Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha has announced a series of initiatives to provide immediate relief and long-term solutions for the state's health care system.
The initiatives include filing suit against the three largest Pharmacy Benefit Managers to protect consumers from the deceptive conduct that's caused drug prices to skyrocket.
Another action will be to introduce legislation to immediately raise Medicaid reimbursement rates along with legislation to eliminate nearly 100-percent of prior authorization requirements for primary care providers.
“Rhode Island’s health care system, and primary care in particular, is in a state of crisis and facing spectacular failure if we do not act, and act now,” said Attorney General Neronha. “With these health care-related actions, my Office is continuing to pull the levers available to us to contribute to the solution. Because there’s money to be made in health care, there are bad actors who will exploit the system to the detriment of Rhode Islanders, as we’ve seen with PBMs and private equity firms. At the same time, our health care system’s overall revenue has suffered in part because of Medicaid reimbursement rates that are far, far too low – and we need to simply bite the bullet and raise them, now. Rhode Island primary care providers are retiring or closing their practices and newly trained doctors are choosing not to come to Rhode Island at all, in part because of these low Medicaid, Medicare and commercial insurance reimbursement rates relative to our neighboring states. Our health care providers are also facing unnecessary and wasteful prior authorization burdens imposed unilaterally by health insurance companies. And the fallout is clear: many Rhode Islanders simply can’t find a primary care doctor.
Neronha is also calling for a collaboration with the Brown University School of Public Health to examine policy options for state-based health system reform.
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