Rhode Island
Rhode Island Senate Introduces Sweeping Health Care Reform Package – Newport Buzz
In a significant move Tuesday, leaders in the Rhode Island Senate introduced a comprehensive 25-bill legislative package designed to enhance health care access and affordability across the state.
Unveiled as the Rhode Island HEALTH Initiative (Holistic Enhancement and Access Legislation for Total Health), the package focuses on four key pillars: consumer protection, provider availability and care quality, cost containment, and health system financial stability.
The announcement came from Senate President Dominick J. Ruggerio, Senate Majority Leader Ryan W. Pearson, Senate Health & Human Services Committee Chairman Joshua Miller, Senate Environment & Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Alana M. DiMario, a licensed mental health counselor, and Senate Health & Human Services Committee Secretary Pamela J. Lauria, a primary care nurse practitioner.
Addressing the critical state of the health care system, President Ruggerio emphasized the urgent need for accessible and affordable care for all Rhode Islanders. He commended the collaborative efforts of the Senate in crafting this legislative package and acknowledged the challenges faced by community hospitals, including Fatima in his district.
Majority Leader Pearson highlighted the importance of taking a holistic approach to address the interconnected factors affecting the health care system. He expressed gratitude for the knowledgeable and dedicated Senate membership committed to addressing the challenges faced by the state.
Consumer Protection Measures
Chairwoman DiMario, drawing on her experience as a licensed mental health counselor, stressed the significance of consumer protection in the initiative. The consumer protection measures include:
- Hospital determination of Medicare & Medicaid eligibility for uninsured patients
- State purchase of medical debt through ARPA funding
- Prohibition on medical debt reporting to credit bureaus
- Medical debt interest rate cap
- Prohibition on medical debt attachments
- Surprise billing protections for ambulance services
Provider Availability & Care Quality Improvements
Senator Lauria, a primary care nurse practitioner, addressed the shortage of health care providers as a pressing concern. The measures to enhance provider availability and care quality include:
- Enhanced Curriculum & Clinical Training
- Primary Care Scholarship Program
- Medicaid reimbursement for mental health intern work
- Uniform Telehealth Act
- Social Work Interstate Licensure Compact
- Counseling Compact
- Audiology Compact
- Physician Assistant Compact
- Occupational Therapy Compact
- NCLEX pending exemption
- Physical therapy licensing
Cost Containment Strategies
Committee Chairman Miller highlighted the complexity of health care policy and the importance of cost containment. The cost containment measures include:
- Creation of a drug affordability commission
- Pharma Coupons
- Separate NPI for off-site procedures
- Price transparency
Health System Financial Stability
Leader Pearson emphasized the need for overall financial stability in the health care system. The measures to ensure financial stability include:
- OHIC dual mandate
- Dental medical loss ratio
- Adding primary care to rate review
- Low-income drug program
The legislative package has garnered support from various stakeholders, including Debra Hurwitz, executive director of the Care Transformation Collaborative of RI, who praised the initiative’s efforts to address the primary care workforce shortage and enhance training opportunities for health care providers in Rhode Island.
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Related
The Rhode Island Blood Center is asking for donations after the fatal shooting at Brown University on Saturday.
Several donor centers have extended hours available as they respond to the emergency.
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Anyone interested can sign up for an appointment on the organization’s website.
PROVIDENCE — The Rhode Island Blood Center’s blood supply was low before Saturday’s mass shooting at Brown University, and it is immediately stepping up blood drives to meet the need, an official said Sunday.
“We were definitely dealing with some issues with inventory going into the incident,” Executive Director of Blood Operations Nicole Pineault said.
The supply was especially low for Type 0 positive and negative, which are often needed for mass casualty incidents, she said. Type 0 negative is considered the “universal” red blood donor, because it can be safely given to patients of any blood type.
Pineault attributed the low supply to weather, illness, and the lingering effects of the pandemic. With more people working from home, blood drives at office buildings are smaller, and young people — including college students — are not donating blood at the same rate as they did in the past, she said.
“There are a lot challenges,” she said.
But people can help by donating blood this week, Pineault said, suggesting they go to ribc.org or contact the Rhode Island Blood Center at (401) 453-8383 or (800) 283-8385.
The donor room at 405 Promenade St. in Providence is open seven days a week, Pineault said. Blood drives were already scheduled for this week at South Street Landing in Providence and at Brown Physicians, and the blood center is looking to add more blood drives in the Providence area this week, she said.
“It breaks my heart,” Pineault said of the shooting. “It’s a terrible tragedy. We run blood dives regularly on the Brown campus. Our heart goes out to all of the victims and the staff. We want to work with them to get the victims what they need.”
She said she cannot recall a similar mass shooting in Rhode Island.
“In moments of tragedy, it’s a reminder to the community how important the blood supply really is,” Pineault said. “It’s an easy way to give back, to help your neighbors, and be ready in unfortunate situations like this.”
The Rhode Island Blood Center has donor centers in Providence, Warwick, Middletown, Narragansett, and Woonsocket, and it has mobile blood drives, she noted.
On Sunday, the center’s website said “Donors urgently needed. Hours extended at some donor centers, 12/14.”
Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at edward.fitzpatrick@globe.com. Follow him @FitzProv.
Authorities said two people were killed and eight more were injured in a mass shooting at Brown University, an Ivy League school in Rhode Island. Authorities said students were on campus for the second day of final exams.
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