All Entries Tagged With: "medical"

University Medicine Announces New Director of Research Integration, Dr. Ramratnam, MD

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – University Medicine, a nonprofit primary care, specialty outpatient and sub-specialty medical group practice with over 200 physicians and over 20 patient care locations across the state, announces that Bharat Ramratnam, MD has been named Director of Research Integration. The announcement was made by Louis B. Rice, MD, president and CEO of University Medicine.

In this newly created role, Dr. Ramratnam will work closely with Dr. Lance Dworkin, vice chairman for research, ethics and academic affairs, to promote collaborative research across disciplines within University Medicine’s Department of Medicine. Dr. Ramratnam, who completed undergraduate and postgraduate education at Brown University and a postdoctoral fellowship at The Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center of the Rockefeller University, is uniquely suited to spearhead this new initiative given his proven record of continuous NIH-funded research in basic, clinical and behavioral science, according to Dr. Rice.

Dr. Ramratnam, an associate professor of medicine at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, is director of the Lifespan/Tufts/Brown Center for AIDS Research Laboratory of Retrovirology at Rhode Island Hospital. He currently leads a multi-disciplinary team focusing on reproductive hormones and their impact on HIV-1 acquisition. Additionally, he directs the COBRE Center for Cancer Research Development at Rhode Island Hospital and is the Medical Director for the Lifespan Clinical Research Center.

Under Dr. Ramratnam’s leadership, the Office of Research Integration will issue requests for applications (RFAs) to fund the preparation of a number of collaborative program project grants in fiscal year 2015. The office will also assess the state of clinical and basic science research in the Department of Medicine, disseminate opportunities, and develop a strategic plan that will ensure the continued excellence of the department in its mission of providing state-of-the-art medical care to individuals in Rhode Island and surrounding communities.

For over 12 years, Dr. Ramratnam has been an appointed reviewer of investigator-initiated grants for a wide range of national and international medical boards, drug treatments and programs, and research projects. He is currently overseeing seven ongoing grants involving a total of over $2 million in funding. In addition to his research on the role of reproductive hormones on HIV-1 acquisitions, other grants he is involved with include an investigation on the genetic information transfer to hematopoietic cells and the role of microvesicles, studies in HIV-1 pathogenesis and transmission, and a study of bio behavioral interactions and intervention between alcohol and HIV.

Ramratnam has received numerous awards including the NIH Career Development Award, the Doris Duke Clinical Scientist Award, the Daland Fellowship in Clinical Investigation from the American Philosophical Society, and the Culpepper Award from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Locally, he received the Lifespan Bruce Selya award for Research Excellence, and the Dean’s Teaching Excellence Award from the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.

Dr. Ramratnam earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Brown University in 1986 and his doctor of medicine degree from The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University in 1993. He resides in Little Compton, R.I.

Healthsource RI Reports Uninsured Rate Drops to Five Percent

PROVIDENCE, RI – HealthSource RI (HSRI), Rhode Island’s state-based health benefits exchange, reported today the percentage of Rhode Islanders lacking health insurance has been reduced by more than half since 2012, according to results of a robust, state-wide survey commissioned by HSRI.  The Health Information Survey (HIS) showed a drop in the uninsured rate from 11 percent in 2012 to five percent in 2015 (margin of error of +/- one percent.) The comprehensive HIS survey of 5,000 households and more than 12,000 individual Rhode Islanders shows similar trends to other national surveys released in recent weeks.

“The Affordable Care Act is working, and is working best in states like Rhode Island that have fully implemented Medicaid expansion and embraced a state-run exchange,” said Anya Rader Wallack, HealthSource RI Director.

HealthSource RI has enrolled over 37,000 in health coverage, and in partnership with the federal government, has connected more than 30,000 Rhode Islanders with financial assistance to make private health insurance affordable. An additional 82,000 Rhode Islanders have been enrolled in Medicaid since 2012 under expanded federal eligibility rules.  The number of uninsured residents has been reduced from just fewer than 113,000 before the Affordable Care Act was signed to just fewer than 50,000 today.

“A coordinated approach to expanding coverage through both Medicaid and a state-based exchange has had a dramatic impact in in reducing the number of uninsured in Rhode Island,” said Secretary of Health and Human Services Elizabeth Roberts.  “Yet clearly, stabilizing health insurance coverage is about more than expanding Medicaid and maximizing federal tax credits. To sustain a high-quality health care system and build stronger, healthier communities across Rhode Island, we also have to address the fundamental drivers of health care cost growth that continue to burden our employers, taxpayers and state government.”

The survey put a focus on the need for continued efforts to reach out to uninsured Rhode Islanders.  Nearly half of the remaining uninsured have incomes that make them eligible for Medicaid, and another 41 percent have incomes that would likely qualify them for a federal health insurance premium tax credit through HSRI.  The survey also found that uninsured Rhode Islanders are more likely to be young (52 percent aged 18 to 34; another 14 percent aged 35 to 44), male and earn less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level.  For these Rhode Islanders and others, there are a number of affordable plans available through HSRI. For example, a 28 year old, single man who earns $23,000 can get insurance for $106 per month after federal tax credits.

Wallack and Roberts will join forces in the coming months to address three needs highlighted by the survey results:

1. Identifying and enrolling as many remaining uninsured Rhode Islanders as possible, including the significant number of Rhode Islanders believed to qualify for Medicaid or a full tax credit (resulting in no-cost or low-cost coverage);
2. Continuing to expand the insurance options available to employers through HSRI, while reducing the complexity and burden of the health insurance shopping experience.
3. Addressing the underlying drivers of unsustainable healthcare cost growth. Roberts is chairing Governor Gina M. Raimondo’s Working Group for Healthcare Innovation, which is charged with identifying ways to lower cost across Rhode Island’s healthcare system, while also improving patient care and health outcomes.

The HIS is a telephone survey conducted by Market Decisions Research of Portland, Maine, from mid April through June 2015. The survey sample included 5,000 Rhode Island households, representing more than 12,000 individuals.  A similar survey was fielded by the state in 2012, but it had not been repeated since implementation of the Affordable Care Act began in 2013.

Rhode Island’s declining uninsured rate is consistent with recent national surveys such as the Gallup poll that places Rhode Island’s uninsured rate at 2.7 percent (with a margin of error of +/- four percent), as well as a report by the federal government last month indicating a drop in uninsured rates across the country.

In the coming weeks HSRI will release additional HIS data relating to whether Rhode Islanders have access to care when they need it, the characteristics of the remaining uninsured and additional details of the insurance market. Some preliminary results suggest that over three percent of respondents to the survey delayed or did not get medical care because they could not afford it.  This has decreased from almost five percent in the 2012 survey.

Results also suggest that the remaining uninsured are disproportionately adults without children and are in slightly worse health than the general Rhode Island population.  Finally, uninsured Rhode Islanders with incomes over 138 percent of the federal poverty level indicate cost and concerns about eligibility as the main reasons why they are not enrolled in state-sponsored insurance.

Click here for additional information about the HealthSource RI survey.