The agreement is the result of an anti-trust investigation into a proposed merger between Brown Health Medical Group and Brown Physicians Inc.
Providence Journal Daily Briefing: Sept. 30, 2025
Catch up on the top stories Rhode Islanders will be talking about today.
- Over the next four years, Brown Health will add 40,000 new primary care patients and hire 27 new primary care providers.
- The agreement is the result of an antitrust investigation into a merger between Brown Health Medical Group and Brown Physicians Inc.
PROVIDENCE – Brown University Health will take on 40,000 new patients and hire 27 new primary care providers over the next four years under an agreement with the attorney general’s office and the leaders of the health system, Attorney General Peter Neronha announced at a press conference on Tuesday, Sept. 30.
The agreement stems from an antitrust investigation, initiated in the fall of 2024, into the proposed merger of Brown Health Medical Group and Brown Physicians Inc., an independent multi-specialty practice group with hundreds of doctors who are on staff at the health system.
After a review, Neronha came to an agreement with Brown Health to suspend the investigation into the merger with the stipulation that the health system would expand access to primary care in Rhode Island.
The announcement comes after Anchor Medical Associates, a primary care group, shuttered abruptly in June, leaving 25,000 adults and children without primary care.
“Our healthcare system is in crisis, and Rhode Islanders know it,” Neronha said in a statement. “They know that they can’t find a primary care doctor or other provider, or when they can, they have to wait months for an appointment. They have been failed by commercial insurers, who have not done enough to build adequate provider networks.”
Of the agreement with Brown Health, he added, “These commitments will take time to scale up, as they require vigorous recruitment and retention efforts by Brown Health. But they must meet our targets, and I am confident that today’s agreement means real progress in solving our primary care provider crisis.”
What does the agreement entail?
Under the agreement with the attorney general’s office, Brown Health will:
- Add 40,000 new primary care patients by Dec. 31, 2029. Priority will be given to patients who don’t have primary care providers.
- Secure appointments for new patients within 14 days of them contacting Brown Health.
- Recruit at least 27 primary care providers, 15 of them by December 2027. These should be a net addition to Brown Health’s primary care provider staff, Neronha clarified.
- Submit biannual reports to the attorney general’s office for five years to ensure compliance.
Other requirements include ensuring a one-to-one ratio with advanced practice providers, such as physician assistants and nurse practitioners, and boosting the compensation structure for primary care providers.
“The bottom line is, if we want to build a great primary care system and become a magnet for primary care dollars, it’s about the economics,” Neronha said.
Will the merger dampen competition in Rhode Island?
At the Sept. 30 press conference, Neronha also addressed concerns over Brown Health’s growing market power.
“I don’t think [Rhode Islanders] are worried about Brown [Health] being too big or with the color of their logo,” Neronha said. “They want to be able to see a doctor within 14 days to 30 days, not six months.”
On Brown Health’s footprint, he added, “If this gives Brown [Health] some more power in the marketplace, then I don’t necessarily see that as a bad thing. I think the marketplace in some ways is tipped too heavily in favor of insurers, frankly.”
Will the investment in primary care affect other Brown Health services?
Brown Health will invest a minimum of $20 million in its electronic medical record system when merging with Brown Physician Inc., said John Fernandez, the health system’s CEO and president. Bringing both groups under a common electronic medical record system will improve efficiency and communication across the health system, Brown Health leaders said.
Hiring the 27 primary care providers, and staff to support them, will require another investment of about $4 million.
Brown Health is already operating on razor-thin margins. The health system’s goal for its operating budget is 3%, though in the past, Brown Health has not specified how close or far they are from it.
To rein back costs, Brown Health has considered cutting back services, such as the Samuels Sinclair Dental Center, Gateway Healthcare and the Newport birthing center. The health system faced sharp opposition to closing these facilities, and in the end decided against it.
Fernandez said the investments in primary care will not threaten other services at the moment, but he warned that health care in Rhode Island faces long-term challenges that need to be addressed.
“If we continue to have these economic problems, we will be forced into tough decisions about which programs we have,” Fernandez said, adding, “Pressure is not off, but we have to make these investments like in primary care.”
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