PROVIDENCE — A hearing to look into what led a company that provides specialized in-home nursing services to withdraw its application to do business in Rhode Island sent state lawmakers down multiple paths Tuesday.
There was talk about laws and regulations that might need changing, there was talk about the company and how it submitted and then withdrew its application, and there was talk about the people who need the service and are suffering for want of it.
But over the course of two hours, most of the discussion before the House Health, Education and Welfare Committee focused on events that seemed to cause a disconnect between the company, Pentec Health Inc., and the state officials who were reviewing its application for a Certificate of Need — a precursor to applying for a license to do business in the state.
The sole presenter at what was billed as the first of three hearings on the subject was Department of Health Director Michael D. Fine, who said the certificate review process is cumbersome but is designed that way to protect the public health.
Over the course of his presentation and in responses to questions from lawmakers, he defended that process and said that, in the end, Philadelphia-based Pentec withdrew because it did not want to change its business model to work in Rhode Island.
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