This issue brief examines an unprecedented use of state health insurance regulatory authority to promote health system reform. In 2004, the Rhode Island legislature created the Office of the Health Insurance Commissioner (OHIC) with authority not granted to state health insurance regulatory agencies in other states. Specifically, the legislation instructed OHIC to direct insurers toward policie...

Background The U.S. correctional population is disproportionately burdened with chronic health conditions, particularly mental health and substance use disorders. Though inmates receive health care, linkages to care upon release are often poor or nonexistent. Further, the magnitude of the justiceinvolved population strains state and Federal finances. The annual cost per offender awaiting trial ...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Accurate data on the distribution of stroke subtypes are essential for understanding the forces driving recent morbidity and mortality trends. The introduction of diagnosis-related groups (DRGs) in the 1980s may have affected the distribution of stroke subtypes as defined by International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9), discharge diagnosis codes. MET...

Rhode Island’s small size creates unique opportunities for public health. We can easily imagine how the Rhode Island Department of Health (HEALTH) might partner with primary care and specialty physicians to bring effective prevention and treatment to the entire population. We can also imagine how we might use primary care medical assets in non-traditional ways during emergencies when mobility i...

Arthur J. Gold is a professor in the Department of Natural Resources Science at the University of Rhode Island, Kingston, Rhode Island. Doug Parker is the director of the California Institute for Water Resources at the University of California, Oakland, California. Reagan M. Waskom is the director of the Colorado Water Institute/ Water Center at Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado...

BACKGROUND Since the 1980s, Rhode Island has achieved one of the highest mammography screening rates in the nation. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of high mammography rates on breast cancer presentation and outcomes. METHODS Using the Rhode Island Cancer Registry, the incidence of DCIS and invasive cancer, tumor size, stage, rate of BCS and mortality from breast cance...

The United States has one of the highest rates of teen pregnancy among industrialized countries, with more than 750,000 pregnancies each year among women less than 20 years of age. Though teen pregnancy rates in the US had declined each year since 1991, the most recent national data show that rates of teen pregnancy, abortion, and birth are on the rise. Rhode Island has 2,430 teen pregnancies p...