On Tuesday, Rhode Island’s largest hospital system, Lifespan, was officially renamed Brown University Health. The change comes as part of expanded affiliation agreements and a multi-million dollar annual investment from Brown.
The system employs over 17,000 workers and operates over 1,620 patient care offices.
The planned name change was first announced in June, but rumors of the rebranding first spread in October 2023. The University and Brown Health have emphasized that the two organizations will remain independent.
“The name change reflects a deeper alignment between Brown University Health's clinical care and Brown University’s academic and research focus,” wrote University Spokesperson Brian Clark in an email to The Herald.
“It moves the relationship between our two organizations to a model aligned with other affiliation agreements across the country, where the academic-medical affiliation is reflected through a shared name between the hospital system and the academic institution,” he added.
Brown Health operates Rhode Island Hospital, the primary teaching hospital of the University’s Warren Alpert Medical School. With the expanded agreement, the health network’s Miriam Hospital and Bradley Hospital will remain teaching affiliates of the medical school, while Newport Hospital will now serve as a community affiliate.
Brown Health houses 11 clinical departments of Warren Alpert.
Jessica Wharton, a spokesperson for Brown Health, wrote in a press release that the rebrand “represents a pivotal step toward raising our national profile and solidifying our position as a leading healthcare provider.” Wharton added that the change is a way to increase “our ability to recruit and retain world-class physicians and staff.”
Wharton wrote that “behind the scenes” work for the rebranding included launching a newly branded website and intranet, creating “more than 3,200 iterations of over 100 new logos,” and rebranding shuttle busses and workstation screens. Signage and materials are being gradually updated.
In September, Lifespan laid off 20% of its senior executives. Earlier this month, it established its first formal voluntary payment agreement with Providence — agreeing to pay the city $1.5 million over the next three years.
In a previous email to The Herald, Wharton said the decision to agree to a payments-in-lieu-of-taxes plan was not precipitated by Lifespan’s expanded affiliation with Brown. The hospital group also said the layoffs were unrelated to their impending rebranding, The Herald previously reported.
The name change should not impact patient experience, according to the Brown Health website. Though the hospital group’s patient portal has been renamed, patients’ login information will stay the same. Email addresses have been updated, but medical providers’ contact information remains unchanged. Office locations also have not moved.
Wharton wrote that the change “signals our commitment to expanding our reach and impact, bringing trusted, high-quality healthcare to more patients across the region.”
Ciara Meyer is a Senior Staff Writer covering the Beyond Brown beat. She is from Saratoga Springs, New York and plans on concentrating in Statistics and English nonfiction. In her free time, she loves scrapbooking and building lego flowers.
