New efforts on Smith Hill to increase Medicaid reimbursement rates – Herb Weiss

A nurse wearing a blue scrub top and stethoscope.

By Herb Weiss, contributing writer on aging issues On March 8th, a press conference on Smith Hill put the legislative spotlight on introduced rate setting legislation intended to fix Rhode Island’s long-time problem of paying insufficient reimbursement rates to human-service agencies delivering social, human and clinical services to Medicaid recipients.  Over 80 human service providers,…

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Addressing a failed system – Richard Asinof

A woman in a brown sweater sitting in a chair.

by Richard Asinof, ConvergenceRI, contributing writer Photo: Tina Spears, executive director of the Community Provider Network of Rhode Island. An interview with Tina Spears, executive director of the Community Provider Network of Rhode Island As a blizzard descended on the Northeast, the way that we define community and neighborhood has become self-evident, much like the…

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When low Medicaid rates create a break glass emergency – Richard Asinof

A man in a suit and tie sits in front of a green screen.

by Richard Asinof, ConvergenceRI, contributing writer Photo: Sen. Josh Miller, chair of the special legislative commission evaluating the effectiveness of R.I. EOHHS, presiding over the Nov. 30 meeting. Publisher’s Note: We start at the end of a four part series – see links, below for first 3 parts New information comes to light about the…

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Nursing homes to require all workers be vaccinated – state/fed new rules

RINewsToday

The federal HHS program is developing new regulations requiring nursing homes to require that all of their workers be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of participating in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. This new policy, announced by an address of President Biden on Wednesday afternoon. The Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) also…

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