PROVIDENCE - St. Joseph Health Services of Rhode Island and Roger Williams Medical Center today announced that they have signed a “memorandum of understanding” setting a framework to pursue a formal affiliation and set up a joint parent holding company.

If the affiliation is completed, the two said, the new holding company would operate a total of 579 licensed hospital beds, employ about 3,650 people and have about $350 million in annual operating revenue.

While the memorandum is just the first step in a lengthy process – a formal agreement must still be forged, and then approvals from the R.I. Department of Health and the state attorney general must be obtained – the deal is well past the early-discussions, tentative stage.

“Our organizations are deeply committed to move forward with this process,” Kenneth H. Belcher, president and CEO of Roger Williams, said in an interview today.

“Even though this is preliminary, we have put a lot of time into going through with this. So absent a big setback or a big surprise, our intent is to move forward with this,” added John M. Fogarty, who became St. Joseph’s president and CEO last week (READ MORE).

This is the third pair of hospital organizations in Rhode Island to pursue a merger or affiliation in the last year.

In July, the state’s two largest health care systems, Lifespan and Care New England, announced they wished to merge, though a formal application has yet to be filed with the state (READ MORE).

And last month, Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island and Landmark Medical Center said they were discussing a possible merger, though only tentatively at this point (READ MORE).

In a joint interview, Belcher and Fogarty stressed that their organizations’ plan is to pursue an affiliation, not a merger. Each partner will retain its identity and continue to be governed by its own board, while the parent company will have a 15-member board of its own and focus on oversight of system finances and strategic planning.

Each hospital will maintain its own license and medical staff, Fogarty said, and St. Joseph Health System will retain its pastoral care, hospital chapel, religious symbols and Catholic health care practices, while Roger Williams will continue to be secular.

Bishop Thomas Tobin, who chairs the St. Joseph board, said the proposed affiliation “is an opportunity for our organization to join forces with our neighbor hospital while at the same time maintaining our Catholicity and our unique mission to the community, including the underserved.”

For the full story on the proposed affiliation, read the May 19 edition of Providence Business News.

Roger Williams Medical Center, with nearly 1,400 employees, provides a broad range of adult health services to residents of Rhode Island and nearby Massachusetts. The hospital is an affiliate of the Boston University School of Medicine and of Elmhurst Extended Care. Additional information is available at www.rwmc.org.

St. Joseph Health Services of Rhode Island includes the St. Joseph Hospital for Specialty Care, Our Lady of Fatima Hospital, the St. Joseph Living Center, the St. Joseph School of Nursing and the Southern New England Rehabilitation Center. The health system is associated with but not financed by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence. Additional information is available at www.saintjosephri.com.