URI to use federal grant to run 4 adult care programs

By Rebecca Keister
PBN Staff Writer
Twitter: @keisterpbn

SOUTH KINGSTOWN – The University of Rhode Island will use a $14 million federal grant to run a new program for care of cognitively challenged adults at four Rhode Island agencies.

The “Living Rite-A Disruptive Solution for Management of Chronic Care Disease’ program will be funded by a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services grant.

“Our goal is to create wan environment where people will be able to get preventative care and chronic care management in place where they already come on a regular basis for recreation and employment. This way all providers can see and treat patients together – but remotely,” said Elaina Goldstein, the URI associate research professor who led the proposal.

The university formally announced the program at press conference Monday. The program will be administered at AccessPoint RI, formerly Cranston ARC, in Cranston, Seven Hills Rhode Island in Woonsocket, Cornerstone Adult Services, Inc. in Bristol and Generations Adult Day Health Center in Smithfield.

URI projects the program will save the federal government and the state slightly more than $15 million in health care costs over its three-year period in helping to prevent illness, emergency room visits, nursing home care and hospitalization.

The program will seek to teach patients how best to manage their illness and to provide comprehensive and preventative care for the intellectually and developmentally challenged.

URI said the program will create 31 jobs, including those for health care professionals and administrative staff, and train 226 workers in caring for adults with multiple chronic illnesses including Alzheimer’s disease.

HHS awarded the grant for an innovative approach to managing health care.

The grant also will fund the creation of an interdisciplinary Disability Health Center at URI that will incorporate academic programs and consolidate educational and training programs for professionals there.