CTC-RI Clinical Strategy Committee Convenes to Advance Primary Care Reform 

CTC-RI Clinical Strategy Committee Convenes to Advance Primary Care Reform 

In June 2025, the Clinical Strategy Committee of the Care Transformation Collaborative of Rhode Island (CTC-RI) convened to assess the progress and future direction of primary care transformation in the state. Joined by Chris Koller, President of the Milbank Memorial Fund and former OHIC Commissioner, the group explored national and local challenges related to workforce shortages, administrative burden, and financial strain. Chris encouraged the group to focus on five strategic priorities: Payment, Access, Workforce, Digital Health/Administrative Burden, and Accountability.

Key Takeaways

• Ongoing stress on the system: Primary care continues to face intense pressure from high clinician burnout, staffing shortages, and limited infrastructure support. Many practices are navigating financial headwinds that threaten their sustainability.
• Need for unified advocacy: There is broad consensus that Rhode Island lacks a cohesive, strategic voice for primary care reform. Stronger advocacy is needed to influence payment models and policy decisions at the state level.
• Realistic funding models: Sustainable care delivery depends on payment models that cover the true cost of care and lessen the disproportionate administrative burden placed on primary care.
• Shared responsibility for whole-person care: The healthcare system must better integrate social services, behavioral health, and specialty care. Primary care cannot shoulder responsibility for social determinants of health alone.
• Reworking value-based care: Participants called for value-based models that align incentives across the system, actively engage specialists, and address gaps in access to capital and infrastructure.

Next Steps: The Committee emphasized Rhode Island’s potential to lead the nation in primary care innovation—if collective advocacy, funding, and accountability mechanisms are aligned. For those unable to attend our session in June, click HERE for the recording and slide deck (and feel free to share!).

As pressures mount across the healthcare system, the Clinical Strategy Committee remains committed to driving meaningful, sustainable transformation in primary care in Rhode Island. 

~Nelly Burdette, Psy.D., Chief Clinical Officer, CTC-RI