Posted: Tuesday, December 23, 2014
On Thursday, December 18, the Care New England (CNE) Board cast a unanimous vote finalizing its affiliation with The Providence Center. This action followed a similar vote taken by The Providence Center (TPC) Board earlier in the month. Approved by the Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals, the affiliation is the latest in a series of steps taken by Care New England to create partnerships focused on a shared mission to provide integrated health care for the whole person – mind and body, in sickness and in health, in the most supportive setting - home, community, or hospital.
The affiliation also supports the efforts of Care New England becoming an Accountable Care Organization—an organization focused on providing for the overall health of a population though offering integrated, high quality, cost effective health and wellness services.
The affiliation builds upon the community-based services of the VNA of Care New England and the Care New England Wellness Center and adds community-based behavioral health programs to Care New England’s highly regarded brain and behavioral health acute care, teaching and research programs at Butler Hospital. The affiliation also enhances the relationship with Women & Infants and further strengthens TPC’s collaboration with Memorial and Kent hospitals’ emergency departments. Care New England has also engaged in a closer affiliation with primary care physicians from the Rhode Island Primary Care Physicians Corporation and has partnered with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island in a number of innovative pilot projects to improve care delivery.
“We are inspired by the powerful interconnection between primary health and mental health,” said Dennis D. Keefe, president and CEO of Care New England. “We are excited by the opportunities this new partnership provides in caring for a population when and where it is most effective. Together, we will continue on the path to transforming the way health care is delivered with a shared vision of creating a community of healthier people.”
“Becoming part of the Care New England family will allow The Providence Center to continue serving our clients in a community setting and to expand the services and programs available to them. It will ensure that we will be able to offer the right care, at the right time, in the right setting and to meet the full continuum of need, both physical and mental,” said Dale Klatzker, president and CEO of The Providence Center.
The formal affiliation will allow CNE and TPC to:
- Provide improved opportunities for early identification and care for those individuals in need of behavioral health care;
- Ensure cost-efficient, effective, innovative, high quality behavioral health care for patients in the communities where they reside.
- Expand the continuum of care and offer a diverse range of behavioral health programs and services in multiple care settings; and
- Develop, to the extent permissible, a means of participating in new forms of health care delivery and payment that will involve more coordinated and accountable care.
About The Providence Center
TPC is a non-profit community mental health organization founded in 1969 that now serves more than 13,000 children and adults annually through thirteen locations in Providence, Burrillville, Cranston, Pawtucket, and Warwick, Rhode Island. Its services include more than 40 programs and wraparound services for mental health and addiction treatment. The Providence Center’s budget for the fiscal year ending July 30, 2014 is $45.3 million. The organization employs 700 staff members.
About Care New England
Care New England, located in Rhode Island, was founded in 1996 by Butler Hospital, Kent Hospital and Women & Infants Hospital. Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island joined the system as a hospital partner in 2013. Care New England is an integrated health care system that offers a continuum of quality care. The system includes primary care and specialty physicians; three teaching hospitals affiliated with The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Butler, Memorial and Women & Infants; a community hospital, Kent, affiliated with the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine; a home care and hospice agency, the VNA of Care New England; a community based mental health provider organization, The Providence Center; and the Care New England Wellness Center. For more information, visit carenewengland.org.
