Raimondo Signs Executive Order to Control Healthcare Spending in RI

Raimondo Signs Executive Order to Control Healthcare Spending in RI

Governor Gina Raimondo signed an executive order on Wednesday to establish a target for healthcare spending growth in Rhode Island.

The target is set at 3.2% annual growth through the year 2022.

"We've done a lot of good, hard work related to healthcare in the last four years, but there's more to do to. In order to ensure that Rhode Islanders have access to quality, affordable health care and that businesses have cost predictability, we need to control health care spending. Setting this target establishes accountability for our health care industry. I'm proud to be one of only three states doing this work, and the first in the country to set a target that's aligned with our hospitals,” said Raimondo.

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The target is Raimondo’s latest effort to control healthcare costs for taxpayers, businesses, and patients.

"Governor Raimondo's executive order and the compact signed by members of the RI Health Care Cost Trends Steering Committee are important steps forward in Rhode Island's continuing efforts to control the cost of health care," said Dr. Al Kurose, President & CEO of Coastal Medical and co-chair of the steering committee. "The commitments that were recognized today lay the foundation for a new era of accelerated work and transparent reporting on the cost of health care in Rhode Island. This issue is of vital importance to the state's economy and impacts the health and well-being of every citizen."

The Target

The 3.2% growth target came out of work that Brown University's School of Public Health started last summer after receiving a $550,000 grant from the Peterson Center on Healthcare.

"The School of Public Health exists to address important issues like the cost crisis in our health care system. Our team is proud to assist the State of Rhode Island in this critical work," said Anya Rader Wallack, PhD, a Brown professor and member of the team providing cost analysis to the State.

Brown's work includes calculating overall healthcare spend, setting a target for what spend growth will be annually, and performing detailed analytics to understand cost drivers.