Gov. McKee Names Richard Charest To Lead BHDDH

PROVIDENCE, RI — North Smithfield resident Richard Charest has been named to lead the Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals, Gov. Dan McKee and Health and Human Services Secretary Womazetta Jones announced today.

The agency oversees the embattled Eleanor Slater Hospital with its campus in Cranston and Burrillville. Charest will manage 1,100 employees and a $480 million budget. McKee has submitted Charest's name to the Rhode Island Senate for confirmation.

Former BHDDH leader Kathryn Power resigned in April shortly after she signed out early from a marathon four-hour hearing before the House Oversight Committee. Power cited personal reasons for her departure. Jones has been serving as interim director of the agency since then.

In a news release, McKee said that Charest has extensive turnaround experience. Charest retired in 2017 from Landmark Medical Center where as president and CEO he led the hospital through a difficult period of receivership. Charest also served as president and CEO of the Rehabilitation Hospital of Rhode Island in North Smithfield. Charest is now providing consulting services on healthcare management and operations at Eleanor Slater. The role gives him crucial knowledge of a facility that he will oversee, McKee said.

McKee, Jones, and Charest provided statements:

"As our administration begins to address the long-standing challenges facing the Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals, we are pleased to have recruited a strong candidate who can help improve departmental policy, operations, staffing and patient care," said McKee. "We are confident that Richard's decades of experience in the health care field have prepared him to lead this department, which provides vital services and support to some of Rhode Island's most vulnerable populations."

"Those who rely on BHDDH for their behavioral and medical needs deserve the best care possible. The Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals, particularly Eleanor Slater Hospital, has many urgent needs that will benefit from Richard's leadership and healthcare and hospital management experience," said Jones. "I look forward to working closely with him, and Governor McKee, so we can continue improving our state's behavioral healthcare system."

"We have an opportunity to make meaningful change to a critical state department that is decades overdue," said Charest. "I look forward to supporting the McKee Administration's efforts to evaluate and improve BHDDH in the best interest of the Rhode Islanders this department serves. This is important work and I look forward to collaborating with stakeholders to deliver the and results that patients and families need."

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Eleanor Slater's Zambarano unit in Burrillville provides long-term acute care for patients with complex and debilitating conditions. The state hospital fell out of compliance with Medicaid in 2019, leading to a revenue crisis and calls for transparency. Critics charged that the administration of former Gov. Gina Raimondo was secretly implementing a "shadow closure" of the hospital. McKee inherited a restructuring plan from Raimondo, but that plan is now on hold. A long-withheld consultant's report from the Raimondo era appeared to assume the hospital would close.

R.I. Attorney General Peter Neronha is now investigating finances and patient care at Zambarano.

Charest received his MBA in Health Care Administration from Bryant College and a bachelor's degree in pharmacy from Northeastern University. He is a former Board Chair of the Hospital Association of Rhode Island.