Lt. Gov. Roberts Announces State Health Care Innovation Plan

GoLocalProv Health Team

Lt. Gov. Roberts Announces State Health Care Innovation Plan

The SHIP will serve as a road map for changing Rhode Island's health care system.
Lieutenant Governor Elizabeth Roberts and the Healthy Rhode Island project have announced the public release of Rhode Island’s State Health Care Innovation Plan, which is intended to serve as a road map for changing the state's health care system. The SHIP is designed to help Rhode Island move away from fragmented care paid on a volume basis to a coordinated system supported by payment rooted in value. To download and view the entire plan, go here.

Goals

The plan reflects a transformation of Rhode Island’s health care system and actionable, realistic proposals to accelerate changes that support the “triple aim” of better health, better care and lower costs.

“The aim of SHIP is to reform, change and modernize Rhode Island’s health care system,” Daniel Meuse, Deputy Chief of Staff to the Lt. Governor told GoLocal. “Our goal is to help get Rhode Islanders quality health care coverage.”

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Specifically, the SHIP is designed to set the guideposts, to identify those steps that Rhode Island could take to maximize the opportunity for change in today’s health care system. Each of the steps identified in the plan will require intense and detailed implementation planning. Within a few months, CMS will be releasing a significant grant opportunity to invest in the implementation of aspects of the SHIP that will support the transition of RI’s health care system to a focus on improved health care and improved health.

Background

The SHIP was developed and created through a project funded by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), under the State Innovation Model program. Known as Healthy Rhode Island, the project focused on the development of the SHIP through extensive stakeholder engagement.

The plan is the result of 50 public meetings over the course of more than five months, according to Meuse. An interactive process from the start, the genesis of the plan also included a public comment process. In total, the Lt. Governor’s Office received approximately 50 public comments from members of the health care industry and the general public—all of which were taken into consideration. To view the public comments submitted to the Lt. Governor’s Office, go here.

In addition to obtaining insight from the public, members of the state’s Community Health Team (CMT) also evaluated similar plans in other states. In particular, the CMT took ideas from plans currently being implemented in Vermont and North Carolina—both of which have proven track records, according to Meuse.

For more information about the SHIP visit http://www.healthcare.ri.gov/healthyri/ship.php.


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