Rhode Island
Early data promising on RI’s evolving behavioral health model | Opinion
Governor’s executive order targets Rhode Island health care costs
Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee takes action to lower health care costs and improve affordability through new executive order.
Across Rhode Island, there has been a shared commitment in recent years to strengthening our behavioral health system, expanding access, improving coordination, and ensuring people can get the care they need, when they need it. One of the ways the state has moved that work forward is through the implementation of certified community behavioral health clinics (CCBHCs).
Today, eight organizations across Rhode Island are part of this model, each serving different regions and populations. At Thrive Behavioral Health, which serves Kent County, we’ve been operating a CCBHC for nearly a year and a half. With that milestone comes something equally important: the opportunity to reflect on what the data is beginning to show.
While 17 months is only an early snapshot, the results we are seeing are encouraging and offer useful insight into how this model is functioning in practice.
Access to care is one area where the impact is already visible. Since becoming a CCBHC, we’ve seen a 60% increase in client intakes, connecting more individuals and families to services across Kent County. In total, more than 3,700 Rhode Islanders received care through our services last year.
That increase reflects a model designed to meet people where they are, with an emphasis on accessibility and a “no wrong door” approach. Individuals can enter care through multiple pathways and receive support regardless of their circumstances.
Equally important are the outcomes associated with that access.
Over the past year, we’ve seen a 28% increase in clients reporting improved overall mental health, along with a 19% increase in those able to remain in their homes and communities, outcomes that reflect greater stability and continuity of care. These are meaningful indicators, particularly in a field where progress is often measured over time and across many touchpoints.
The data also suggests progress in how care is coordinated across the broader system.
In Kent County, there has been a reduction in emergency department utilization among adults, alongside strong rates of connection to care for individuals experiencing behavioral health crises. These trends point to the value of integrating crisis response, outpatient services, and community-based supports in a more coordinated way.
The CCBHC model is designed to support exactly that kind of coordination. It brings together a comprehensive range of services, emphasizes partnerships with other providers and systems, and aligns funding in a way that supports continuity of care.
Each of Rhode Island’s CCBHCs serves a different community, and continued evaluation across all sites will be essential to understanding the full impact of the model. At the same time, early data like this plays an important role. It helps inform decision-making, highlights areas of progress and identifies opportunities to strengthen the system.
Behavioral health care is complex, and meaningful change does not happen overnight. But it does happen through thoughtful implementation, collaboration, and a willingness to learn from what the data is telling us.
More than a year in, the CCBHC model is offering a clearer picture of what coordinated, community-based behavioral health care can look like in Rhode Island.
Sustaining that progress will require continued commitment, including stable, long-term funding that allows providers to maintain and expand access to care. With thoughtful support from policymakers and continued collaboration across the system, Rhode Island has an opportunity to build on this early momentum and ensure these gains are not temporary, but lasting.
Dawn Allen is the president and CEO of Thrive Behavioral Health in Warwick.
Which ‘Real Housewives of Rhode Island’ stars want to do Season 2?
Reporter Paul Edward Parker asks cast members of the “Real Housewives of Rhode Island” if they’re up for another season of the Bravo TV show.
Paul Edward Parker
It was in a Rhode Island court that “The Real Housewives of Rhode Island” heated up as a Cranston woman sued the husband of one of the cast members for slander.
The legal fireworks started April 13, when Brian Pontarelli, husband of “Real Housewife” star Rulla Nehme Pontarelli, sued Beth Walker of Cranston in Superior Court, alleging that she violated a confidentiality agreement in another lawsuit by “making public statements and social media posts” about facts related to the earlier lawsuit.
On Tuesday, May 5, Walker fired back, calling the confidentiality agreement illegal and unenforceable, saying that Pontarelli broke it first by talking on “Real Housewives,” and filing a countersuit saying that he made false, “defamatory and disparaging” comments on the “Real Housewives” main show, as well as during a podcast and an after-show live broadcast. She is seeking unspecified damages.
A past affair, current speculation and a national audience feed lawsuit
Walker particularly identifies the April 26 episode of “Watch What Happens Live,” when host Andy Cohen brings back stars from the show, which was taped last year, for further discussion. In this episode, Brian and Rulla talk about how their marriage has survived his cheating with another woman.
One of the subplots of “The Real Housewives of Rhode Island,” which is midway through its first season, is whether or not the affair Brian had is still ongoing. Texts and social media posts by an unnamed woman, whom the cast refers to as “the mistress,” feature in several episodes.
What Beth Walker has to say
Reached by The Providence Journal on Wednesday afternoon, May 6, Walker’s lawyer, Frank L. Orabona Jr., said that she can’t tell her side of the story right now.
“A public narrative has been created around my client, but narrative and facts are not always the same thing,” Orabona said. “As this unfolds, the evidence will tell a very different story.”
Post-show discussion and podcast fuel drama in court
In the April 26 “Watch What Happens Live” episode, in which Walker’s suit says Pontarelli “discussed a romantic relationship … in a defamatory and disparaging manner,” Rulla and Brian talk about his affair with “the mistress,” also referring to her as “the cockroach.”
Walker’s Tuesday filing also served as her answer to Pontarelli’s suit, and she asked the court to toss his claim based on 16 separate grounds.
Among other things, Walker’s filing says:
- “Walker’s speech relates to topics of public concern being discussed weekly to a nationwide audience of millions of viewers.”
- “Any comments made by Walker were truthful, not disparaging, related to matters in the public domain and/or were made in good faith.”
- “As a result of the national publicity of the show, information related to [Pontarelli’s] personal, romantic relationships is public knowledge nationally across the United States and locally in communities throughout Rhode Island; and is otherwise in the public domain.”
- “It is inequitable and unfair to allow [Pontarelli] a national platform to discuss topics to a coast-to-coast audience and prohibit Walker from speaking on the same topics and/or from correcting false information being spread by [Pontarelli] or others.”
- Prohibiting her from commenting would violate the state and federal constitutions’ guarantee of free speech.
No hearings have been scheduled in the case.
Pontarelli’s lawyer, Jessica L. Basso, declined to comment on the case.
This story has been updated with new information.
(WPRI) — The last few weeks have been lucky for Rhode Island lottery players, including a Cranston man who won a $50,000 Powerball prize.
The Rhode Island Lottery said the lucky winner bought his ticket at the Shaw’s Supermarket on Chapel View Boulevard in Cranston for the drawing on April 25.
In that same drawing, someone won a $2 million Powerball prize, but no one has come forward to claim the money yet. That winning ticket was purchased at the Seasons Corner Market on Old Louisquisset Pike in Lincoln.
In Providence, a man won $30,000 through the Mega Multiplier Instant Game after he had a dream about playing the lottery and decided to buy a ticket. He bought that winning ticket at Three Ring Liquors on Plainfield Street. The man said he is planning to share his winnings with his family.
Another lucky lottery player won $25,000 playing The Numbers on April 27. The Lincoln man bought his ticket at the Twin River Mini Mart on Douglas Pike in Smithfield.
A North Providence woman also won big, claiming a $17,760 prize after playing the RI 250 Instant Game. She told lottery officials that she plans to use her winnings to take a trip. She bought her ticket at the Shaw’s Supermarket on Smithfield Road in North Providence.
Whoever won the $2 million Powerball Prize will have until April 29, 2027, to claim their winnings. You can check the winning Powerball numbers here.
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