Latest news with #BCBSRI
Yahoo
01-08-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Washington Trust earns Exemplary Worksite Health Award for ninth consecutive year
WESTERLY, R.I., Aug. 1, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- For the ninth year in a row, Washington Trust has been recognized with an Exemplary Worksite Health Award from Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island (BCBSRI) and the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce (the Chamber) for effective programs encouraging employee health and well-being in a meaningful way. Washington Trust has been included on the winners list for over 15 years. Washington Trust was one of nearly 50 Rhode Island businesses honored by BCBSRI and the Chamber with a Worksite Health Award at a breakfast attended by hundreds of state business leaders. The event celebrated local businesses who have demonstrated a commitment to improving Rhode Islanders' overall health through innovative wellness programs. Washington Trust was honored with an Exemplary Worksite Health Award in recognition of its enduring commitment to employee well-being and a dynamic workplace culture. For more than two decades, Washington Trust has offered a comprehensive well-being program that supports physical, emotional, and financial health and includes incentives such as discounted medical premiums and access to financial planning resources. Washington Trust fosters a collaborative, growth-oriented environment, and promotes inclusivity and engagement through employee resource groups, including Pride, ¡Somos!, Unity, and Ascend. High satisfaction ratings from annual culture surveys underscore Washington Trust's success in cultivating a workplace where individuals thrive both personally and professionally. ABOUT WASHINGTON TRUST®Founded in 1800, Washington Trust is recognized as the oldest community bank in the nation, the largest state-chartered bank headquartered in Rhode Island and one of the Northeast's premier financial services companies. Washington Trust values its role as a community bank and is committed to helping the people, businesses, and organizations of New England improve their financial lives. The Bank offers a wide range of commercial banking, mortgage banking, personal banking and wealth management services through its offices in Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts and a full suite of convenient digital tools. Washington Trust is a member of the FDIC and an equal housing lender. Washington Trust is a subsidiary of Washington Trust Bancorp, Inc., a publicly-owned holding company which trades on NASDAQ: WASH. For more information, visit the Bank's website at or the Corporation's website at About BCBSRIBlue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island ( is a non-profit, community-focused health plan established in 1939 to help Rhode Islanders finance their healthcare needs. Today, that purpose is still foundational to our work. We have a vision to improve health and well-being by leading access to high quality, affordable, and equitable care. We are an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. Connect with us on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. About the Greater Providence Chamber of CommerceThe Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce is Rhode Island's only statewide chamber. The Chamber is the hub of connections for Rhode Island businesses of all sizes, in all industries and in all sectors. For more information, visit follow us on Twitter @Provchamber, and like us on Facebook. View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE The Washington Trust Company
Yahoo
10-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
How providers and payers are collaborating to improve behavioral health care
Blue Cross Blue Shield Rhode Island, the largest locally based, nonprofit health plan in the state, now covers less intensive behavioral health treatment for children transitioning back to school after hospitalization. (Getty image) As demand for behavioral health services continues to strain the capacity of the health care system, it's more apparent than ever that solutions will require innovation, collaboration and trust. We've been demonstrating that here in Rhode Island, where the state's largest psychiatric hospital for children and the state's largest and locally based insurer have been increasingly working together to expand access to care for Rhode Islanders. At Bradley Hospital and Blue Cross & Blue Shield Rhode Island (BCBSRI), we have been partnering on a variety of initiatives to create a community-based system of care that focuses on prevention and early intervention. With a shared vision – one that seeks to overcome industry workforce shortages and maintain affordability — we are finding solutions to help individuals and families in Rhode Island better access expert mental health care. At the recent Behavioral Health Tech Conference, we teamed up to share some of the lessons we've learned and accomplishments we've achieved. They include the following: In 2018, BCBSRI launched the first in a series of market-leading steps to eliminate prior authorization requirements for mental health and substance use treatment, saving time and money for everyone. The biggest winners have been patients. When patients 'board' in the emergency department waiting for inpatient care, it is stressful for them and their families, costly for payers, and operationally challenging for providers. Removing prior authorization has helped create a more efficient and humane system. There are exciting pockets of innovation everywhere, but funding them sustainably is difficult when they don't fit with established approaches and billing codes. With the dramatic rise in childhood anxiety, Bradley Hospital recently developed a team-based model of care for obsessive compulsive-disorder, where trained providers can supplement clinicians by working under the supervision of licensed psychologists. BCBSRI saw the program's potential to greatly expand access to evidence-based care and developed reimbursement for these nonclinical providers. With that added financial support, Bradley was then able to win an $11 million grant from the national Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute for the expansion and evaluation of different treatment modalities. Medical care only accounts for 10-20% of a person's health and well-being. What would it look like if we reimbursed for youth mental health care as if social factors, such as the school environment, mattered too? Bradley and BCBSRI have started to do this. BCBSRI now reimburses for children to transition from intensive treatment programs at Bradley to 'transition days' back at school, recognizing that school is a place where less intensive treatment can be delivered. Successfully reintegrating students into school can improve long-term outcomes and, we hope, reduce the need for future care. The Verrecchia Clinic, part of Bradley Hospital's Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities, developed an 18-month training program for community providers to modify treatments for neurodiverse children and youth. This is an important program that will help innumerable Rhode Island youth, but we know that for providers in private practice or community outpatient settings, time is money and it's difficult to take time out of seeing patients for this type of training. That's why BCBSRI is providing a $100 hourly stipend for providers to attend this training. It's another example of how doing the right thing — expanding access to quality care close to home — may ultimately be the efficient thing, enabling more children to receive care in less acute, community settings. We know there is much more work to be done, but these efforts are underscoring how providers, payors and others committed to improving behavioral healthcare, and trusting in one another, can collaborate on new and innovative approaches to expand access to care and better support the mental health needs of Rhode Islanders. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
