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Boston Globe
5 days ago
- Health
- Boston Globe
Primary care is in crisis — and Rhode Island can't delay addressing it any longer
Advertisement Primary care providers are being asked to do more than ever before: manage complex chronic conditions, integrate behavioral health services, address social needs, and navigate fragmented systems. But they're doing it with fewer staff, declining reimbursement, and an unsustainable administrative load — particularly prior authorization and denials that delay or block needed care. 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 There are efforts underway. The Office of the Health Insurance Commissioner has taken meaningful steps to highlight the value of primary care. Governor Dan McKee and the Executive Office of Health and Human Services have included targeted investments in the state budget. Advertisement We can't fix this overnight, but we can take meaningful steps now. Increasing Medicaid rates, removing prior authorization barriers, and creating a safe harbor for physicians seeking mental health support won't solve everything, but they will keep more doors from closing while we work toward a better system. House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi and Senate President Valarie Lawson have both said that fixing health care is a top priority. Now we need to see that commitment reflected in action. Legislative and budget decisions made in the coming weeks will determine whether we're managing decline, or rebuilding the foundation we know we can't do without. This isn't just about physicians. It's about every Rhode Islander who has been told to wait six months for an appointment. It's about children overdue for physicals and older adults unable to refill a prescription. The erosion of primary care affects all of us — regardless of income, ZIP code, or insurance status. Rhode Island has the tools and talent to lead the nation in building a stronger, more equitable primary care system — one that respects clinicians, pays for what matters, and removes the bureaucratic roadblocks between patients and care. But we have to choose to act — and that time is now. The real fix will take time, funding, and the political will to follow through. But the longer we wait, the harder it will be to rebuild. If we don't act, we won't just lose practices — we'll lose the foundation of health care in Rhode Island. Advertisement Dr. Peter Hollmann is a board member of the Rhode Island Medical Society.
Boston Globe
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Advocates push for updated R.I. public records law, seeking access to state's crash data
Advertisement 'When government hides information like crash data from the public, it is not just advocates and journalists that suffer,' Giles said. 'It is every Rhode Islander who walks, bikes, drives, takes public transit, or relies on emergency services. It is every family seeking answers after a tragedy.' Get Rhode Map A weekday briefing from veteran Rhode Island reporters, focused on the things that matter most in the Ocean State. Enter Email Sign Up Giles joined the legislative sponsors and advocates at a news conference in the State Library on Wednesday. 'Rhode Island should not remain a national outlier in secrecy,' he said. 'We deserve better.' The legislation is scheduled to come before the This is the third straight year that Advertisement DiPalma, a Middletown Democrat, said he saw the need for greater government transparency when he chaired the Senate oversight committee and found it difficult to get certain information. Also, he said the law needs to reflect new technology such as police body-worn cameras. 'We've waited too long,' DiPalma said. 'The time to to do it is now.' The proposed changes include: Body camera footage from use-of-force incidents would be made public within 30 days. Final reports of police internal affairs investigations would be accessible to the public, with personally identifiable information redacted. 911 call recordings would be more easily available to those directly affected. All documents discussed at a public meeting must be available to the public at the time they are being discussed. Requesters could seek a public interest exemption to, or reduction of, search and retrieval fees for public records. The blanket exemption for any correspondence of or to elected officials in their official capacities would be removed, but it would keep confidential records that are not related to official business. Fines would double for 'knowing and willful' violations to $4,000 from $2,000, and fines for 'recklessly' violating the law would double to $2,000 from $1,000. No fee would be charged for the first two hours of time spent searching for and retrieving documents (up from one hour), and no charge would be allowed for the denial of a records request. While this bill aims to reduce such costs, advocates noted that DiPalma said he added one new provision to this year's bill to address concerns, raised by the That section states that, 'If a person makes a request to view or copy a public record that is part of a series of contemporaneous requests filed with the intent to disrupt government operations, the chief administrative officer of the public body may petition the Superior Court for an order to relieve the custodian of the records from fulfilling the request.' Senator Louis P. DiPalma, a Middletown Democrat, speaks about his bill to update the state Access to Public Records Act. Edward Fitzpatrick John M. Marion, executive director of Common Cause Rhode Island, said that after the 2020 election, there was 'a coordinated effort to really gum up the works at election offices around the country by making vexatious requests, particularly about Dominion voting systems. They weren't made in good faith.' Advertisement So the new provision aims to head off such requests, Marion said. 'It's not to deal with the requests that all of us make in the public interest,' he said. The legislation has been 'We often complete oversight hearings, and we feel that information has been withheld,' Serpa said. 'The withholding of information is counterproductive to the purposes of oversight meetings in the first place.' In December, DiPalma said residents might not mention the Access to Public Records Act when a politician knocks on their door. 'But I think when you say to somebody, 'Do you want your government to be open, fair, and transparent?' Of course, absolutely. No one will say no.' Charlie Galligan, a private investigator who spoke at the news conference, said, 'No disrespect to the speaker, but that sounds kind of dismissive.' Members of the public might not have a detailed grasp of the Access to Public Records Act, he said. 'But when they consume news, they're all the beneficiary of the APRA law. When the media is prevented from access, that does negatively impact the citizenry.' Scott Pickering, president of Advertisement For example, he said the Barrington School Department lost a court case and then pursued a series of lengthy appeals. Citizens began to question how much the legal battle was costing the school department, but the district refused to release that information, saying the documents were held by an outside law firm that wasn't subject to the open records law. So this legislation would close that 'loophole,' making records public even if they are held by a third party, he said. During the news conference, DiPalma quoted the late US Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis: 'Publicity is justly commended as a remedy for social and industrial diseases. Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants; electric light the most efficient policeman.' Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Block Island ‘Ferry-oke' contest asks Rhode Islanders to belt out iconic jingle
NEW SHOREHAM, R.I. (WPRI) — 'Sail away on the Block Island Ferry.' Are you a true Rhode Islander if you didn't sing that in your head just now? That's why the Block Island Ferry is encouraging Rhode Islanders to belt out the famous jingle for a chance to be featured in future advertising campaigns. The winners will also receive Block Island Ferry swag, as well as tickets and gift certificates. The Block Island Ferry officially launched its first ever 'Ferry-oke' contest Tuesday. Here's how the Ferry-oke contest works: First, record a video of yourself, either alone or with others, singing the full Block Island Ferry jingle. Next, post the video to your public Instagram or Facebook with the hashtag #BLOCKISLANDFERRYOKE. Lastly, officially submit the video by direct messaging it to the Block Island Ferry on Instagram or Facebook. The Ferry-oke contest runs through June 20. The Block Island Ferry stressed that submissions must include the jingle in its entirety, and only one submission per person or group is permitted. 'Warm up those vocal cords and let's hear that jingle magic,' the Block Island Ferry said in a social media post. The winners will be selected by the Block Island Ferry executive team. Here are the full lyrics to the iconic jingle: 'Sail away on the Block Island Ferry Take a trip back to care free times Leave today, Block Island awaits you Just leave your troubles behind Come with me to Block Island' Download the and apps to get breaking news and weather alerts. Watch or with the new . Follow us on social media: Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
City leaders in the spotlight: What to know about Providence Mayor Brett Smiley
PROVIDENCE – When Brett Smiley talks about the city, he frames it as a business. The city departments are the operations, and as mayor he's the manager whose job is to make Providence run better. Unsurprisingly, he went to college for business. While he was living in his native Chicago and enrolled in graduate school, a friend of his made a run for local office. Smiley took a gig helping with the campaign, and what started as a favor for a friend altered the trajectory of his career. 'I ended up moving around the country, working on campaigns and helping who I thought were good people get elected to office,' he said. 'I landed in Rhode Island in 2006 to manage the governor's race that year. I met and subsequently married a Rhode Islander, and Rhode Island became home.' Smiley's résumé includes working for two former mayors of Providence – David Cicilline and Jorge Elorza – along with former Gov. Gina Raimondo. Fifteen years ago, he was wholeheartedly devoted to working behind the scenes, but in 2014 he made his first bid for mayor because he believed he had something different and better to offer than the other candidates. He eventually dropped out of that race but made a comeback in 2022 when he was elected mayor. Smiley has been a polarizing character for the city, and his proposal to raise taxes later this year by nearly double the usual yearly increase is his latest action to draw ire from unhappy constituents. Although many of Providence's fragilities predate the Smiley administration, his retro potholes-and-police dialogues may lack the popularity needed to get him reelected next year. Smiley said he works every day, and the lines between his personal and professional worlds are blurred. It's not uncommon for people to flag him down when he goes to watch a Providence College basketball game or on early-morning runs with his husband. It was jarring the first time someone knocked on the front door of their house with a constituent concern, but Smiley said he's become accustomed to those interactions. 'You're always on. Always mayor. So, it is in fact a 24-hour job,' he said. 'I'm very cognizant of the fact that I only get to do this for a certain amount of time, and I want to make the most of it, so it has significantly overshadowed any personal goals I might have.' Smiley is married to one of the state's most successful real estate agents, Jim DeRentis. Eighteen years older than his husband, DeRentis grew up in Warwick and is a regular at selling multimillion-dollar properties. He's one of the Rhode Islanders in his field to exceed $100 million worth of sales in a single year. Along with their East Side brownstone, the couple own an apartment in New York City. Despite those points, Smiley thinks people make untrue assumptions about him and DeRentis. 'My husband came from very humble means,' he said. 'I was raised by a single mom, and she worked very hard to provide a life for us. We grew up in the suburbs with great public schools. We weren't the richest family on the block, but we weren't the poorest either. I know the privileges that I was raised with.' Smiley feels he does a good job of staying plugged in with communities by hosting events, visiting schools and answering calls on one of the local Spanish-language radio stations every month. The only way to get elected was to knock on thousands of doors, so that's what he said he did. Providence is nothing like sprawling cities in bigger states, he added. 'People know their mayor, and they're not shy about sharing their concerns,' he said. 'It's usually a complaint or a concern. It's rarely a compliment.' Smiley's campaign hinged on quality-of-life issues, from fixing sidewalks to plowing roads and policing noisy neighborhoods. Last year, he helped the city roll out modernized parking meters, and this month he announced plans to replace trash and recycling carts. Those efforts might seem small, but they help people in tangible ways, he said. The mayor unveiled his proposal for the 2026 fiscal year budget in early May. Because of the city's requirement to contribute millions of dollars more to public schools this year than it did in last year, there was a significant budget shortfall. Smiley believes that residents understand the problem, but people have different ideas about how to address it. His solution, he explained, was to propose a little bit of everything. At one community meeting, someone suggested cutting money for the zoos because they aren't essential. Another person chimed in to say that the city definitely shouldn't reduce funding for youth summer jobs, and they should actually increase it. A third voice asked, why not just lay off city employees? Someone else responded, 'I am a city employee. Don't do that.' 'I think the right thing is to do some cuts that don't severely impact services – particularly anything that impacts children and families. I think we should eliminate some jobs but not be callous to the fact that these are real people,' Smiley said. 'Next year, the people of Providence will have a decision on whether they think I got it right or not, and on the ballot, they'll either give me another term or vote me out of office. That's the job.' Along with reducing the city's operating budget, his plan also involves raising property taxes that would affect most residents and looking for alternative revenue sources, such as a commercial parking lot tax that targets visitors in town for events at the Providence Performing Arts Center or the Amica Mutual Pavilion. What Smiley wants most for Providence is a dramatic amount of new construction. He argued that because there is such a high demand for housing, it leads to skyrocketing prices, and the best way to combat that is to increase the housing stock as they did in Austin, Texas, and other cities that developed rapidly. With so much vacant land for sale in Providence, new housing should be under construction 'in every corner of the city,' he said. 'I think that Providence can be that next proof point, but we have to stop squabbling over individual incentive packages for buildings where nothing exists currently,' he added. 'The governor and the Rhode Island Department of Housing have all been asking for shovel-ready projects. We've got a ton of shovel-ready projects, so I hope that the state continues to award its dollars to projects that are actually ready, which are right here.' Smiley took a jab at suburbs where community leaders create barriers to constructing affordable housing, even though those are state-mandated projects. The most notable example is an ongoing dispute in nearby Johnston. 'It is like a new day in Providence. There was a long time where we had a lot of NIMBYism [a not-in-my-backyard attitude] in the city, where our residents fought new development. They don't do that anymore. Everyone seems to agree that we need more housing,' Smiley said. With the reduced stigma against income-restricted housing, he thinks the city now needs to work with the state to get more subsidies, and he hopes the City Council is on board for that. Even though all 15 councilors and every member of the Providence delegation in the General Assembly is also a Democrat, they come in slightly different shades of blue. 'They're doing their job to represent their constituents. My job is to represent the entire city. Sometimes what's good for one neighborhood is maybe not good for, in my opinion, the whole city,' he said. 'That's where conflicts sometimes arise.' However, Smiley feels there's a healthy atmosphere that helps them reach compromises, and he has a lot of respect for City Council President Rachel Miller. As the election gets closer, Smiley knows that this time it'll come down to people evaluating his track record. Because it's his dream job, Smiley hopes to serve one more term and really focus on the school district, but he's not sure what his plans are after that. This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Who is Providence Mayor Brett Smiley? Everything to know.
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Foster families deserve gratitude. But they need support too.
Foster parenting remains one of the most impactful roles a Rhode Islander can play. But the number of licensed foster homes is shrinking. (Getty photo) Across Rhode Island, children enter foster care every week because their homes are no longer safe — due to a range of complex factors, including family instability, abuse, unmet needs, or other family challenges. When that happens, we don't just need shelter. We need people. We need families who can meet children where they are, offer compassion and consistency, and help them begin to heal. The problem is, those families are getting harder to find. According to the most recent data, approximately 1,272 children under the age of 21 are in the care of Rhode Island's Department of Children Youth and Families (DCYF) and living in out-of-home placements. But the number of licensed foster homes is shrinking. Too often, children wait in hospitals, residential treatment facilities, or bounce between short-term placements simply because there's nowhere else for them to go. In some cases, siblings are separated — not because it's in their best interest, but because no one can take them together. Foster parents have always been asked to do a lot. But today, they are doing more than ever: caring for children who have experienced complex trauma, navigating behavioral and medical challenges, and coordinating services across multiple systems — all while parenting. And they are doing it with less. Fewer fellow foster parents to lean on. Less access to respite care. Fewer placements to share the load. Less certainty about the resources that will be there for them tomorrow. Despite these challenges, foster parenting remains one of the most impactful roles a Rhode Islander can play. I've seen it firsthand. I've seen teens placed in homes where they were listened to — maybe for the first time — and start to believe they matter. I've seen toddlers learn to sleep through the night again, and siblings reunited in a living room that's suddenly filled with laughter. What foster parents provide isn't just shelter. It's safety, consistency, and the hope of a brighter future. And yet, we rarely talk about what these families need. We thank them in May, but gratitude isn't enough. They need respite, mental health resources, community, and predictable support from the systems around them. They need to be treated not as temporary caregivers, but as essential partners in a child's recovery and growth. I've seen teens placed in homes where they were listened to — maybe for the first time — and start to believe they matter. I've seen toddlers learn to sleep through the night again, and siblings reunited in a living room that's suddenly filled with laughter. Policy conversations around foster care often center on recruitment — but recruitment is only part of the equation. Retention — ensuring that families stay engaged and supported over time — requires meaningful, sustained investment. That means adequate reimbursement rates, and timely, barrier-free access to the services they need, without having to navigate a maze of referrals or red tape. We need a 'no wrong door' approach and a system of care that's easy to understand and navigate. It also means investing in a stable workforce — one where families aren't met with long waitlists, and where workers have manageable caseloads and the capacity to provide consistent, compassionate support. And it means ensuring foster parents themselves have access to emotional support, ongoing training, and responsive systems of care. What's at stake isn't just program success — it's the well-being of children who've already lost too much. If we want foster families to keep showing up, we must meet them there — with better support, stronger networks, and policies that reflect the gravity of what we ask them to do. Because every child who needs a foster home deserves one. And every person willing to open their home deserves our full support. This Foster Care Awareness Month, let's not only thank foster families. Let's stand behind them — and ensure they're not standing alone. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
