About 4,000 uninsured Rhode Islanders depend on state help when they have a mental health or addiction emergency. Before this year, SSTAR of Rhode Island was responsible for ushering them through the health care system. But the state decided that a bid from the Providence Center delivered more innovative approaches to treatment.
Fay Baker with the Providence Center says the new program focuses on giving clients the right level of care at the lowest cost.
"So if somebody needs the highest cost level of care, then that's what we'll provide, but we don't want that to be the only option," she says.
Baker says in the past, Rhode Islanders with mental health or addiction problems have ended up in expensive hospital beds when other, cheaper solutions might be more effective.
The program includes a service at Fatima Hospital where clients can have a safe, quiet space to regroup without officially being admitted into the medical center.
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