Caritas, seeking to grow, faces criticism

In today's Globe, Rob Weisman has a story about the possibility that Caritas Christi Health Care, the Catholic hospital network founded by the Archdiocese of Boston, may purchase a struggling Rhode Island hospital, Landmark Medical Center in Woonsocket:

"Caritas Christi’s board has authorized its management to move forward with negotiations, according to three healthcare industry professionals who have been consulted about the prospective deal.

Officials at Caritas Christi and Landmark declined to confirm that a deal is close. “We have looked at Landmark Medical Center, as many others have, and have not yet decided whether we are interested in pursuing a relationship with them,’’ said Caritas Christi spokeswoman Teresa Prego. A merger would require Landmark to become a Catholic hospital."

Caritas oversees six hospitals in the Archdiocese of Boston and the Diocese of Fall River; a Landmark purchase would mark its first expansion out-of-state. Currently, there is one Catholic health care system in Rhode Island (the nation's most Catholic state), St. Joseph Health Services of Rhode Island, which includes a single hospital, Our Lady of Fatima in Providence.

"The Diocese of Providence is aware of discussions relative to Landmark Hospital in Woonsocket, however, specific details have not been made available,'' Michael Guilfoyle, the spokesman for the Providence Diocese, told me in an e-mail.

It's not immediately clear how Caritas, which has been struggling financially, would come up with the cash for the purchase, and today, on his blog, Paul Levy, the president and chief executive of Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Boston, wondered aloud about the intentions of Dr. Ralph de la Torre, the former Beth Israel physician who now heads Caritas Christi. Here's what Levy wrote:

"When he worked here, the current CEO of the Caritas Christi system would often look wistfully to the south and ask us to consider taking over the troubled Landmark Medical Center in Woonsocket. We put the kibosh on that idea faster that you can say, 'State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.'

Now, according to this Boston Globe story by Rob Weisman, he is pursuing the same plan. I think it's time for the SEIU to investigate this. After all, they are keen on increasing state aid to a financially troubled Massachusetts hospital in the Caritas system. They can't also be in favor of transferring those state funds and charitable assets to support a financially troubled system in another state.

What's the real play here? Perhaps it is the hope that cardiac surgery cases from Landmark would be referred to St. Elizabeth's Hospital, a Caritas subsidiary. How that would help Rhode Islanders is an interesting question. Would the Boston-based doctors and hospital be paid Massachusetts-level insurance rates, which are higher than Rhode Island's? How would Blue Cross of Rhode Island feel about that? Perhaps the doctors and hospital would be paid the lower-than-Boston-market Rhode Island rates? Would Rhode Island's Lifespan system stand by idly and watch this business leave their hospitals?

This is all too hard to understand. It seems to me that if you strap two leaky lifeboats together, they sink faster. Perhaps people could be more transparent about their intentions and hopes."

Meanwhile, Caritas's joint venture with Centene Corp., which Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley of Boston is seeking to modify in some unspecified way to address concerns raised by abortion opponents, is continuing to get some attention in the blogosphere. The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts, a small organization that has been leading the charge against the Caritas venture, yesterday alleged that Caritas board members have given money to politicians who support abortion rights, prompting the American Life League's Shaun Kenney to declare, "The Archdiocese of Boston has another scandal on its hands. They are in danger of participating in state-sponsored abortion. It’s time Cardinal O’Malley put a stop to this travesty.”

Conservative blogger Carol McKinley has been posting a lot of commentary critical of O'Malley and Caritas for their handling of the venture. And Philip F. Lawler, a former editor of the Pilot, has written a critical history of the Caritas venture for Catholic World Report, where he is editor emeritus. An excerpt:

"The government contract will undoubtedly bring a critical infusion of revenue for the Caritas Christi system. The alliance with Centene Corporation in the CFHP may even lead to a successful sale of the troubled Caritas Christi system. But the apparent involvement of Catholic hospitals in a system that provides subsidized abortions—and the steadfast refusal of the Boston archdiocese to explain how that involvement could possibly be justified—is an astonishing setback for the culture of life. And it bears emphasis that this situation did not arise because the state government forced Caritas Christi into a morally untenable position; the Catholic agency deliberately sought to be involved."

Over at Beliefnet's Via Media blog, Amy Welborn, a popular conservative Catholic blogger, tries to wade through the complex maze of ethical questions involved. Welborn outlines the issues, but does not reach a conclusion:

"There are a couple of points to chew on: First, the argument that social justice demands that Catholic health care continue to exist in its present form, even if such existence requires provision of immoral procedures. Secondly, that the massive-business model centered around the acute care hospital may have to be abandoned by Catholic institutions, and this is not necessarily a bad thing. A third point, though...greed, and an enthusiastic, as opposed to reluctant, abandonment of Catholic principles on life."