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Boston Globe

‘That's a risk for me': Health system woes force a R.I. hospital to cancel routine women's care for hundreds of patients

Advertisement These cancellations are part of a wider problem within Rhode Island's health care system, where a primary care shortage is Get Rhode Island News Alerts Sign up to get breaking news and interesting stories from Rhode Island in your inbox each weekday. Enter Email Sign Up Spurgas is one of at least 300 women with annual OB-GYN appointments scheduled at the Newport Women's Health Services at Newport Hospital is owned and operated by the largest health care system in the state — Advertisement The exterior of Newport hospital where hundreds of women have had their OB/GYN appointments cancelled. Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff Brown Health spokeswoman Jessica Wharton told the Globe that Newport Women's Health Services was down to just two practitioners, and a new gynecologist wasn't expected to begin working until October. 'We made the difficult decision to temporarily reschedule annual OB-GYN wellness visits originally scheduled for July through September to ensure that we can continue to provide timely and essential care to those with urgent, complex, or high-risk medical needs, including pregnant patients and those with active or serious gynecological concerns,' Wharton said in a statement. Related : Spurgas said she was told that she would be placed on a waitlist in October. But she may seek out care sooner, by finding a new provider in Massachusetts. 'I was in shock. They wouldn't explain at all what was going on,' said Spurgas. 'They just kept saying that it was because of Rhode Island's health care crisis. It was very vague.' Earlier this year, Brown Health's executives were considering closing down a dental center, halting major facility projects at Rhode Island Hospital, and discontinuing labor and delivery services at Newport Hospital in order to save money, according to an email sent by top Brown Health leaders to its managers in May that was obtained by the Globe. Related : The budget problems are not unique to Rhode Island's hospitals, and could become more critical in the coming months. Healthcare providers throughout New England will be affected by impending cuts to Medicaid through the ' Advertisement Many women who do not have an OB-GYN, or cannot afford one, seek reproductive care at Planned Parenthood clinics. But Related : 'Defunding is an attempt by lawmakers to make Planned Parenthood stop caring for patients and stop caring about reproductive freedom,' said Gretchen Raffa, chief policy and advocacy office of Planned Parenthood of Southern New England, during a virtual press conference on Monday. 'Make no mistake, this is a covert attack.' At Newport Women's Health Services, visits for new and existing prenatal patients, as well as those with high-risk pregnancies or other medical concerns, are unaffected. Experts say those whose routine checkups were postponed should not be worried about the delayed appointments, but should make sure to reschedule them. Advertisement 'Anyone who has an appointment for a Pap or HPV test that is cancelled should just be clear on what the follow-up plan might be, in terms of why it was taken off the books and if they should reschedule, either with their current provider or someone else,' said Fred Wyand, a senior advisor for the American Sexual Health Association/National Cervical Cancer Coalition. Cervical cancer tends to develop over a number of years, and not all women need to be screened annually, he said. 'If you have a Pap scheduled for Tuesday and for whatever reason you can't receive it, you won't develop cancer on Wednesday, but you don't want to fall out of the system.' 'That's what can happen, we lose the consistency and the regular screenings, and that's really when it can become risky,' he added. Alexa Gagosz can be reached at