URI receives grant to evaluate health-care reform for state

The state of Rhode Island recently awarded a $700,000 grant to the University of Rhode Island’s Institute for Integrated Health and Innovation that will allow the institute to evaluate health-care reform efforts.
“This is an exciting opportunity for the Institute and for URI as a whole to have an impact on the health of Rhode Islanders,” Bryan Blissmer, interim director for the Institute, said in a news release. “The Institute can marshal the expertise at the university and among our external partners to help Rhode Island transform health care across communities and throughout the system.”
The grant, which covers a three-year period, will fund a project titled “Rhode Island State Model Test Evaluation,” which the Institute won based on its technical and evaluation expertise.
The state’s program is aimed at improving quality of care while reducing costs associated with Medicare, Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Programs, and the current phase of the program is testing health-care payment and service-delivery reform models.
URI is working with researchers from Brown University to assist in the evaluation of various models, including their processes, systems and outcomes. The institutions will also determine obstacles and successes of the models to help Rhode Island determine which models will best benefit residents.