WellOne Primary Medical & Dental Care

WellOne Awarded Additional BlueAngel Funding

January 26th, 2011

WellOne Recognized for Innovative Behavioral Health Practices

Local Community Health Center awarded additional funding for successful psychotropic prescribing program

WellOne Primary Medical and Dental Care announced today that it has been approved for a $25,000 year two transitional funding for its Primary Care Community Health Setting: Improving Access to Behavioral Health Care program through Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island’s BlueAngel Community Health Grant (BACHG).

The program, launched in 2010, subsidized WellOne’s hiring of a part-time psychiatric prescriber as a complement to its existing primary care and behavioral health services. With this capability WellOne is able to treat the uninsured/underinsured patient population who lack access to this service in addition to the insured patients who are delayed or denied a timely appointment. The prescriber consults with the Primary Care Providers (PCPs) to evaluate patients over several sessions, stabilize on medications, and then refer back to the PCP for ongoing treatment. This approach focuses not only on delivering immediate treatment for patients in-need but, over-time, will transfer behavioral health medication prescribing knowledge to the PCP staff so that they eventually can assume this care, as well as be skilled to prescribe effectively the use of psychotropic medications for other patients in the future. By involving the PCP in this practice, WellOne improves the quality of care delivered to the patient by increasing safety through the management of all medications, minimizing cost, and increasing the rate of compliance.

“We are very grateful to Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island’s support for this important program”, stated Clifford I. Gordon, Ed.D., WellOne’s Director of Behavioral Health Services and Project Director. “Over 100 area patients received needed treatment in the first six months of implementing this service. With this capability, we have been able to reunite families, quickly return many to their jobs, and properly treat patients either previously misdiagnosed or who went years without treatment, thus improving functioning in many areas of life.”

It is estimated that between 25,000-50,000 individuals in Rhode Island annually need some mental health intervention and that generally, only one in three individuals receive needed treatment. Those who do seek a psychiatric medication intervention are more apt to contact their Primary Care Provider with whom they are familiar than a psychiatrist/clinical nurse specialist’s office. Up to 90% of psychotropic medications are prescribed in the PCP setting. (Report of the PCPAC Mental Health Workgroup. RI Department of Health, Primary Care Physicians Advisory Committee; June 2002; Action Paper. Enhancing Primary Care, Psychiatric Medicine Collaboration. Council on Psychosomatic Medicine; February 2008).

About WellOne

Established in 1909, WellOne is the oldest nonprofit community health center in Rhode Island, was the first rural health clinic in the nation, and historically has served as a pioneer in public health initiatives including its groundbreaking immunization and chronic disease management programs. WellOne’s mission is to provide the high quality primary medical to the residents of the communities that it serves. WellOne operates sites in Pascoag, Foster and North Kingstown and serves more than 13,000 patients of these communities and the surrounding towns of Glocester, Smithfield, Scituate, West Greenwich, East Greenwich, and Exeter. In addition to primary medical and dental care, the organization provides behavioral health, screening mammography and bone density scanning services. The organization offers services on a sliding fee scale to qualifying uninsured patients and operates a discount pharmacy program in collaboration with CVS. For more information, visit http://www.welloneri.org

About BlueAngel Community Health Grants

The BlueAngel Community Health Grants are a significant way that Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island improves the health of people in communities throughout the state. The goal is to fund projects and initiatives that are closely aligned with the company’s corporate vision.

All funded programs must strive to maintain or increase access to healthcare for the uninsured/underinsured in Rhode Island, with a particular focus on minority populations. Examples might include: Direct health care services; Education and navigation of the healthcare system including coverage options; Maintenance and prevention of chronic illnesses prevalent within minority populations.

The Blue Angel Community Health Grants are made possible by the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island Community Health Fund, a corporate donor advised fund of The Rhode Island Foundation.

Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island is the state’s leading health insurer and covers more than 600,000 members. Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. For more information, visit http://www.bcbsri.com

For additional information, please contact: Kathryn M. Franklin, Director of Development & Public Affairs; 401-285-5153 or