Desperation Is Not Diligence: Block Says Assembly Risked $18M on Unverified CharterCARE Turnaround Math

What happened

On Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026, independent gubernatorial candidate Ken Block charged that Rhode Island approved an $18 million taxpayer backstop for CharterCARE Health of Rhode Island—Roger Williams Medical Center and Our Lady of Fatima Hospital—without proper independent financial due diligence.

“Roger Williams and Fatima are important hospitals, and I understand why state leaders wanted desperately to save them,” Block said in the GoLocalProv account. “But desperation is not due diligence.” GoLocal reported the General Assembly approved the rescue unanimously, with 12 votes not recorded; Governor Dan McKee signed the bill on Feb. 11 after a Jan. 29 introduction.

The timing is the point of Block’s attack. About seven months after the rescue package helped Atlanta-based Centurion Foundation take control, Attorney General Peter Neronha began publicly questioning CharterCARE’s financial viability. United Nurses & Allied Professionals has also blasted the new ownership over home-health and contract disputes. Block’s question is upstream of that cash watch: “Before the General Assembly put $18 million of our money behind this deal, who independently verified Centurion’s numbers and determined that its plan would actually work? The answer appears to be nobody.”

Citing the public record, Block said the state’s own financial consultant found Centurion had not performed the customary due diligence expected in a major acquisition and that forward-looking estimates used in the deal had not been independently tested. He said CharterCARE was losing roughly $45 million a year while Centurion’s turnaround case relied on about $75 million in projected annual savings and improvements—with no public evidence that anyone independently validated that $75 million assumption before legislators risked taxpayer money.

Block also pointed to market signals: proposed debt rated BB- (below investment grade), private investors requiring the $18 million debt-service reserve before financing would close, and final rates as high as 12.5%. At a Feb. 3 House Finance hearing, he said Centurion’s CEO declined to provide lawmakers the bond term sheet; when McKee administration officials deferred financing questions back to Centurion, Rep. Raymond Hull objected, “I don’t like that answer.”

“Rhode Island government once again threw a Hail Mary pass with taxpayer money and hoped everything would work out,” Block added. “Six months later, the Attorney General is questioning whether CharterCARE can remain financially viable. If this deal fails, taxpayers, CharterCARE employees, and patients pay the price.”