Priorities and Recommendations
Recommendations for the IAHS, including Brown University • In concert with community partners, the IAHS will provide a plan on how it will build trust among communities that have been historically marginalized by the existing healthcare delivery system.*
› This plan must identify and communicate a clear strategy on how the IAHS will work to alleviate the distrust of academic health systems among Rhode Island’s communities of color. › This plan must also include specific strategies for improving cultural competence for employees across the system.
Priority 2: Oversight There are two key components to oversight as it relates to the IAHS. First, any conditions applied to the IAHS as part of an approval process, including the broad array of goals discussed in this committee’s recommendations, will require oversight. It is important to note that the specific pathway for approval of the IAHS will significantly impact how that oversight will need to be structured. Second, a merged system of this scale necessitates a new approach to regulation and oversight—the currently existing State oversight entities do not have the legal authority or capacity to oversee a system of this size. This necessary regulatory structure would oversee not just the merged system but Rhode Island’s broader healthcare system, and can help catalyze broader payment reform that shifts away from our largely current fee-for-service system and ensure that the right incentives are in place to help deliver high-quality and affordable health care for all Rhode Islanders. All this work must be accomplished with transparency, as well as with sufficient accountability mechanisms established in the event that the conditions of approval of the IAHS are not met. There is a need for openness to feedback from, and responsiveness to, community members both during and after the approval process.
22
