Partners HealthCare,  based in  Boston, and Care New England Health System, based in  Providence, have extended their merger talks through Jan. 31

Massachusetts’s largest health system and Rhode Island’s second-largest announced  last April that they were working on a deal for Partners to acquire financially stressed Care New England. But their negotiations have taken longer than initially expected.

Part of the process is that Care New England has been closing down inpatient operations at Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island, in Pawtucket, a huge money loser for Care New England.\

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