Citing the cooperative relationship they have had in addressing the pandemic, the presidents and chief executive officers of the state’s two largest health care systems, Lifespan and Care New England, announced this week they are renewing discussions of a possible merger.

In a joint statement, Timothy Babineau, MD, president and chief executive officer of Lifespan, and James Fanale, MD, president and chief executive officer of Care New England, said: “During the past few months of the Covid-19 crisis, Lifespan and Care New England have been working together in unprecedented ways to benefit the people of Rhode Island, our patients and employees.

“As a result, both parties have agreed to enter into an exploration process to understand the pros and cons of what a formal continuation of this collaboration could look like in the future. This process will take months to develop, and for some time it will remain premature to speculate on the outcome of these discussions. We will provide periodic updates as the situation requires.”

Lifespan, the larger of the two systems, is a five-partner not-for-profit health system based in Providence. Formed in 1994, Lifespan includes three teaching hospitals of The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University: Rhode Island Hospital and its Hasbro Children’s Hospital; The Miriam Hospital; and Bradley Hospital, the nation’s first psychiatric hospital for children. It also includes Newport Hospital, a community hospital offering a broad range of health services, and Gateway Healthcare, the state’s largest provider of community behavioral health care.

Care New England Health System was founded in 1996, and today it is the parent organization of Butler Hospital, Kent Hospital, Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, Care New England Medical Group, the VNA of Care New England, The Providence Center, and Integra, a certified accountable care organization (ACO). Care New England includes 970 licensed beds and 216 infant bassinets. Through Butler, Kent, and Women & Infants hospitals, Care New England has a teaching and research affiliation with The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. Kent is also a teaching affiliate of The University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine.

According to the statement both organizations are committed to continuing to provide high quality health care as the focus today, and every day, for the people of Rhode Island and surrounding communities.

The two organizations worked together in building field hospitals at the Rhode Island Convention Center and the former Citizens Bank building in Cranston as a means of addressing a possible surge in COVID-19. The field hospitals were completed and ready in less than two weeks and thus far have not been needed.

Last year at the urging of Gov. Raimondo, the two systems met in talks after Partners Health Care of Boston stepped back from its proposal to acquire Care New England. With no developments, Care New England withdrew from the talks.