Executive Office of Health and Human Services’ 2025 Accomplishments

EOHHS led the Federal Compliance Advisory Group to identify considerations for federal policy changes affecting the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Medicaid, and the Health Insurance Marketplace. EOHHS monitored and tracked over 450 policies, assessing their impacts across all the agencies within the Secretariat, and issued a summary report through the advisory group. 

The agency, with the RI Department of Health (RIDOH), submitted a robust application to the new Rural Health Transformation Grant funding opportunity released by the Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services (CMS). CMS recently announced that Rhode Island will receive $156,169,931 through this funding opportunity to improve access to high-quality care for rural communities in the state. 

CMS also recently approved Rhode Island’s 1115 Medicaid Demonstration Waiver, effective January 1, 2026, through December 31, 2030. This approval is a significant milestone that provides our state with greater flexibility to innovate in how care is delivered and financed, while continuing to meet federal standards.

CMS selected Rhode Island to participate in the AHEAD Model (Achieving Healthcare Efficiency through Accountable Design), aimed at improving access to healthcare and reducing healthcare costs through a total cost of care approach. Rhode Island will receive up to $12 million in funding over the next 5-6 years to implement the model.

EOHHS supported RIDOH in partnership with the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) to implement the United States Department of Agriculture, (USDA) Urban Forestry Program in 7 communities. EOHHS is also actively partnering with RIDOH and the Executive Office of Housing on the Pathways to Reducing Obstacles for Housing grant to invest in local policy changes to improve local housing availability and accessibility. 

Additionally, with the Department of Administration, (DOA), EOHHS is participating in a national learning collaborative on health-related social needs data to demonstrate the importance of provisions on healthcare and public health outcomes.

EOHHS has taken a unified, interdepartmental approach to evaluating and proposing recommendations to improve Rhode Island’s health care system by focusing on quality, affordability, and equity across the continuum of care, in part through the Health Care System Planning Cabinet. EOHHS convened a Primary Care Crisis Team and a Children’s Behavioral Health Crisis Team, responding to critical events throughout 2025. In June, EOHHS awarded $6.7 million in grants to 85 primary care practices to support the recruitment and retention of primary care providers and increase access and capacity to serve Rhode Islanders in primary care settings.

The organization has been convening an interagency collaborative along with educators, providers, businesses, and partners—to develop, recruit, and retain a health and human services workforce for Rhode Island. This group implements the Ladders to Licensure (L2L) grant program, which has provided tuition supports for a total of 67 healthcare workers. 

The agency launched its public-facing Health Workforce Data Dashboard, which integrates licensure data from the RI Department of Health and wage data from the RI Department of Labor and Training, to enable users to gain a deeper understanding of the characteristics of the licensed health professional workforce in RI. The Health Workforce Data Dashboard has received national recognition and has been featured in publications, podcasts, and conferences. 

In compliance with the Olmstead ruling, EOHHS developed eight implementation projects with support of interagency partners, has launched the Olmstead Data Council, and held its second Annual Olmstead Engagement Forum.

Through interagency coordinated efforts, strategic investments, and policy alignment, the team has led a whole of government and community partnership response that has continued to see a decrease in the overdose fatalities in the state consistently since 2022. The agency also leads the interagency coordinated response to the overdose crisis and the state’s investment of over $79 million dollars (SFY2022 – SFY2027) in social determinants of health, harm reduction, treatment, recovery, and prevention. These investments include developing and implementing a recovery program within the construction industry; opening of the country’s first state-regulated overdose prevention center that serves as a one-stop-shop of services and resources for people who use drugs, addressing emerging drug supply issues – such as wounds associated with the drug xylazine – by deploying mobile skilled wound care services across the state; improving access to substance use treatment and recovery for adults and youth; and increasing access to the life-saving medication naloxone by distributing kits in high-burden communities and to families.

In accordance with CMS’ Ensuring Access to Medicaid Services Final Rule, Medicaid established a Medicaid Beneficiary Advisory Council and a Medicaid Advisory Committee. Medicaid will work with members to hear their concerns, listen to their suggestions, and together find ways to make improve access to services.

Rhode Island, alongside 32 other states, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, will participate in the Cell and Gene Therapy (CGT) Access Model, a bold new approach to delivering cutting-edge treatments for people on Medicaid living with sickle cell disease. Together, participating states represent 84% of Medicaid beneficiaries living with the condition, significantly expanding access to transformative care. 

EOHHS and Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island are launching a new health plan for Rhode Islanders who are enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid on 1/1/2026. The new plan is a Fully Integrated Dual Eligible Special Needs Plan that will provide support for members' medical and non-medical needs, including long-term services and supports and behavioral health care.

The State expanded access to children's mobile crisis response services and saw continued utilization of enhanced behavioral health services and mobile crisis response through eight Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics. There was a 44% increase in the number of Medicaid members attributed to a CCBHC since the program started in late 2024. To further improve awareness of behavioral health services in the state among families, a whole-of-government approach was used to develop and launch a centralized website: Kids.RI.gov/Behavioral-Health. 

EOHHS implemented increased Medicaid reimbursement rates for primary care services, effective October 1, 2025. These updates align Medicaid primary care payments with Medicare rates and authorizes annual updates to support expanded access to care for Rhode Islanders. EOHHS is implementing a three-year Primary Care Prior Authorization Pilot to reduce administrative barriers and expand timely access to care for Medicaid members.  Rhode Island is also implementing a specialized Medicaid rate for long-term behavioral health inpatient hospital services for adults with a primary mental health diagnosis who require acute care on a long-term basis. The State also established a new Medicaid interprofessional consultation benefit to expand access to timely, coordinated care for Rhode Islanders.  Rhode Island also modernized Medicaid payments to nursing homes to better reflect resident care needs and support high-quality long-term care. Click here to learn more about these initiatives.