I’ll start with two arising from Ian Donnis’s recent article about the state’s approval of the sale of two hospitals “to an Atlanta-based nonprofit with no experience in managing hospitals.”

The first question arises from the description of the institutions as “cash-strapped safety-net hospitals.”  Rhode Island, among all states, dove right into the centralizing forces of Obamacare and spent hundreds of millions on the Unified Health Infrastructure Project (UHIP).  Why are we still having problems with our hospital system?  Perhaps the government interventions failed so badly they made things worse?  Worth looking into.

The second question is more about political assumptions.  Consider this from the agreement:

“To mitigate poor management practices in the past by distant and self-interested owners, the board of the New CharterCARE System must adopt specific best governance practices, include local and community input, and may not alienate, encumber, or pledge New CharterCARE System’s assets without notice to and approval by the Attorney General.”

Why does the State of Rhode Island assume the attorney general is an expert on “best governance practices” in the healthcare industry?  I could see his office reviewing for conformity with the law, but business and health decisions?  Are we supposed to simply accept that lawyers are really smart people with the highest integrity, and therefore Neronha should be a key decision-maker?

I wonder if this mentality is another indication that our massive tangle of laws is changing how we think. Too many of our business, finance, and personal decisions hinge on what the law permits and requires, so we’ve reached the point that we think lawyers must know what we should do, not just our actions’ relation to law.