State Hospital Mess Aired At 5-Hour Legislative Hearing

PROVIDENCE, RI — The House Finance Committee met Wednesday to hear five hours of testimony on the money woes surrounding the embattled Eleanor Slater Hospital.

The state-run "hospital of last resort" serves patients with severe medical and psychiatric conditions. The hospital, with its Zambarano unit in Burrillville and its three units in Cranston, has been in the spotlight for months due to a cavalcade of allegations, revelations, and resignations.

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Critics including Rep. David Place, R-Burrillville, have charged that state government officials planned a "shadow closure" of the facility. Staffers at the hospital said they were pressured to unethically discharge patients. Evidence emerged that maintenance was put on hold, affecting the status of oxygen-dependent patients. Eleanor Slater fell out of compliance with Medicaid billing requirements, resulting in massive revenue losses.

Former Gov. Gina Raimondo, who left office March 2 to become U.S. commerce secretary, left Gov. Dan McKee with a downsizing plan for the hospital that's now on hold. However, a proposal to borrow up to $22 million to implement that plan remains in McKee's budget.

"It's a mess," noted Providence Journal reporter Katherine Gregg of the situation at Eleanor Slater in her comprehensive overview of Wednesday's hearing.

Gregg reported that Rep. Place made public the resignation letters of two nurses who made scorching remarks about Eleanor Slater before walking out the door.

"Belittling and berating are now the new normal," wrote one.

And in written testimony, a certified nursing assistant said she witnessed doctors taking psychiatric patients off necessary medications in order to export them to private nursing facilities that won't accept patients who are taking those medications.

Rep. Place called the allegations "disappointing" but "very predictable" and said the employees of Zambarano had been harassed and intimidated.

Lawmakers are also questioning why, at least on paper, the percentage of psychiatric patients has spiked at Eleanor Slater. On the Zambarano campus alone, the percentage of psychiatric patients jumped from 2 percent to 58 percent since May 2020, despite a virtual halt in new admissions. The numbers place the hospital out of range for Medicaid funding.

Chief Medical Officer Dr. Brian Daly addressed that question Wednesday, Eli Sherman at WPRI reported. Daly told lawmakers that some patients entered the hospital under one diagnosis that was subsequently updated for billing purposes. Daly said the practice of misclassification had been going on for years. Sherman reports that lawmakers expressed skepticism at the explanation. If more than half of a hospital's patients are classified as psychiatric, that means they can't bill for federal reimbursements.

The state agency that oversees the state hospital has a newly appointed director in former Landmark Medical Center president and CEO Richard Charest. Charest is due for his Senate confirmation hearing today to head the Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Disabilities and Hospitals.

Read more at WPRI and at The Providence Journal.