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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.
WARWICK, R.I. (WPRI) — Two people are dead and another person seriously hurt after a crash involving two vehicles on the highway in Warwick Saturday.
Rhode Island State Police said the crash happened around 1:34 p.m. on the ramp from Route 113 West to I-95 South.
According to police, a Hyundai SUV that was driving in the middle lane of the highway started to drift to the right, crossed the first lane, and then crossed onto the on-ramp lane. The car struck the guardrail twice before driving through the grass median.
The Hyundai then struck the driver’s side of a Mercedes SUV that was on the ramp, causing the Mercedes to roll over and come to a rest. The impact sent the Hyundai over the guardrail and down an embankment.
The driver of the Hyundai, a 73-year-old man, and his passenger, a 69-year-old woman, were both pronounced dead at the hospital.
A woman who was in the Mercedes was rushed to Rhode Island Hospital in critical condition.
State police said all lanes of traffic were reopened by 4:30 p.m.
The investigation remains ongoing.
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A federal judge on Friday tossed the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) lawsuit aiming to force Rhode Island to hand over its voter information as part of the Trump administration’s push to acquire voter data from several states.
Rhode Island U.S. District Court Judge Mary McElroy wrote that federal law does not allow the DOJ “to conduct the kind of fishing expedition it seeks here,” siding with Rhode Island election officials. She added that the DOJ did not provide evidence to suggest that Rhode Island violated election law.
McElroy, a Trump appointee, wrote that she sided with the similar decision in Oregon. That decision ruled that the DOJ was not entitled to unredacted voter registration lists.
“Absent from the demand are any factual allegations suggesting that Rhode Island may be violating the list maintenance requirements,” she said in her ruling.
Rhode Island Secretary of State Gregg Amore (D) praised McElroy’s decision. He said in a statement that the Trump administration “seems to have no problem taking actions that are clear Constitutional overreaches, regularly meddling in responsibilities that are the rights of the states.”
“Today’s decision affirms our position: the United States Department of Justice has no legal right to – or need for – the personally-identifiable information in our voter file,” he said. “Voter list maintenance is a responsibility entrusted to the states, and I remain confident in the steps we take here in Rhode Island to keep our list as accurate as possible.”
The Hill reached out to the DOJ for comment.
The DOJ called for the voter lists as it investigated Rhode Island’s compliance with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, which allowed Americans to register to vote when they apply for a driver’s license.
The DOJ sued at least 30 states, as well as Washington, D.C., in December demanding their respective voter data. This data includes birth dates, names and partial Social Security numbers.
At least 12 states have given or said they will give the DOJ their voter registration lists, according to a tracker operated by the Brennan Center for Justice.
The department stated after it lost a similar suit against Massachusetts earlier this month that it had “sweeping powers” to access the voter data and that, if states fail to comply, courts have a “limited, albeit vital, role” in directing election officers on behalf of the administration to produce the records. The DOJ cited the Civil Rights Act as being intended to unearth alleged election law violations.
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