2024 -- S 2577

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LC005463

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2024

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J O I N T   R E S O L U T I O N

MAKING AN APPROPRIATION OF $250,000 TO THE HOSPITAL CARE TRANSITIONS

INITIATIVE (HCTI)

     Introduced By: Senator Louis P. DiPalma

     Date Introduced: March 01, 2024

     Referred To: Senate Finance

     WHEREAS, Rhode Island’s long-term care services and supports spending is weighted

toward institutional care, and spending on home- and community-based services is well below the

national average; and

     WHEREAS, The State considers shifting long-term care spending from institutional to

community supports a priority, and in the best interests of residents, communities, the State

budget, and our economy; and

     WHEREAS, The average cost to RI’s Medicaid program of a long-term skilled nursing

facility stay is more than $65,000; and

     WHEREAS, Research shows that older adults who are able to live out their lives in their

homes have better health and quality of life outcomes; and

     WHEREAS, A significant number of patients express a preference to return home rather

than undergoing extended stays in skilled nursing facilities; and

     WHEREAS, The Hospital Care Transitions Initiative (HCTI), a partnership between the

Rhode Island Executive Office of Health and Human Services and RIPIN, is designed to support

high-risk older patients discharging from a hospital setting to allow them to return home and

avoid prolonged stays in skilled nursing facilities; and

     WHEREAS, The HCTI program embeds certified community health workers on

discharge teams at three hospitals: South County Hospital, Kent Hospital, and Rhode Island

Hospital; and

     WHEREAS, The HCTI program has operated successfully for three years, actively

engaged over 1,000 discharging patients, currently supports approximately 50 discharges per

month, and 75 percent of HCTI patients successfully discharge to home; and

     WHEREAS, The HCTI program is an innovative program to prevent Medicaid-financed

extended stays in skilled nursing facilities before they start, thereby improving health outcomes,

honoring patient preferences, and reducing Medicaid expenditures; now, therefore be it

     RESOLVED, That there is hereby appropriated, out of any money in the treasury not

otherwise appropriated for the fiscal year 2024-2025, the sum of two hundred fifty thousand

dollars ($250,000) to RIPIN to continue the operation of the Hospital Care Transitions Initiative,

with that expectation that such funds will be matched by federal Medicaid funds; and the state

controller is hereby authorized and directed to draw his orders upon the general treasurer for the

payment of said sum, upon receipt of properly authenticated vouchers.

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EXPLANATION

BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

OF

J O I N T   R E S O L U T I O N

MAKING AN APPROPRIATION OF $250,000 TO THE HOSPITAL CARE TRANSITIONS

INITIATIVE (HCTI)

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     This resolution would authorize the appropriation of the sum of $250,000 to the Hospital

Care Transitions Initiative.

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