Latest news with #JerryLarkin
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
McKee outlines his plan to tackle Rhode Island's primary care shortage
Rhode Island Department of Health Director Dr. Jerry Larkin speaks during a press conference at the State House on Tuesday, April 29, 2025. Behind Larkin left to right are Gov. Dan McKee, Rhode Island Executive Office of Health and Human Services Secretary Richard Charest, Rhode Island Medicaid Director Kristin Pono Sousa, and Rhode Island Health Insurance Commissioner Cory King. (Photo by Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current) Gov. Dan McKee and top health care officials unveiled a new set of plans to mend Rhode Island's ailing primary care system Tuesday, with strategies like grants for helping clinics serve more patients and asking big commercial insurers to pay more. The Ocean State's dearth of primary care doctors won't be solved entirely, or even quickly. And the plan announced at a State House news conference by McKee and his Health Care System Planning Cabinet came a day before Anchor Medical Associates closes its Warwick office with two more set to close by June 30. 'We know that fixing these challenges will not happen overnight,' said Richard Charest, secretary of the Rhode Island Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS). 'These problems have developed over very many years, and we take and it will take time to rectify that.' The state is short about 300 primary care providers, according to Dr. Elizabeth Lange, a pediatrician at Hasbro who attended the conference. The all payer claims database shows Rhode Island currently has about 520 primary care providers, said Dr. Jerry Larkin, the state health department's director. 'So right now, we're a little bit short,' Larkin told the crowd. Solutions offered — like bigger primary care payments from commercial insurers, speeding up the Medicaid rate review process, and $5 million in grants for primary care practices — are all part of what McKee called 'a full deep dive into all factors that are related to primary care delivery.' 'There's still important work ahead, and we remain steadfast in our commitment to identify other strategies to strengthen our primary care system,' McKee said. 'We know that it is alarming when people in the state of Rhode Island are unable to find a primary care doctor, and we're going to do everything we can to connect them with the help that they are looking for.' Anchor Medical Associates on Wednesday will close its Warwick office — the first of the physician group's three locations which will all be shuttered by June 30. The Anchor closures announced earlier in April will affect about 25,000 patients, mostly children, who now need to find new primary care doctors. Charest told reporters he'd 'rather not get into the specifics of that practice,' but characterized the closure being due to 'internal operational challenges.' 'If we had been notified earlier, we may have been able to help stabilize that practice,' Charest said. 'I think that they were at a position that they had no liquidity at the end.' McKee's big ideas to tackle primary care crisis Accelerating Medicaid rate review for primary care. Requiring commercial health insurers to increase funding for primary care reimbursements Reducing red tape by easing prior authorization requirements Providing grants to help primary care practices serve additional patients and hire new providers Strengthening fiscal oversight of Rhode Island's health care system Expanding the primary care student loan forgiveness program Low reimbursement the state's Medicaid program pays providers have frequently been cited as a major contributing factor in the state's primary care troubles. McKee said he is moving to stabilize the state's primary care system by filing a budget amendment that would require the Office of the Health Insurance Commissioner (OHIC) to complete the primary care provider rate review process on an accelerated timeline. The rate review would be completed within a year instead of the usual two afforded to the rate review process for human services. Cory King, the health insurance commissioner, said the rate review would be completed by September 2026 on the new timeline. 'I don't set rates. I make recommendations after data driven analysis,' King said. That data and King's recommendations inform EOHHS' annual budget ask of the governor, which is submitted to the General Assembly in January. If the budget passes with the rates intact, it then goes to the federal government, which pays about half of Medicaid rate increases. If approved by the feds, the rate increases would take effect at the start of fiscal year 2028. 'There's some administrative tasks that have to happen before the actual rates are implemented,' Kristin Sousa, the Medicaid program director, told reporters. 'Traditionally, when the legislature passes the budget, it's effective on July 1. In this case, July 1 of 2027, we may not be ready to implement on July 1, but it will retro back to July 1.' Several studies published on primary care in Rhode Island in recent years, including a 2024 study by the Rhode Island Foundation, have found the Ocean State's reimbursement rates lag far behind Connecticut and Massachusetts. Could that data be used to inform the rate review process? 'I would say, 'Share the data with us.' Cuz I haven't seen it,' McKee said. King encouraged people to dig into that report's numbers a little more. The Rhode Island Foundation report was not exclusively focused on provider reimbursement, he said, but rather 'hospitals and patient and operation services.' Yes, reimbursement rates in other New England states are higher, King said, but this is consistent with higher health insurance premiums in those states. We know that it is alarming when people in the state of Rhode Island are unable to find a primary care doctor, and we're going to do everything we can to connect them with the help that they are looking for. – Gov. Dan McKee 'In Massachusetts, of the 53 hospitals in the inpatient data set, only six hospitals are actually reimbursed at or above the statewide average, And in Connecticut, of the 26 hospitals in the inpatient data set, only eight of those 26 hospitals are reimbursed at or above that statewide average. So there are great variations that we need to consider when looking at reimbursement rates more granularly.' Still, King cited the importance of primary care investment as a preventative measure for even more health care spending. 'My position has always been that putting money into primary care is a wise investment, as opposed to, say, putting money into emergency department reimbursement,' King said. 'Primary care accounts for approximately 6% of what commercial payers pay for health care business services, but it helps control the other 94%.' For a more immediate fix, McKee is proposing $5 million in grants to help existing practices serve more patients. Clinics can apply for up to $75,000 to take on new patients or up to $300,000 to hire primary care physicians or 'mid-level' providers such as nurse practitioners or physician assistants. Applications for grants are available online through May 16. Separately, the state is imposing new regulations on commercial insurers requiring them to double their primary care spending by 2029. The rules also mandate a 20% reduction in prior authorization requirements to help lower administrative burdens on primary care doctors. Rhode Island Attorney General Peter F. Neronha blasted McKee's plans in a press release issued about 40 minutes after the press conference ended. 'The Governor's health care announcement today is a slapdash response to political and public pressure because of the dissolution of Anchor Medical, and unfortunately, I expected nothing more,' Neronha said. Neronha, who has established himself as one of McKee's most vocal critics, said the governor is 'hanging his hat' on conducting future studies and reviews. 'Our PCPs are overworked and overburdened by a state health care system that doesn't support them,' Neronha said. 'Our residents are scrambling to find primary care physicians to care for them through illnesses and fill prescriptions for live-preserving medications. We are in crisis. And some of us have been sounding the alarm for years.' McKee said at the press event that Rhode Island surpasses many other states for health care access in quality, citing U.S. News and World Report's ranking of Rhode Island as fifth in the nation in health care overall. Neronha took issue with McKee's rosy outlook, saying McKee was 'once again showing how out of touch this Governor is with the reality of the situation.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Boston Globe
27-03-2025
- Health
- Boston Globe
To bolster primary care workforce, R.I. offers grants to train next generation of doctors
'Primary care is the backbone of the healthcare system in Rhode Island,' Dr. Jerry Larkin, the state's director of health, said in a statement. 'This program will encourage trainees in primary care to remain in Rhode Island after completing their education, and it will enhance Rhode Island's clinical training capacity.' Get Rhode Island News Alerts Sign up to get breaking news and interesting stories from Rhode Island in your inbox each weekday. Enter Email Sign Up The nation's number of primary care providers has declined in recent years, as has the number of new physicians entering primary care, according to the Milbank Memorial Fund's 2025 Advertisement In 2022, only 24.4 percent of new doctors began careers in primary care in the United States – or 19.8 percent when excluding hospitalists – the lowest rate in a decade. The decline in 2022 marked a steeper decline, year over year, compared to prior years. 'Right now, Rhode Island is on track to be short about 100 primary care providers by 2030. That's a shortage large enough to mean 1 in 5 Rhode Islanders will be unable to find a primary care provider,' state Senator, Pamela J. Lauria, a Barrington Democrat, said in a statement. 'As a state, we must recruit, train, retain, and sustain the number of primary care providers necessary to meet the health demands of all Rhode Islanders.' According to officials, the grant program will expand 'interdisciplinary clinical training at advanced primary care sites' with an aim to boost the state's training capacity by 50 percent for physician assistant students, physician residents, and nurse practitioners. Advertisement Right now, the Care Transformation Collaborative of Rhode Island is working to develop the curriculum that will be used to train students, officials said. 'The Primary Care Training Sites Program is one of many steps we are taking across our administration to bolster primary care in Rhode Island,' Governor Dan McKee said in a statement. 'Accessible, quality primary care can lower rates of chronic conditions, lessen the burden on our hospital system, and bring down Rhode Island's overall healthcare costs in line with the goals of our RI 2030 plan.' McKee is eyeing other measures to help bolster the state's primary care network through his budget proposal, including measures officials said will serve as 'a crucial step toward fostering a more competitive primary care job market in Rhode Island.' Last month, the Rhode Island Senate also Material from a previous Globe story was used in this report. Christopher Gavin can be reached at
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Worried about lead contamination in your water? There's now an online map for you to check
PROVIDENCE – Worried that your drinking water is at risk of lead contamination? If so, there's a new online mapping tool that you can use to find out whether your home has lead service lines. The Rhode Island Department of Health rolled out the interactive dashboard this week as part of the government effort that aims by 2033 to rid the state of lead pipes, which can corrode and contaminate drinking water with the heavy metal that lowers IQ scores in children and stunts their development. It maps out the state's 31,513 lead lines and galvanized lines that may absorb lead, as well as the 205,889 non-lead lines and 56,756 lines of unknown material that have so far been entered into the health department's database. The water systems with the highest number of lead service lines are, in descending order: Providence Water The City of Newport The Westerly Water Department The Pawtucket Water Supply Board. How to check if your water service lines are lead: The map can be found at 'Just having a lead service line does not mean that there is lead in your drinking water,' said Director of Health Dr. Jerry Larkin in a statement. 'Public water systems take many steps to keep drinking water safe from lead, including treatment that reduces corrosion and routine testing, with a focus on homes with lead service lines. However, the replacement of all lead service lines in Rhode Island is an important additional step in making Rhode Island's drinking water as healthy and safe as possible.' The new tool allows residents to enter their address to see if their service lines are made of lead or galvanized steel or iron; a safer material, such as copper or plastic; or if the material is unknown. Information is available for both the private and public sides of the service line, which carries water from the utility-owned water main under the street. The dashboard uses information collected by water utilities across the state that were required to inventory service lines and identify which ones are made of lead. The utilities sent out letters late last year to property owners with lines either made of lead or an unknown material. The tool is still lacking information from six small water systems whose inventories are overdue, according to the health department. The effort to speed up the replacement of lead pipes stems from the passage two years ago of the Rhode Island Lead Poisoning Prevention Act, which put in place the 2033 target date to complete the work. It came amid expectations that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would enact a nationwide mandate with a similar timeline. Last October, the Biden administration issued the final rule to replace all of the up to 9 million lead pipes across the country within a decade and announced billions of dollars in new funding to help make it happen. Water utilities have pushed back, saying they aren't being given enough time to come into compliance. The first Trump administration had taken a less stringent line on the removal of lead pipes, and, with the Republican back in office, his government has asked to pause implementation of the new rule while it evaluates whether to move in a new direction. But while federal funding across a wide range of environmental programs has been frozen, grants awarded to Rhode Island while Biden was still in office for the lead pipe work has remained unaffected so far, according to spokespeople for the health department and the Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank, which are administering the money. The state Lead Poisoning Prevention Act requires private side service lines be replaced at no cost to the property owner as long as funding is available. The health department estimates that for the fiscal years from 2023 to 2027, the state has $302 million that could be used toward the replacement effort. It will take years to complete the work. In the meantime, customers that received letters about their lines can ask their water utilities for free water pitchers to filter any lead in their water. In cases where the material used in the service line is unknown, water suppliers may need to carry out on-site inspections. In Rhode Island, lead exposure is most closely associated with lead paint, because 80% of the homes in the state were built before 1978, when lead was banned from paint products in the United States. But a crisis in Flint, Michigan in 2014 that drew nationwide attention showed that under certain conditions, when lead pipes corrode, they can contaminate drinking water. Older water systems are prone to higher levels of lead pipes. Lead was commonly used in drinking water lines in the early 1900s and the practice continued more sporadically until the installation of pipes made of the metal was banned in 1986. Public water systems are required to take steps to control potential corrosion. They must also routinely sample water from customers' taps and notify them of any abnormally high levels of lead. Lead is a neurotoxin and there is no safe level of it, especially for young children, according to the health department. In children, it can slow learning and cause irreversible brain damage, according to the EPA. In adults, it can cause increased blood pressure, heart disease and cancer. Because the highest concentration of lead water lines is in its service area, Providence Water has been most active in replacing them with safer materials. The utility has spent tens of millions of dollars on the replacement program and has also changed its treatment process to make water less corrosive. Water service lines are divided into two parts: public and private. The public portion runs from the water main buried under the street up to the boundary of a private property. The private portion continues from that boundary into a home or business. A valve separates the two portions. For years, Providence water's focus was on the public side of the lines. But in 2017, it partnered with the infrastructure bank to offer no-interest loans to help customers with the private side of the lines. Five years later, it started using federal funds – it has received $21 million to date with another $26.3 million in the pipeline -- to offer grants for the work to qualifying customers in areas designated as economically disadvantaged by the state. So far, it has used that money to replace 2,200 private side lines, according to a spokesman for the utility. According to the infrastructure bank, other water utilities that have been awarded federal funds are the Clear River Electric & Water District in Burrillville ($195,000); East Providence ($100,000); Woonsocket Water ($5 million); and North Providence ($760,000). This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Does your RI drinking water come from lead pipes? This map will tell you.
Boston Globe
19-02-2025
- Health
- Boston Globe
Flu hospitalizations hit five-year high in Rhode Island
So far this season, there have been two recorded influenza-associated deaths. Related : The data also shows physician office visits for influenza-like illness peaked on Feb. 1, making up 7.14 percent of outpatient visits. Advertisement In New England, the flu rate is higher than the national average, with influenza-like illness visits to physicians in the region hitting 8.8 percent earlier this month, ahead of 7.76 percent nationally, state data shows. Get Rhode Island News Alerts Sign up to get breaking news and interesting stories from Rhode Island in your inbox each weekday. Enter Email Sign Up In Massachusetts, The reasons why that second wave of flu has delivered a delayed and powerful punch are not clear, although Dr. Sandeep Jubbal, an infectious diseases specialist at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester said 'Usually flu transmission is higher in colder weather,' he said. In Rhode Island, flu activity increased over the past three weeks, while COVID-19 and RSV activity declined, According to the state Department of Health, Rhode Island has also recorded 74 confirmed or suspected norovirus outbreaks since Dec. 1, which 'have largely been associated with locations such as schools and congregate living settings.' Public health officials are now reminding the public to practice good health habits to limit the spread of viruses. 'The flu is a very serious virus that can send someone to the hospital, and norovirus can be dangerous for some people too,' Rhode Island Director of Health Dr. Jerry Larkin said in a statement. 'Both viruses spread easily. However, by taking a few simple preventive steps, you can help keep yourself and those around you safe. These steps are especially important for people who are at higher risk due to underlying medical conditions or pregnancy, as well as younger children and older adults.' Advertisement Experts recommend everyone 6 months and older get a flu shot and an updated COVID-19 vaccine. Those who are sick should stay home until symptoms improve for 24 hours, wash their hands throughout the day, and cover their mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing or sneezing, officials said. Last month, several hospitals and health care facilities around the state Material from previous Globe stories was used in this report. Christopher Gavin can be reached at
Yahoo
18-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
R.I. health department launches dashboard with map of lead water service pipes
Rhode Islanders can now check a new dashboard from the state's health department to see if the water service lines to their homes or apartments contain lead. (Photo by Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current) Rhode Island residents can check if the water service lines to their homes contain lead on a new online dashboard that launched Monday. The Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) manages the Lead Service Line Public Transparency Dashboard, which includes a searchable map to look up an address anywhere in the state and see if the service lines that carry water to the house contain the toxic mineral. Service lines consist of a public portion, owned by water utility companies, and a private portion owned by the homeowner. If any part of the service line contains lead, the mineral can corrode from the pipes over time and then leach into the drinking water. The new dashboard shows both public and private sides of a home's connection and indicates if either is made of lead. Lead is especially harmful to young children and can affect cognitive development but is toxic at any age. It can lead to long-term health problems if ingested regularly. Human skin does not absorb leaded water, so it's safe to use for showers or baths. 'Just having a lead service line does not mean that there is lead in your drinking water,' said Dr. Jerry Larkin, the health department's director, in a statement Monday. 'Public water systems take many steps to keep drinking water safe from lead, including treatment that reduces corrosion and routine testing, with a focus on homes with lead service lines.' Many factors affect how much lead can leach into drinking water, including water chemistry and temperature, how much lead water touches while traveling through pipes and the condition of the pipes. Boiling water does not eliminate lead. Letting cold tap water run can remove some of the lead that may have collected in the service lines. But Larkin also stated that 'the replacement of all lead service lines in Rhode Island is an important additional step in making Rhode Island's drinking water as healthy and safe as possible' — a mission also endorsed by the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which last year announce a goal to replace all lead service lines nationwide, giving water systems until 2027 to draft replacement plans. EPA will then give water carriers a 10-year window to swap out the lines for newer materials, like copper or plastic. Public water systems have been notifying customers with lead service lines about free water pitchers with lead filtration and information for homeowners about the replacement process if they need to get new lines. 'Replacing all lead service lines in Rhode Island is a complex process that will take several years,' the health department said in a news release, noting federal grants from the EPA are helping to subsidize municipal replacements. The Rhode Island Lead Poisoning Prevention Act mandates that, if project funds exist, then private side service lines can be replaced for free for customers. The health department recommends contacting your local water authority for more information on replacement. The service line dashboard is the second lead transparency initiative RIDOH released in the past week. Last Wednesday, the health department launched its online registry of lead certifications and data for rental units. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
