Rep. Carson: Newport birthing center must not be sacrificed for Brown Health’s Massachusetts financial losses

Rep. Carson: Newport birthing center must not be sacrificed for Brown Health’s Massachusetts financial losses

Rep. Lauren H. Carson says Brown University Health’s first-quarter financial report demands a clear and direct response from lawmakers: Rhode Island taxpayers have been faithful partners to this health system, and that partnership must be honored by preserving essential services for the communities that depend on them — such as the Noreen Stonor Drexel Birthing Center in Newport.

On a call to investors last week, Brown Health’s CFO reported that “Massachusetts is still our major challenge” and that its Rhode Island facilities are “consistently profitable.” The system’s $18 million first-quarter loss was driven by St. Anne’s and Morton hospitals — two Massachusetts facilities Brown Health acquired in 2024 — which together reported more than $22 million in operating losses in fiscal year 2025. Brown Health’s Miriam, Bradley and Rhode Island hospitals all finished that same year in the black.

“Brown Health’s losses are all coming from out-of-state, and yet, once again, the Noreen Stonor Drexel Birthing Center at Newport Hospital — the only labor and delivery unit on Aquidneck Island — is being held up as a potential casualty. That is unacceptable,” said Representative Carson (D-Dist. 75, Newport).

“Rhode Island has invested heavily in Brown Health’s success. The General Assembly increased Medicaid reimbursement rates and added more hospital funding in the fiscal 2026 budget than the governor initially proposed. The state has extended hundreds of millions of dollars in state-directed Medicaid payments to support this system. Rhode Island taxpayers have done their part,” she continued. “What we cannot accept is a system that benefits from Rhode Island’s public support while looking to cut the services Rhode Islanders need most in order to offset the costs of an out-of-state expansion strategy. Brown Health made the decision to purchase St. Anne’s and Morton. Rhode Island families should not be the ones absorbing that risk.

“The Newport birthing center is not an amenity — it is a lifeline. Expecting a pregnant woman on Aquidneck Island to travel off the island for labor and delivery is not a reasonable alternative. It is a threat to maternal health and safety.

“I am calling on Brown University Health to commit, clearly and publicly, to maintaining the Newport Hospital birthing center as a fully operational labor and delivery unit. I am also calling on my colleagues in the General Assembly, and on the governor’s office, to make clear that continued public support for Brown Health — including state-directed Medicaid payments — is contingent on Brown Health fulfilling its obligations to Rhode Island communities.

“The next community advisory panel meeting is scheduled for April 28. Rhode Island’s leaders should not wait until then to make their position known.

“Rhode Island has been a good partner. It is time for Brown University Health to be one too,” Representative Carson concluded.

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D – District 75 Newport (401) 222-1162 [email protected]

Lauren Carson

Deputy Majority Leader

Second Vice Chair, House Innovation​​​ and Technology Committee

Second Vice Chair, House Environment and Natural Resources Committee

Member, House Oversight Committee

Member, House Municipal Government and Housing Comm​ittee

Member, House Small Business Committee