CRANSTON, R.I. (WPRI) – Five years after proposing a new $65 million skilled nursing facility in Burrillville, state officials are abandoning the plan and instead seeking to build a new $243 million long-term acute care hospital in Cranston.
The shift, detailed in a report made public this week, underscores the mounting financial and operational strain at the state-run Eleanor Slater Hospital’s Zambarano campus in Burrillville, which currently houses 52 patients. With an annual budget of $55.2 million, the average cost per patient now exceeds $1 million.
Consultants warned that any further delay could drive costs even higher and risk pushing the state out of compliance with a federal rule intended to limit long-term institutionalized psychiatric care…