March 12 Primary Care Workforce Taskforce Meeting

After a debrief on the March 4th Legislative Education Session (see a complete review of the session in this newsletter!), Taskforce members first heard from Sam Salganik, Executive Director, Rhode Island Parent Information Network (RIPIN), about advocacy efforts to expand the state’s primary care insurance rate review process proposed in the 2025 Governor’s budget. Mr. Salganik described RIPIN’s views on why expansion of this process to include commercial insurance and FQHCs is needed to address the challenges of financing a strong primary care system.  Manuela Raposo and Rachael Sardinha then presented about the RI Welcome Back Center (RIWBC) and their role in providing support services to internationally trained healthcare professionals entering the workforce. They discussed the goals of the RIWBC to improve career pathways for immigrants and enhance the racial, ethnic and linguistic diversity of healthcare in Rhode Island. Finally, updates on the Primary Care Training Sites program were shared, including progress on curriculum development and the upcoming launch of RIDOH’s application campaign. The next Taskforce meeting is Wednesday, April 9th.   For more information, please contact Mitchell Irving, Program Coordinator at mirving@ctc-ri.org.