Stephen Pushed NH Reforms in RI

Tom Fahey leads his Under the State House Dome column with word that former NH Health and Human Services Commissioner John Stephen is working to implement some of the changes he championed in New Hampshire down in Rhode Island:

Stephen, now a management consultant on health care and government affairs, worked to convince federal regulators to approve a Medicaid waiver that, among other things, would allow Rhode Island to shift long-term care emphasis from nursing homes to community and home-based care.

He brought a similar plan to New Hampshire with great fanfare in 2004 while Gov. Craig Benson, who appointed Stephen, was still in office. Stephen predicted New Hampshire would save $380 million over five years, most of it through cuts in nursing home use.

GraniteCare moved through several phases before passing pieces of it in 2005, when Stephen butted heads with Gov. John Lynch over its details.