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On brink of bankruptcy, Thundermist seeks $8 million taxpayer bailout

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On brink of bankruptcy, Thundermist seeks $8 million taxpayer bailout

WOONSOCKET, R.I. (WPRI) — One of Rhode Island’s most prominent health care organizations needs a cash injection of $8 million to avoid going into receivership, laying off hundreds and ending care for 62,000 people, Target 12 has learned.

Thundermist Health Center, a federal health center that serves some of Rhode Island’s poorest residents, is facing an imminent cash-flow crisis that is drawing comparisons to the previous failures of Memorial Hospital, 38 Studios and the Steward hospital group.

The Woonsocket-based not-for-profit health group has already fired its CEO and laid off 124 of its 907 employees. Executives say the organization doesn’t have enough cash on hand to make payroll at the end of the month.

Interim CEO Maria Montanaro — who headed the organization from 1997 to 2011 — has been brought back and is now seeking $8 million from state and federal officials, health insurers, hospitals or anyone else willing to bail out the organization.

Otherwise, she said, Thundermist will go into receivership and close — leaving the rest of Rhode Island’s medical infrastructure to deal with the 62,000 residents who currently rely on Thundermist for a litany of services, including primary care, childbirth, transgender health and drug addiction.

“We’re not asking for anybody to pay for Thundermist’s mistakes,” Montanaro told Target 12. “We’re asking them to help Thundermist address these mistakes.”

Thundermist currently employees nearly 800 people after its latest round of layoffs. The organization provides health and dental services to 75% of Woonsocket residents, 50% of West Warwick residents and about 20% of the people living in South County, according to federal regulators.

The organization blames its long-term financial challenges on Rhode Island’s low Medicaid reimbursement rates compared with neighboring states, a common complaint among health executives in the state.