Rhode Island

Decades of inaction have wrought R.I.’s primary care crisis. We must address it right now, then nurse the state back to health. – The Boston Globe

Published

12 months ago

April 16, 2025

Decades of inaction have wrought R.I.’s primary care crisis. We must address it right now, then nurse the state back to health. – The Boston Globe

Yet, as a state, we have not properly maintained the health of our primary care environment, nor have we responded to the signs of its disintegration.

Now we must respond to a full-blown crisis.

Just as a person who suffers a heart attack receives emergency care and then is often advised to adopt lifestyle changes to restore their health, our state must deal with this crisis with emergency measures, as well as with medium- and long-term efforts to sustain and strengthen primary care.

While our Department of Health and Executive Office of Health and Human Services work to try to keep Anchor’s providers in Rhode Island, we and our Senate colleagues are working to enact legislation addressing Rhode Island’s shortage of primary care providers in the near and long term.

One root cause is clear: Primary care is reimbursed by health insurance at much lower rates than specialties, making it difficult for debt-burdened young providers to choose primary care when entering practice. Rhode Island is further disadvantaged in recruiting and keeping those who do go into primary care because our immediate neighbors are paying clinicians significantly more.

Senator Sosnowski has advocated for improved and equitable insurance payments to hospitals and providers for years. We must address reimbursement rates as an immediate step to maintain our current providers and recruit more to practice primary care here. That effort must include a Medicaid rate review for primary care providers now, not in 2027 as is proposed in the governor’s budget. It’s going to take continuing, coordinated effort to ensure our rates don’t force doctors to leave for surrounding states with higher rates, or choose other specialties.

Another immediate need is addressing the extra stressors on our primary care providers. Senator DiMario has focused on better supporting the incredibly under-resourced mental health system that would help PCPs and patients alike. We must also demand that insurers reduce the needless administrative burdens they place on primary care providers, and increase patients’ access to specialists to decrease time demands on PCPs. The R.I. Senate has focused on resolving these issues, and we currently have many bills under consideration to accomplish those goals.

Rhode Island must also make a concerted effort to encourage medical students to specialize in primary care, and to choose Rhode Island when they graduate. Senator Lauria has introduced bills that focus on those goals. One would fund four primary care residency positions annually at a community-based health care organization that provides primary care and support services to underserved populations, increasing our workforce and supporting these critical agencies. In addition, reducing student loan debt, scholarships for students entering medical school and studying to become nurse practitioners or physician’s assistants in exchange for a commitment to specialize in primary care and work in Rhode Island are all current proposals under consideration.

As we work to improve our primary care workforce, we must also build in a mechanism for accountability to consistently meet the health care needs of our communities. We need specific targets, action plans, and ongoing monitoring to first ensure every Rhode Islander has access to a primary care provider, and then to take earlier corrective action in the future, so we do not face this crisis again.

We are all members of the Senate’s commission exploring the education and retention of primary care providers in Rhode Island, whose charge, in part, is to consider the possibility of establishing a medical school at University of Rhode Island. While this commission’s work is ongoing, the possibility of a public educational pipeline graduating doctors right here in Rhode Island holds promise for sustainably addressing our shortage of primary care providers.

Our current primary care crisis is the product of decades of inaction. We urge our colleagues across state government to work collaboratively right now, and in the future, to nurse it back to health.

Senators Pamela J. Lauria (D-Dist. 32, Barrington, Bristol, East Providence), V. Susan Sosnowski (D-Dist. 37, South Kingstown) and Alana M. DiMario (D-Dist. 26, Narragansett, North Kingstown, New Shoreham) are members of a Senate commission studying the education and retention of primary care physicians and the feasibility of establishing a medical school at URI.

Source link

Click to comment

Rhode Island

Crash closes Route 146 north in Lincoln

Published

5 hours ago

April 2, 2026

Press Room

The Rhode Island Department of Transportation reported a crash blocking all travel lanes on Route 146 north.

RIDOT posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the crash cleared shortly before 8 p.m.

Officials said the crash happened at the exit to Route 99 in Lincoln.

JOIN THE CONVERSATION (2)

NBC 10 is working to learn more information.

Source link

Rhode Island

Who is Dolores Catania? What to know about ‘The Real Housewives’ of RI guest

Published

17 hours ago

April 2, 2026

Press Room

Who is Dolores Catania? What to know about ‘The Real Housewives’ of RI guest

With the premiere of “The Real Housewives of Rhode Island”, you may be wondering exactly who you will be seeing on the screen.

Premiering on Thursday, April 2, Rhode Island’s debut in “The Real Housewives” franchise will focus on seven women from all across the Ocean State. The series will also include appearances from a franchise-familiar face: “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” star Dolores Catania.

Never seen “The Real Housewives of New Jersey”? Here’s what to know about Dolores Catania ahead of Rhode Island’s series premiere.

Who is Dolores Catania?

Born and raised in New Jersey, Dolores Catania quickly became a franchise fan-favorite after joining “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” in Season 7. While “The Real Housewives” is known for drama, Catania herself is known as a mediator on the show, often helping to keep the peace rather than choosing sides in an argument.

The 55-year-old Bravo celebrity shares two children with her ex-husband Frank Catania, who she maintains a close friendship and business partnership with. Catania is now engaged to Paul “Paulie” Connell, and she recently told Us Weekly that she plans to take wedding inspiration from another part-time Rhode Islander: Taylor Swift.

A TV personality and multi-faceted entrepeneur, Dolores Catania is most well-known for her charitable work with women’s shelters and animal rescue organizations. In 2018, fans voted her as “Miss Congeniality” across the entire “Real Housewives” franchise. Her efforts have also been recognized with honors such as the key to the city of Paterson and the Ambassador of Hope Award by Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, according to Bravo.

How is Dolores Catania connected to Rhode Island?

While Dolores Catania will be featured throughout “The Real Housewives of Rhode Island,” she is not trading her Jersey housewife life for the Ocean State. Rather, Catania joins the new series as a friend and mentor.

Specifically, Catania comes into the show as a close friend of Rhode Island “Real Housewife” Liz McGraw, a well-known Rhode Island dispensary owner whom Catania met at a cannabis convention. Together, the pair has plans to launch a line of gummies for menopausal women.

“It was a dream to have her by my side. I couldn’t imagine anything cooler than to have her here on my home turf with me,” McGraw told Bravo about filming alongside Catania. “Dolores is just an amazing friend. She understands me and I understand her. I trust her with my life.”

Although Catania did not know any of the other cast members prior to filming, she told Bravo that she became close with the entire cast.

“In a really crazy way, I felt like I knew them forever. They’re all very relatable to me. Each person, in their own way, I very much understood and felt that I fit in,” Catania said in a release.

While Catania said no state could ever come close to New Jersey, she did admit that she enjoyed filming in the “calmer” state of Rhode Island. She added that she does not feel too different from the Rhode Island housewives, saying that viewers will love them for their relatability in the same way they loved the relatability of the New Jersey housewives.

How to watch ‘The Real Houswives of Rhode Island’

The debut season of “The Real Housewives of Rhode Island” will premiere Thursday, April 2 at 9 p.m. on Bravo. After the first episode, new episodes will air weekly on Sundays at 9 p.m.

Episodes will be available for next-day streaming on Peacock. This means that the first episode will be available to stream on Friday, April 3, with new episodes available to stream on Mondays each week after that.

Watch ‘The Real Housewives of Rhode Island’ on Peacock

Source link

Rhode Island

401Gives surpasses $5 million goal, setting records across the board for Rhode Island nonprofits – What’s Up Newp

Published

1 day ago

April 1, 2026

Press Room

401Gives surpasses million goal, setting records across the board for Rhode Island nonprofits – What’s Up Newp

Rhode Islanders delivered.

401Gives, the statewide day of giving powered by United Way of Rhode Island, surpassed its $5 million fundraising goal by the time giving closed at 6 p.m. Wednesday, setting new records for donors, gifts and participating organizations in the initiative’s seven-year history.

Over 36 hours, 20,112 donors made 32,544 gifts to benefit 705 Rhode Island nonprofits — each figure a new high for 401Gives, which has now raised more than $24 million since its debut in 2020.

“401Gives and the generosity shown by our Rhode Island neighbors is nothing short of extraordinary, to have pushed the bar even higher with another record-breaking year is incredible,” said Cortney Nicolato, United Way’s president and CEO. “This is significant funding for our nonprofits, dollars they didn’t have just days ago. At a time of real need, our neighbors rose to the occasion, underscoring what I’ve always known to be true… Rhode Islanders always have one another’s back.”

Giving began at 6 a.m. Tuesday, with a $20,000 matching gift from the Papitto Opportunity Connection kicking things off. The effort crossed $1 million within its first few hours. Additional matches from Rhode Island Energy, Rhode Island Foundation, Eastern Bank and CapEx helped drive sustained bursts of activity throughout the day and a half. This year’s 401Gives began a day earlier than usual to honor Passover.

Among the top fundraisers, Newport’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center led the large nonprofit category with $204,864 raised, followed by the Audubon Society of Rhode Island at $165,329. School One topped medium-sized organizations with $81,165, while The Gordon School led small nonprofits at $61,312 and Partnership for Providence Parks paced micro organizations at $65,949. Girl Scouts of Southeastern New England surpassed $55,000, exceeding their goal. In all, 113 organizations raised $10,000 or more and 196 exceeded $5,000.

The Alliance of Rhode Island Southeast Asians for Education engaged the highest number of individual donors at 519, followed by Foster Forward at 449 and Alliance to Mobilize Our Resistance at 312.

“From Woonsocket to Westerly and everywhere in between, nonprofits touch our lives every single day, and often in ways people don’t even realize,” said Caitlynn Douglas, who leads 401Gives for the organization. “To see the way our community rallies around 401Gives and supports organizations that are feeding families, caring for seniors, educating our children, protecting our environment, enriching the arts, and so much more is extremely powerful. We hope donors see 401Gives as the beginning of an ongoing relationship with nonprofits and more than just a day of giving.”

Rhode Island’s nonprofit sector accounts for 18 percent of the state’s total workforce. 401Gives is powered by United Way of Rhode Island and its Alliance for Nonprofit Impact.

Source link