Raimondo launches initiative to improve health care for R.I.

GOV. GINA M. Raimondo launched a statewide initiative Monday designed to improve health care for all Rhode Islanders. / PBN FILE PHOTO/ MICHAEL SALERNO
GOV. GINA M. Raimondo launched a statewide initiative Monday designed to improve health care for all Rhode Islanders. / PBN FILE PHOTO/ MICHAEL SALERNO

PROVIDENCE – A statewide initiative was launched Monday designed to improve health care for all Rhode Islanders.

Gov. Gina M. Raimondo, who announced the new initiative along with U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, signed an executive order creating the Working Group for Health Care Innovation, and appointed health care professionals, patient advocates, business people and other policy leaders to serve on it.

The group will examine and recommend improvements for the state’s health care system and also will support and coordinate health care reform work already underway in the state.

This is the second group Raimondo has formed to address health care needs.

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She also created a Working Group to Reinvent Medicaid earlier this year. That group formed the basis for the Reinventing Medicaid Act of 2015, which Raimondo’s office said achieved more than $70 million in state Medicaid savings and establishes incentive programs designed to reward hospitals and nursing homes for providing better coordinated care and achieving better patient outcomes.

Said Raimondo, “We have laid a great foundation for reform through Reinventing Medicaid, yet too many Rhode Islanders still cannot access the coordinated services they need to be healthy, and rising costs are still a major concern for businesses, families and the state. As we continue to reform our Medicaid system, we can and must help more people make it in Rhode Island by expanding our focus beyond publicly-funded health care. I look forward to coordinating this work with Senator Whitehouse and [Health and Human Services Secretary Elizabeth H. Roberts].”

Whitehouse said that reforming the health care delivery system “can unlock both lower costs and better care for Rhode Island patients.”

“The governor has an opportunity to keep our state at the forefront of health care innovation, and I look forward to supporting her and our health care leaders in this effort,” Whitehouse said.

The focus on health care innovation will draw on recommendations from a group of health care stakeholders that Whitehouse and Rhode Island Foundation President and CEO Neil D. Steinberg have convened. It also will build on the Medicaid action plan the Working Group to Reinvent Medicaid recently completed.

The Working Group will focus on four specific goals that will be delivered to the governor in December:

  • Develop benchmarks and a plan to establish a global health spending cap for Rhode Island
  • Identify an implementation plan to achieve the “80 by ’18” goals which tie 80 percent of health care payments to quality by 2018
  • Develop a vision for next-generation health information technology systems for all payers to improve care and reduce waste in the system
  • Establish performance management frameworks to achieve population health and wellness goals outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Healthy People 2020 report

The Working Group for Healthcare Innovation will hold its first meeting in August and will present recommendations to Raimondo in December. Roberts is the chairwoman.

Other members are:

  • R.I. Sen. Joshua Miller, D-Cranston
  • R.I. Sen. Juan M. Pichardo, D-Providence
  • Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian
  • Peter Andruszkiewicz, president and CEO, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island
  • Steven J. Farrell, president and CEO, UnitedHealthcare of New England
  • Peter M. Marino, president and CEO, Neighborhood Health Plan
  • James Roosevelt Jr., CEO, Tufts Health Plan
  • Dennis D. Keefe, president and CEO, Care New England
  • Dr. Timothy J. Babineau, president and CEO, Lifespan
  • Louis Giancola, president and CEO, South County Health
  • Lester P. Schindel, CEO, CharterCARE Health Partners
  • Dr. G. Alan Kurose, president, Coastal Medical Group
  • Dale Klatzker, president and CEO, The Providence Center
  • Steven J. Horowitz, president and CEO, St. Elizabeth Community
  • Diana Franchitto, president and CEO, Home & Hospice Care of Rhode Island and Visiting Nurse Home Care
  • Dr. Louis B. Rice, University Medicine Foundation
  • Dr. Pablo Rodriguez, CEO, Women’s Care
  • Dr. Paul F. Calitri, vice president, Rhode Island Dental Association
  • Donna Policastro, executive director, Rhode Island State Nurses Association
  • Jane Hayward, president and CEO, Rhode Island Health Center Association
  • Dr. Alvaro J. Olivares (invited), Hispanic Outpatient Psychiatric Clinic at Butler Hospital
  • Dr. Elizabeth B. Lange (invited), pediatrician, Coastal Medical
  • Dr. Al Puerini (invited), president and CEO, Rhode Island Primary Care Physicians Corp.
  • Linda McDonald (invited), president, United Nurses and Allied Professionals
  • Al Charbonneau, executive director, Rhode Island Business Group on Health
  • John C. Simmons, executive director, Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council
  • Ted Almon, president and CEO, Claflin Co.
  • Dr. Jack A. Elias, dean of medicine and biological science, Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University
  • Neil D. Steinberg, president and CEO, Rhode Island Foundation
  • Dr. Ira Wilson, Brown University School of Public Health
  • John Keimig, president and CEO, Healthcentric Advisors
  • Samuel Salganik, Rhode Island Parent Information Network
  • Reginald Tucker-Seeley, R.I. Commission for Health Advocacy and Equity
  • Laura L. Adams (invited), president and CEO, Rhode Island Quality Institute

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