Five Questions With: Rebecca Plonsky

Rebecca Plonsky, a licensed independent clinical social worker, is vice president of integrated behavioral health at CharterCARE Health Partners, which includes Roger Williams Medical Center in Providence and Our Lady of Fatima Hospital in North Providence. / CHARTERCARE HEALTH PARTNERS
Rebecca Plonsky, a licensed independent clinical social worker, is vice president of integrated behavioral health at CharterCARE Health Partners, which includes Roger Williams Medical Center in Providence and Our Lady of Fatima Hospital in North Providence. / CHARTERCARE HEALTH PARTNERS

Rebecca Plonsky, a licensed independent clinical social worker, is vice president of integrated behavioral health at CharterCARE Health Partners, which includes Roger Williams Medical Center in Providence and Our Lady of Fatima Hospital in North Providence. In her current position, Plonsky provides leadership and strategic direction for integrated behavioral health across CharterCARE’s inpatient and outpatient continuum of care. Working in partnership with key state agencies – the Executive Office of Health and Human Services; the Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals; and the Department of Health – Plonsky helped navigate an agreement to create CharterCARE’s new Long-Term Behavioral Health Unit, which has 20 beds for Medicaid-eligible patients who need long-term psychiatric care.

Before coming to CharterCARE Health Partners, she worked for the EOHHS and Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island and currently maintains a private practice treating adults and adolescents. She talked recently with Providence Business News about the new LTBHU and its role in the community.

PBN: Tell us more about this LTBHU at Our Lady of Fatima Hospital, and what was the motivation to open it?

PLONSKY: Our goal is to meet the needs of our community. After we conducted a comprehensive assessment of the needs of behavioral health patients across Rhode Island, our conclusion led us to decide that many patients would benefit from the high-quality, cost-effective, evidence-based services that are being rendered on our new LTBHU.

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Our strong partnership with the DOH, the BHDDH and the EOHHS have allowed us to move forward with opening the LTBHU. We are excited about this opportunity to be one of only two providers in the entire state to offer these services; Eleanor Slater Hospital is the other provider.

PBN: Is the LTBHU designed to only treat Medicaid-eligible patients? If so, why; if not, who else is eligible to receive treatment there?

PLONSKY: Yes, at this time, the LTBHU is designated for patients with active Medicaid coverage. We do have several patients who have primary commercial or Medicare insurance; however, those patients must have, at a minimum, secondary Medicaid coverage. One of our primary goals was to admit patients who were waiting for admission to Eleanor Slater Hospital. Any patient who is admitted to Eleanor Slater Hospital is required to have active Medicaid insurance, as well.

PBN: What kinds of behavioral health challenges do prospective patients have, and what’s the typical length of stay likely to be?

PLONSKY: Our model on our LTBHU is a strength-based model that allows patients to build their recovery. We work closely with the patients and their support systems to implement an integrated and holistic treatment plan that enables patients to recover – not only in our unit, but in the community. Each client’s community integration is individualized; community activities include shopping, banking, exercise, socialization and employment. These community interventions will lead to improved health outcomes.

Our team understands that we have to identify and proactively find solutions to the many social determinants with which our patients struggle. These include minimal income, housing and building a strong community-based system of support. Discharge planning begins on the patient’s first day, as our goal is to transition each patient to the community as soon as possible. We anticipate some patients will be ready to begin their transition plan to the community within six months of admission and others may need at least 12 months to transition.

PBN: How will these patients, once treated, be able to function successfully in the community, and what resources will be available to them?

PLONSKY: Our treatment plans have a primary focus on patient recovery and community integration. Our Community Integration Services help patients optimize their personal, social and vocational skills in order to live successfully in the community. Patients and their families are active
partners in all aspects of such programs. Treatment is individualized to meet the needs and goals of the patients. Our comprehensive array of services includes, but is not limited to, life skills, early recovery skills building, vocational and peer support services, counseling, medication education, Alcoholics Anonymous, physical and occupational therapy, dental, dietary, respiratory and routine and preventative screenings.

PBN: What financial and medical challenges and opportunities do you anticipate the LTBHU will face in the coming months?

PLONSKY: We do not anticipate any significant financial challenges as we continue to work closely with our state partners. Our Lady of Fatima has a compendium of medical services available for our patients on the LTBHU who need routine or emergent care; all medical services are located in the same building as our LTBHU.

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