R.I. receives $1.6M to design health care model

PROVIDENCE – A six-month planning grant for $1.6 million under the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation Center’s “State Innovation Model Design Program” was awarded to Rhode Island on Feb. 21.
In making the award, CMS said that Rhode Island “intends to develop a model that builds upon the patient-centered medical home initiative and focuses on a community-centered delivery system.”
The purpose of the grant, according to Dara Chadwick, spokeswoman for the R.I. Department of Health, is “to facilitate the design for Rhode Island’s future health care system.”
The planning process will focus on how health care is delivered and paid for, with the resulting plan defining strategies and mechanisms for moving Rhode Island’s health care delivery system to a value-driven, community-based, and patient centered system, according to CMS documents.
The Rhode Island “health care innovation plan” will be developed through an open process led by Lt. Gov. Elizabeth H. Roberts. Part of the funds will be used to hire a consulting firm to assist in this process.
Following the six-month planning process, the state can then submit an application to the CMS Innovation Center for a second round of SIM Model Test grants, with future awards ranging between $30 million and $60 million over three years to jump start the state’s efforts to build a value-based system of care, according to government officials.
The Primary Care Trust, an innovative system of community health care centers proposed by Dr. Michael Fine, the director of the R.I. Department of Health, is one idea that will be considered and studied during the SIM process, according to Chadwick.

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