R 203 |
2025 -- H 6172 Enacted 04/03/2025 |
H O U S E R E S O L U T I O N |
JOYOUSLY CELEBRATING THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF PACE-RI |
Introduced By: Representatives Dawson, Shekarchi, Blazejewski, Chippendale, Kennedy, Ajello, Tanzi, Boylan, McNamara, and Shallcross Smith |
Date Introduced: April 03, 2025 |
WHEREAS, PACE-RI is a nonprofit healthcare plan for frail seniors that was founded in |
2005, with the express purpose of assisting low-income seniors who desire to continue to live in |
their homes instead of a nursing home. Originally founded in Providence, PACE-RI currently has |
centers in East Providence, Newport, Westerly and Woonsocket; and |
WHEREAS, PACE-RI serves as both a health insurer and healthcare provider, addressing |
seniors’ health needs through a holistic approach, including primary and acute services, |
pharmacy, behavioral health, rehabilitation services, home care, transportation, adult day services, |
meals, and all other healthcare needs; and |
WHEREAS, Thanks to the services provided by PACE-RI, 450 medically complex |
participants were able to stay in their homes instead of going to nursing homes, for an average of |
four additional years compared to those without PACE-RI. PACE-RI provides significant savings |
for Rhode Island taxpayers and delivers the high-quality care and support most people desire in |
their final years; and |
WHEREAS, The average participant is 75 years old with six medical conditions and |
eleven medications. Approximately eighty-nine percent of PACE-RI enrollees have a behavioral |
health diagnosis and thirty-five percent have dementia. Almost all enrollees need help with |
multiple activities of daily living activities such as daily bathing, grooming, feeding and dressing, |
and are eligible for both Medicaid and Medicare; and |
WHEREAS, PACE-RI has served more than 2,000 people in its distinguished twenty |
years of service. PACE-RI participants experience eleven percent fewer emergency room visits |
per 100 participants compared to their peers not in the PACE-RI program, and forty-three percent |
of PACE-RI participants who have been enrolled for at least a year have not required inpatient |
hospitalization. Thanks to PACE-RI, eighty-six percent of participants say they feel that PACE- |
RI’s services help improve or maintain their independence and quality of life; now, therefore be it |
RESOLVED, That this House of Representatives of the State of Rhode Island hereby |
joyously celebrates the 20th Anniversary of PACE-RI, and thanks them for the high-quality |
healthcare services they provide on a daily basis to the frail elderly enrollees under their care; and |
be it further |
RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to |
transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to Mr. Thomas Boucher, Chief of External |
Affairs, PACE-RI. |
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LC002610 |
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