Rhode Island Superior Court Judge Michael A. Silverstein has spent two days trying to get a sense of the intentions of four bidders who are putting tens of millions of dollars on the table to buy the bankrupt Landmark Medical Center in Woonsocket and its rehabilitation hospital in North Smithfield. The sale has as much to do with business strategy and the relationships between the hospital and its stakeholders as it does with the size of the financial investment. Silverstein has extended the deadline for bidders until noon on today and reserved this afternoon for closing arguments from the companies' lawyers. If Silverstein chooses among the four, it will mark the first time the state has had a for-profit hospital operation, at least in part a reflection of a business sector that is in acquisition mode nationwide.
