Letters between Kilmartin, Steward CEO leaked to media

LETTERS regarding the sale of Landmark Medical Center to Steward Health Care were leaked to the media on Monday.  / PBN FILE PHOTO/DAVID LEVESQUE
LETTERS regarding the sale of Landmark Medical Center to Steward Health Care were leaked to the media on Monday. / PBN FILE PHOTO/DAVID LEVESQUE

PROVIDENCE – The pending sale of Landmark Medical Center in Woonsocket to Steward Health Care of Boston took another strange twist on Monday with the leak of private correspondence between Dr. Ralph de la Torres, chairman and CEO of Steward, and R.I. Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin.

The letters revealed details of private negotiations between Steward and Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island that Kilmartin’s office was attempting to facilitate regarding the ongoing contract dispute between the hospital system and the health insurer. Kilmartin’s office was trying to solve the contract dispute outside of the receivership under the jurisdiction of Superior Court Judge Michael A. Silverstein.

The contract dispute is not a condition under the pending asset purchase agreement, according to the parties involved.

At Kilmartin’s request, Steward and Blue Cross met in negotiation sessions in Providence on July 30 and again on Aug. 6, according to the letters, which were leaked to WPRI and published on the station’s website Monday evening.

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In a letter dated Aug. 3, Kilmartin wrote to de la Torres and Blue Cross president and CEO Peter Andruszkiewicz saying: “After a week of fits, starts and posturing, it is the observation of this office that both parties have arrived at a position whereupon a true negotiation is underway, albeit belatedly.”

Kilmartin went on in this letter to claim: “It would be irresponsible of me not to state not only what I know and expect, but also what I believe each of you know and, rightfully, cannot state. Failure to create a contract is not an option for either of you or your respective organizations.”

Further, Kilmartin said that both companies “stood to lose professionally in both the short and long term.” Kilmartin warned of potential negative consequences, but added that this should not be interpreted as a “threat” from his office.

However, the Aug. 6 negotiations proved to be disastrous, with Steward’s team walking out on orders from de la Torres.

In an Aug. 7 letter from Kilmartin to de la Torres, Kilmartin detailed a description, from his staff’s opinion, of what occurred in relationship to Steward’s decision to walk out of the negotiations meeting. Kilmartin went on to remind de la Torres of the Aug. 31 deadline to conclude the sale of Landmark, saying that “time is of the essence.” In response, de la Torres, in a letter to Kilmartin dated Aug. 8, reacted angrily, accusing Kilmartin of breaching agreed upon protocol by writing such letters, rather than communicating by telephone. Further, de la Torres accused Kilmartin of writing in a tone that “stuck me as grandstanding for a wider audience.” He also challenged Kilmartin’s recollection of events, calling them “not only inaccurate but misleading.”

Among the issues in dispute by Steward’s team was the presence of a Blue Cross legal counsel, given that the matter was under litigation. According to de la Torres’s letter, Steward’s team requested that she leave, but Kilmartin refused that request. Then the Steward team requested permission to leave, and Kilmartin refused. According to de la Torres’ letter, Kilmartin told the Steward team that if they left, they “would have blood on their hands.”

The de la Torres letter continued to say that the Steward team attempted to have Steward’s Rhode Island-based legal counsel intervene, but that Kilmartin refused three times to take his call. The letter went on to say that the characterizations in Kilmartin’s Aug. 7 letter “were both misleading and bordering on behavior below you status as a prominent elected leader.”

The last letter included in the leaked correspondence was dated Aug. 15, from Kilmartin to Andruszkiewicz and Joseph Maher, executive vice president and general council at Steward, indicating that, for the first time, the R.I. Attorney General’s office was willing to consider a request to extend the current Aug. 31 deadline, if more time was needed.

Neither Blue Cross nor Steward offered any comment on the letters to WPRI.

Amy Kempe, Kilmartin’s spokeswoman, claimed that de la Torres’ Aug. 8 letter was “looking to rewrite history after his staff walked out,” according the report on WPRI’s website.

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