Thundermist Secures Financing to Remain Operational, Names CEO, Conducting Forensic Audit

Thundermist Secures Financing to Remain Operational, Names CEO, Conducting Forensic Audit

Thundermist Health Center announced on Friday that it worked with a variety of partners and stakeholders to secure the operating capital it needs to stay open, operate at full capacity, and fulfill its budgetary obligations going forward.

 

Thundermist’s Interim CEO Maria Montanaro said in a statement, “Achieving this milestone assures that Thundermist will remain viable as one of the state’s largest, independent community health centers, ensuring that it will be able to fulfill its mission to the communities and the patients it serves.”

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CEO Named

Thundermist said, "While the current cashflow crisis has ended, the hard work is just beginning. To that end, Thundermist has also announced Chuck Jones will be returning to Thundermist to serve as its president and CEO once again. Jones previously worked as president and CEO at Thundermist 201116 before joining Harbor Health in Boston. He is expected to begin on or before the start of the new year.

 

Thundermist had announced in early September it was facing a financial crisis and needed to close a budget gap of $2 million a month.

 

Thundermist’s board of directors subsequently terminated its contract with former President and CEO Jeanne LaChance and reduced the health center’s workforce by 14%, along with implementing additional measures to help stabilize the organization. The board hired Maria Montanaro as interim CEO to oversee turnaround efforts. Montanaro had previously served as Thundermist’s president and CEO 1997-2011.

 

“This has been a team effort,” Montanaro says. “Our dedicated staff, leadership, and board have worked tirelessly to enact the changes that are needed to close the operational deficit that led to Thundermist’s fiscal crisis. While there is still much work to do, we are on the road to recovery.”

 

Thundermist is deeply grateful to the partners and stakeholders who have stepped up to assist Thundermist with its cashflow emergency. These include Neighborhood Health Plan of RI (NHPRI), which was the very first organization to closely partner with Thundermist and advance the health center millions of dollars of earned payments. Without their immediate assistance, Thundermist would have been closed by October 1.

 

“Peter Marino, CEO of NHPRI, was absolutely invaluable to me and our team in working through this crisis,” Montanaro says. “His team spent many long hours working with us as we confronted our fiscal crisis. We cannot thank them enough.”

 

Thundermist appreciates the rapid response and assistance of the following stakeholders whose executives made themselves available to Montanaro the moment she called. Collectively, each provided hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars of assistance. They are Blue Cross Blue Shield of RI, Care New England, Delta Dental of RI, the Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS), the Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA), Landmark Medical Center, Tufts Health Plan, and UnitedHealthcare. Thundermist continues in discussion with its remaining hospital partners.

 

In addition, Thundermist expects to receive an employee retention tax credit from the Internal Revenue Service before the end of the year. 

 

“The bulk of funds from our stakeholders are in the form of advance payments, with a smaller amount in the form of grants and donations,” Montanaro said.

 

She also told GoLocal that the organization is conducting a forensic audit, which is expected to be completed in early 2025. At least one board member will be leaving and there will be an effort to upgrade the leadership.