The first Providence property tax bill in La Salle Academy s history has re-energized debate about whether Rhode Island nonprofits are paying their fair share to their host communities.
Searching for revenue to balance the customarily stressed city budget, Mayor Jorge Elorza last year turned his gaze to previously un-taxed land owned by schools that isn t covered by state exemptions for nonprofits.
La Salle s 26-acre Mount Pleasant campus on Academy Avenue at Smith Street was at the top of the list.
But the Catholic high school, whose alumni are a who s who of top Rhode Island politicians, feels it is being singled out in a state filled with other private schools that don t pay taxes.
Goodwin said the bill, which she had championed year after year before her own diagnosis, is aimed at removing financial barriers to early screening. The cost can be significant. Even with insurance, the cost of a coloscopy can be hundreds, or even more than $1,000. No one should delay or forgo this procedure because of the cost. And now thanks to this law, no one will have to, Goodwin said.
Along with signing the new law, the governor said he had ordered the State House dome lit up Thursday night in blue, the color associated with colon cancer awareness. There is no question, McKee said, expanding access to colorectal cancer screenings will save lives. This bill will save lives.
The owner of Roger Williams and Our Lady of Fatima hospitals on Thursday threatened to close the facilities if state regulators impose tough new financial conditions on them.
Prospect Medical Holdings, the California-based company that owns the hospitals, is seeking state approval for its private-equity investor to exit the ownership group. A decision is expected Friday.
In a news release, Prospect said it expects Attorney General Peter Neronha to require the company to place $120 million to $150 million in escrow for the ownership change to go through. The imposition of such an escrow is unreasonable, unacceptable, and unprecedented, Prospect spokesman Bill Fischer said in a statement. The demand for such an escrow as a condition to continue to do business in Rhode Island would leave Prospect with very little choice but to initiate a wind down of its Rhode Island operations. Everyone involved in this transaction needs to understand that there are dire consequences f
PROVIDENCE A proposed compromise in the politically charged, union-driven fight for minimum staffing mandates at Rhode Island nursing homes is headed to the Rhode Island House for a vote, after winning the endorsement of a key committee on Thursday.
The mandate would be phased in over two years. The minimum number of required hours per patient per day would be lower than in the Senate-passed version, and would include time spent with physical therapists, speech pathologists and other medical professionals.
In an interview earlier this week, Shekarchi said the reworked bill balances the desire to improve health-care quality and patient care . [with] the industry s perspective.