own employees in New London.

However, in 2016, the dynamic changed when both Lawrence & Memorial and Westerly Hospitals were bought out by Yale-New Haven as Yale brought higher standards to both hospitals.

By contrast, South County Hospital remained Rhode Island’s only independent hospital, for better or worse, and also recently went through its own corporate turmoil that broke into the open in summer 2024.

My own personal connection to South County Hospital goes back more than 50 years. As a young strategic researcher, I worked on a statewide campaign led by former RI AFL-CIO President George Nee to get every hospital in Rhode Island to help uninsured and unemployed workers by treating them regardless of ability to pay and to write off a substantial amount of medical debt. Each hospital in turn was targeted until they agreed to these terms.

Donald Ford

Except South County. Under longtime CEO Donald Ford, South County already had these policies in place and advertised this policy on the radio. I called Ford to find out why South County alone had such a positive approach. He laughed, said he expected I’d get around to calling, and invited me down.

I went and discovered a new friend, if not a kindred spirit. As we walked through the whole hospital, especially the inner sections rarely seen by visitors, Donald greeted workers and often patients by name. He ran the hospital that way for almost 30 years. I mourned his passing in 2010.

Fast forward to the present and we have a new South County CEO, Aaron Robinson who took over as boss in 2018. His policies and management style provoked a staff revolt, mass resignations, a sharp decline in South County’s ratings and community protests demanding his resignation.

Robinson responded by adopting a siege mentality and, in a move I’ve never seen, filed a punitive SLAPP suit against the community opposition group “Save South County Hospital.” SLAPP suits are illegal under Rhode Island law.

Whether it was the SLAPP suit or some genuine compromise, South County management and its angry constituents came to some kind of undisclosed compromise, but not in time to prevent South County Hospital’s safety score from dropping another letter grade.

One of the few details of the settlement acknowledged by both sides was that South County would seek and secure some sort of "partnership" deal with an undisclosed third party that would boost quality through more investment yet also preserve SCH's independence.

I asked several SCH staff at various levels about this secret deal, and they said they were waiting to see what Robinson had in mind.

Meanwhile, under Yale-Haven, Westerly Hospital continues to show marked improvement as their scores over the past several years shows.

 

Contrast this with South County Hospital's poor showing.

If you open up the FULL REPORT, you can see where South County has fallen short. I was especially concerned about the two tables above. My interpretation of this data is that safety standards certainly appear to have slipped, but it doesn't seem to be the staff's fault. 

Non-profit hospitals should be a public trust. That's what Donald Ford told me almost 50 years ago. Today, they are more like businesses, and their leaders resemble Wall Street CEOs rather than Main Street civic leaders. While I harbor no false hopes about any return to the good old days, there must be a way rekindle the bond between the public and these once revered institutions.

Trump appeals decision protecting trans kids at Rhode Island Hospital

Leave trans kids ALONE!

By Alexander Castro, Rhode Island Current

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed notice blocking a federal attempt to secure transgender youths’ medical records.

The federal appeal is the latest volley in a back-and-forth court saga with a cache of sensitive medical records at its core, namely six years of patient information from minors prescribed puberty blockers or hormone therapy via Rhode Island Hospital providers. 

The court fight — whose genesis lies in DOJ’s July 2025 maneuvering to obtain these records via an administrative subpoena — has now spanned two U.S. District Courts and two Courts of Appeals. 

The DOJ filed its notice of appeal with the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston, aiming to undo U.S. District Court Judge Mary McElroy’s decision in the case first brought to her court on May 4 by Rhode Island’s Office of Child Advocate. 

Child Advocate Katelyn Medeiros is tasked with legal representation and advocacy for children in state care, an unspecified number of whom would be affected by the desired records’ disclosure. Her office moved to have Rhode Island’s own federal court nullify the DOJ subpoena that would have forced the hospital to turn over medical records by Thursday — a deadline set per the order of a judge in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, where the DOJ sought, and obtained, an order to enforce the subpoena on April 30.

McElroy granted the child advocate’s petition and impugned the federal prosecutors for their conduct during an in-person hearing on Tuesday and their claims made in court documents. McElroy wrote that DOJ “has misrepresented and withheld information” to not only her court, but to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

Judge quashes Trump DOJ attempt to get children's health records from Rhode Island Hospital

Rhode Island judge turns back Trump attack on trans kids

ACLU of Rhode Island

If they really cared about child welfare, the DOJ would
release the Epstein files

Upholding the privacy rights of vulnerable children, U.S. District Court Judge Mary McElroy quashed the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) subpoena for the sensitive private medical records of young patients who have received medical treatment for gender dysphoria at Rhode Island Hospital. In doing so, the judge also blasted the DOJ as having been “proven unworthy … at every point in this case” of the trust expected of federal prosecutors, saying they “misrepresented and withheld information” from the court.

The decision comes after an emergency motion was filed last week by attorneys for the Lawyers’ Committee for Rhode Island (LCRI) and the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island (ACLU) on behalf of Rhode Island’s Child Advocate. The DOJ’s request to enforce the subpoena for these records was filed and approved, without opportunity for response, by a judge in Texas, not Rhode Island, all in one day at the end of April. [See: Child Advocate seeks to block federal government subpoena for private medical records of minors]

Defending Rhode Island children from Trump's anti-trans witch hunt

Child Advocate seeks to block federal government subpoena for private medical records of minors

SteveAhlquist.news

Attorneys for the Lawyers’ Committee for Rhode Island (LCRI) and the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island (ACLU) have today filed an emergency motion to quash a subpoena issued by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) seeking the sensitive private medical records of minor patients who have received medical treatment for gender dysphoria at Rhode Island Hospital. [See: DOJ Files In Texas To Force RI Hospital To Hand Over Trans Patient Lists In Judge Shopping Move 1,800 Miles Away] 

Amazingly, the DOJ’s request to enforce the subpoena for these records was both filed and approved on Thursday – on the same day, without an opportunity for response – by a judge in Texas, not Rhode Island. The motion filed this morning argues that court intervention is “immediately necessary . . . to protect the constitutional privacy rights of Rhode Island’s children.”

Today’s motion was filed in the U.S. District Court in Rhode Island on behalf of the state’s Child Advocate. The motion calls the subpoena an “unprecedented intrusion into the private medical information of children, many of whom are among the most vulnerable in our state’s care,” that “cannot be justified by any legitimate law enforcement purpose.”

Rhode Island can’t wait for Washington to fund hospital cybersecurity

We must act now

By Ava Fosberg, Rhode Island Current

Treating cybersecurity in hospitals as optional is like driving without a seatbelt. Hospitals might get away with it for a while, but when something goes wrong, the consequences hit hard. Cyberattacks delay care, disrupt services, and put patients directly at risk. 

Rhode Island has already seen how quickly a digital failure can spiral into a full-scale crisis. The state cannot afford to wait for federal action as these threats continue to grow.

In December 2024, hackers used stolen login credentials to breach the RIBridges system. The attack exposed sensitive personal data tied to nearly 650,000 Rhode Islanders. 

Residents lost access to critical services like Medicaid and SNAP. Families struggled to get benefits, verify eligibility, and access necessary care. What started as a cybersecurity issue quickly became a public health and economic crisis.

In January, the Beacon Mutual Insurance Group of Rhode Island confirmed a ransomware attack on its network. Investigators continue to determine the full scope, but early reports suggest that the attack exposed personal information belonging to hundreds of Rhode Islanders. These incidents show a clear pattern of growing vulnerability.

At the same time, threats continue to expand globally. Iran-linked cyber activity now targets U.S. hospitals and health care organizations as part of the broader international conflict in the Middle East. For Rhode Island hospitals, the growing threat of a cyberattack raises the stakes and makes the need for stronger cybersecurity an urgent priority.

2500 union workers at Rhode Island Hospital ratify new contract

Let's see more of this at Rhode Island's other hospitals

More than 2,500 members of Teamsters Local 251 at Rhode Island Hospital have voted to ratify a three-year agreement that protects their Teamsters health care and includes higher wages and stronger seniority protections. The bargaining unit consists of clinical support, non-clinical, and skilled maintenance staff in nearly every department.

“Local 251 has proudly represented workers at Rhode Island Hospital for more than 30 years,” said Matt Taibi, Secretary-Treasurer of Local 251 and Teamsters Eastern Region International Vice President. “This agreement shows that solidarity has the power to win strong successor contracts.”

The new agreement maintains strong Teamsters health care, layoff protections, and adds access to FSA benefits. Rhode Island Hospital Teamsters resisted many concessionary demands, instead making improvements on job transfers, seniority rights, unused paid time payouts, tuition assistance, shift differentials, and a new pay step for over two thirds of the bargaining unit.

In Connecticut, Doctors Now Sue Patients Most Over Medical Bills, Surpassing Hospitals

Chasing medical debt

Noam N. Levey and Katy Golvala and Jenna Carlesso, CT Mirror

Many hospital systems in Connecticut have stopped suing their patients over unpaid bills, stung by criticism about the harm caused by aggressive collection tactics.

But physicians, dentists, ambulance companies, and other health care providers are still taking their patients to court, a Connecticut Mirror-KFF Health News investigation of state legal records shows.

Lawsuits by doctors and other nonhospital providers now dominate health care collections in Connecticut, the records show, accounting for more than 80% of cases filed against patients and their families in 2024.

That’s a major reversal from just five years earlier, when hospital system lawsuits made up three-quarters of health-related collection cases in the state’s courts.

The shift is moving medical debt collections into a less regulated realm. Most hospitals, because they are tax-exempt nonprofits, must make financial aid available to low-income patients and follow federal regulations that limit aggressive collection activities. Other medical providers, such as private medical groups, are generally exempt from these rules.

The lawsuits are typically over bills of less than $3,000, but the impact on patients can be devastating. Lawsuits are among the most ruinous byproducts of a health care debt problem that burdens an estimated 100 million people in the U.S.

Lawsuits can lead to garnished wages, liens on homes, and hundreds of dollars of added debt from interest and court fees. They also pile additional financial strains on struggling families, prevent patients from getting needed care, and sap trust in medical providers.

South County Health’s Mystery Partner

What the Community Deserves to Know

By Dr. Chris Van hemelrijck 

In mid-November 2025, South County Health (SCH) CEO Aaron Robinson and Board Chair Joseph Matthews announced they had signed a letter of intent with one of the “top 10” health systems in the country. A 120-day due diligence period followed. That period is now closing — and the community still knows remarkably little about what has actually been agreed to. 

SCH leadership has described the arrangement as “transformational” and “non-traditional” — a clinical and digital partnership that would bring an Epic electronic medical records (EMR) system, artificial intelligence tools, and world-class clinical expertise to South County. 

We are told that existing and future funds raised locally will remain with SCH and that local governance will not change. These are reassuring words. But words are not a governance structure, and reassurances are not contractual protections. 

The unnamed partner is just one of several unknowns. Robinson has referenced “multiple partners” — strategic, AI, digital, and clinical — but has not identified the AI company involved, the clinical partner providing second opinions, or how any of these relationships would be structured. 

Each of these entities may have its own financial interests and contractual claims. The public deserves to know who they are. 

Understanding why SCH is pursuing this deal requires looking at the finances honestly. Three consecutive years of net losses — $4.6 million in 2022, $6.5 million in 2023, and $534,000 in 2024 — against total revenue of roughly $239 million tells a difficult story. Current net assets stand at approximately $72 million. 

Brown study finds outdated Medicare 3-day rule delays nursing care, wastes hospital resources

Makes patients stay in the hospital when they might not need to

By Carl Dimitri, Senior Writer, School of Public Health, Brown University

A long-standing Medicare policy meant to manage rehabilitation services in nursing homes may keep older Americans in hospitals longer than necessary without improving patient health or saving Medicare money, new research finds.

Established in 1965, the rule was intended to manage the use of skilled nursing facilities, which provide short-term medical and rehabilitative care to Medicare beneficiaries. Known as the “three-day rule,” it requires patients to spend at least three consecutive days in the hospital before Medicare will cover care in a nursing facility. Skilled nursing facilities are used as a post-hospital benefit by one in five Medicare beneficiaries after hospitalization, and Medicare pays an average of about $15,000 for each stay.

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

For more on this study, CLICK HERE.

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. 

From Charlestown Residents United

 

Start The New Year Strong Join Us At Monday's Town Council Meeting Happy New Year! As we kick off the new year and look ahead to 2026, we encourage you to attend the upcoming Town Council meeting to support our community. As always, your presence matters. Town Council meetings are an opportunity to stay informed, share ideas, and show support for the work being done to guide our town forward. Stay informed, get involved. Click here for the full agenda Note where there are members are needed on some of the Boards, Commissions and Committees. Some of the items under NEW BUSINESS: Discussion and Potential Action To Review Charlestown's Legislative Priorities for the Upcoming Legislative Session Presentation by and Discussion with South County Health CEO Aaron Robinson on the Importance to the Community of Having a Strong Local Hospital and more Discussion and Potential Action Regarding a Letter of Support for the Proposed Redevelopment Known as Charlestown Cottages, Located at 5399 Post Road, for Eleven Efficiency Units for Individuals and Two Three-Bedroom Apartments for Families Discussion and Potential Action Concerning an Access Agreement for Implementation of the Coastal Zone Native Plantings for Stormwater Management and Rain Garden Installation Town Hall - 4550 South County Trail, Charlestown, RI 02813 Date: Monday, January 12, 2026 Time: 7:00pm Let’s start the year strong — we hope to see you there! Tim Quillen, Chair Charlestown Residents United | PO Box 412 | Charlestown, RI 02813 US

Trump wants to zero out this anti-terrorism program

White House Calls This 9/11-Era Fund ‘Wasteful.’ Red and Blue States Rely on It.

Don Thompson 

Boston Marathon bombing, 2013

Donald Trump’s push to eliminate a federal disaster preparedness program threatens a fund used by state health systems from Republican-led Texas to the Democratic stronghold of California.

The Hospital Preparedness Program was created more than two decades ago in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York City’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and the deadly anthrax attacks that began days later. The fund has provided nearly $2.2 billion to states, territories, major cities, and other entities over the past 17 years to ready health care systems for the next pandemic, cyberattack, or mass-casualty event.

Recently, that money has been used to combat the bird flu that has sickened at least 70 people in the United States, killed at least one, and remains a threat. The funds also have been used to respond to crises such as hurricanes, tornadoes, mass shootings, floods, and heat waves.

But the budget request sent to Congress by Trump’s budget director, Russell Vought, proposes eliminating the program, saying the effort “has been wasteful and unfocused” and that cutting it would allow states and cities to “properly” fund their own preparedness plans. Any action is currently stalled by the government shutdown, which stems from a partisan dispute over expiring health care subsidies that affect many of the 24 million Americans who buy coverage from Affordable Care Act marketplaces.

Red and blue states say the hospital preparedness funds are essential and could not be readily replaced with local funds. It’s an example of how the White House’s efforts to reduce its role in responding to public health and natural disasters have imperiled state and municipal reliance on federal resources to meet community needs.

The program “is the main source of government funding for disaster preparedness among hospitals, EMS providers, and other parts of the health care system,” Texas Department of State Health Services spokesperson Chris Van Deusen said.

South County Hospital used to be consistently rated "A" for patient safety - rating drops to "C"

South County, Roger Williams hospitals slip in new national ranking while Westerly Hospital continues its "A" streak

By Alexander Castro, Rhode Island Current

Four of Rhode Island’s nine acute care hospitals earned the highest marks in the latest report by a national nonprofit that ranks patient safety. But three slipped one grade.

Rhode Island Hospital and the Miriam Hospital in Providence, Newport Hospital, and Westerly Hospital all earned an A grade from the Leapfrog Group in results published Thursday.

Landmark Medical Center in Woonsocket received a B. Kent Hospital, South County Hospital in South Kingstown and Our Lady of Fatima Hospital in North Providence all received a C. Roger Williams Medical Center in Providence received a D.

None of the Ocean State’s hospitals received the lowest grade of F. 

VA hospitals, children’s hospitals, psychiatric hospitals are excluded from the report.

The Washington, D.C.-based Leapfrog Group assigns letter grades to hospitals based on its surveys plus safety data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The ratings are updated twice a year, in spring and fall, and calculated across over 30 measures related to errors in care, infections, injuries, and how effectively hospitals minimize and prevent harm to patients.

Brown University researcher testifies that non-profit hospitals need to provide more community benefit to compensate for their tax exemption

Lawmakers can ensure that nonprofit hospitals benefit communities, Brown scholar tells Congress

Brown University

More than half of U.S. hospitals are nonprofit organizations, and the total financial value of nonprofit tax exemptions exceeds $37 billion per year nationally. In return for this exemption, the IRS requires that nonprofit hospitals operate with a primary focus of serving the community. But that’s not always the case in reality, said Brown University public health researcher Christopher Whaley. 

In testimony offered before Congress on Tuesday, Sept. 16, Whaley presented his research quantifying the financial value of nonprofit hospital tax exemptions, analyzing hospital use of tax-exempt bond financing and investment income, and examining how those financial advantages influence hospital pricing behavior and community benefit spending. He also shared policy reforms suggestions that could help ensure that tax benefits translate into measurable health care benefits for patients and communities. 

Whaley was among of a panel of experts who testified in a hearing titled “Hearing on Virtue Signaling vs. Vital Services: Where Tax-Exempt Hospitals are Spending Your Tax Dollars,” organized by the Oversight Subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means. The associate professor of health care policy, who is affiliated with the Center for Advancing Health Policy through Research at Brown’s School of Public Health, was invited to testify given his research on ways to reduce health care costs.