PROVIDENCE – The state has named a four-person leadership team to run its newly licensed, standalone psychiatric hospital.
The Rhode Island State Psychiatric Hospital will be led by Irina Beyder, who began as its CEO on Nov. 6, according to a Wednesday statement from the R.I. Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities & Hospitals. Beyder has more than 20 years of experience in behavioral health and health care leadership, including as chief operating officer for the DC Department of Behavioral Health in Washington, D.C., according to a news release.
The state in October received a license to operate the 52-bed psychiatric unit within Eleanor Slater Hospital as a standalone hospital, a separation that will allow the state to get up to $40 million in federal Medicaid reimbursements a year, PBN previously reported.
Richard Charest, BHDDH director, served as interim CEO until Beyder started.
Another longtime Eleanor Slater Hospital employee, Dr. Pedro Tactacan, will serve as the chief medical officer for the standalone psychiatric hospital. Tactacan began working at Eleanor Slater in 1999 and served as chief of psychiatry from 2017 to 2020. He also began his new position on Nov. 6.
The new leadership team also includes Jason Alexandre as chief quality officer and Matthew Wiley as chief nursing officer, the release stated.
“Opening the Rhode Island State Psychiatric Hospital this past fall was a significant achievement, and we are pleased to have such a strong leadership team in place,” Charest said in a statement. “Each of these individuals brings needed experience and expertise, as well as a strong commitment to caring for our patients.”
Separating the psychiatric unit of Eleanor Slater as a standalone state hospital was one of several recommendations made by Womazetta Jones, former secretary of the R.I. Office of Health and Human Services, in a 2021 report aimed at overhauling the troubled state hospital system.
Nancy Lavin is a PBN staff writer. Contact her at Lavin@PBN.com.
