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6/12/2026
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12 pieces of Senate’s 2026 healthcare legislation pass Assembly
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STATE HOUSE – Senate President Valarie J. Lawson and Senate Health & Human Services Committee Chairwoman Melissa Murray are celebrating passage of 12 of the Senate’s priority healthcare bills.
The bills were part of a 17-bill package announced in March. All 17 bills passed the Senate, and the senators pledged to continue working to enact those that did not complete the legislative process.
“We took important steps this session to improve the well-being of our communities, with a focus on improving the stability and sustainability of our health system to make essential care both accessible and affordable for every Rhode Islander. I am proud that the Senate has been a leader in addressing Rhode Island’s healthcare crisis. Together, we are working with urgency to meet the needs of patients and providers across our state,” said President Lawson (D-Dist. 14, East Providence).
“As Chair of the Senate Health & Human Services Committee, I am deeply grateful to my colleagues who embraced these measures to improve our healthcare system. While we know that solving the healthcare crisis cannot be accomplished through any single piece of legislation, or any one collection of bills, those that were successful this session build upon our past progress and help address the most pressing needs of this moment. These bills will support Rhode Islanders in crisis, protect patients and providers, and strengthen the health workforce. Achieving our goals is a long-term effort, and our chamber remains committed to seeing it through,” said Chairwoman Murray (D-Dist. 24, Woonsocket, North Smithfield).
This is the third year that Senate leadership has brought forward a legislative package focused on healthcare accessibility and affordability. The bills that passed the Assembly in 2026 include:
Codify Children’s Mobile Response and Stabilization Services (MRSS) in state law and expand coverage: This legislation (2026-S 3066Baa, Senate President Valarie J. Lawson; 2026-H 8180Aaa, Rep. Julie A. Casimiro) amends statute to codify the MRSS program in state law, making it a permanent part of Rhode Island’s mental health infrastructure. These mobile services provide trained behavioral health clinicians in the community, in response to behavioral health crisis calls for children and youth up to age 21.
MRSS clinicians are better able than local emergency medical services to de-escalate crises and provide the crisis counseling and follow-up needed to keep youth out of emergency rooms, resulting in better patient outcomes for youth in crisis and reducing the strain on overburdened emergency departments. Between October 2024 and October 2025, providers fielded 849 MRSS cases, and 80% of cases were successfully stabilized in the community and connected to ongoing behavioral healthcare.
Additionally, the budget provides for the program’s coverage by Medicaid and appropriates $900,000 in Fiscal Year 2027 to provide coverage for services to the uninsured and underinsured.
Set commercial insurance reimbursement rate floor for MRSS: This legislation (2026-S 3065A, Senator Alana M. DiMario; 2026-H 7630A, Rep. Teresa Tanzi) builds upon a 2025 law, also sponsored by Senator DiMario, that required commercial insurers to cover MRSS services. It addresses the current low reimbursement rates for these services by adding a reimbursement rate floor for insurers to pay MRSS providers.
Create artificial intelligence safety guidelines related to suicidal ideation and mental health treatment: The first bill (2026-S 2195Aaa, Senator Lori Urso; 2026-H 7350Aaa, Rep. Tina L. Spears) regulates AI companion models and chatbots to prohibit the operation of any companions unless the provider has a protocol for addressing possible suicidal ideation, self-harm, other physical harm, or financial harm. It also provides requirements for warning notifications, and for enforcement by the Attorney General.
The second bill (2026-S 2197Aaa, Senator Lori Urso; 2026-H 7349A, Rep. Tina L. Spears) would establish guidelines regarding the permitted and restricted uses of AI technology in mental healthcare, in an effort to safeguard patient safety and privacy. It would require the patient or their parent or guardian’s fully informed consent before AI companion models could be used to assist in therapy or psychotherapy sessions, and ensure that licensed mental health professionals, not AI, are always the ones making therapeutic decisions, determining therapeutic recommendations and creating treatment plans. It would also ensure that AI tools used in mental healthcare – including those assisting in administrative tasks, notetaking, supplementary support and therapeutic communication – meet the same confidentiality standards that currently apply to all other records and communications kept by licensed mental health professionals.
Establish new oversight of pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs: Two of three bills put forward to better regulate and increase the transparency of PBMs passed the Assembly. The first (2026-S 3059B, Senator Robert Britto; 2026-H 8582A, Rep. Justine A. Caldwell) amends statute to set accountability and transparency requirements for PBMs and establishes new rules for their interactions with pharmacies and consumers. The second (2026-S 3060Baa, Senator Peter A. Appollonio Jr.; 2026-H 8579Aaa, Rep. Tina L. Spears) establishes a process for PBMs to obtain individual certificates of authority from the Office of the Health Insurance Commissioner in order to operate in Rhode Island.
Additionally, the budget provides $450,000 in general revenue to support two new positions within the Office of the Health Insurance Commissioner to complete activities related to regulating PBMs.
Address prior authorization requirements for post-acute care and the Behaviorally Complex Care Program: This bill (2026-S 3056, Senator Melissa Murray), which was incorporated into the budget, directs the Executive Office of Health & Human Services to facilitate nursing homes and other long-term care facilities receiving an enhanced Medicaid per-diem rate for complex behavioral health patients. The state budget provides $357,301 in general revenues ($846,885 in all funds) to implement and update the behavioral health per-diem add-on program for particularly complex patients. The estimate assumes a start date of April 1, 2027, and the admission of 20 new residents.
Update statutes to ensure childhood and adult vaccination schedules are set by the RI Department of Health: This legislation (2026-S 2379A, Senator Linda L. Ujifusa; 2026-H 7625A, Rep. Susan R. Donovan) would update the law to emphasize that the vaccination schedule set by RIDOH can be followed as determined by the Health Director as necessary to protect public health, and would require all insurers and the state’s Medicaid program to cover all immunizations provided under RIDOH’s guidelines, without any cost sharing, starting on Jan. 1, 2027. The bill was strengthened during the legislative process to include “shield” language, providing legal protections for those who prescribe, administer, or dispense vaccinations according to these recommendations.
Create study commission on medical malpractice: This legislation (2026-S 3345, Senator Mark McKenney) created a 13-member special legislative commission to study the impact of medical malpractice claims on healthcare providers and costs, with a report of its findings to be issued no later than Oct. 1, 2027.
Invest in loan repayment programs for primary care providers: This bill (2026-S 3062A, Senate President Pro Tempore Hanna M. Gallo) was modified and incorporated into the budget. The budget includes $400,000 in state funding for the Health Professional Loan Repayment Program. The program provides loan repayment assistance to health professionals such as licensed primary care, dental, and mental health clinicians, working for a minimum of two years at an approved health professional shortage area. The program aims to improve access to care and address health professional shortages that cause disparities in health. The General Assembly included $200,000 in general revenue in FY2026 to support the program.
Secure initial funding for the creation of a medical school at the University of Rhode Island: This proposal (2026-S 3064, Senator V. Susan Sosnowski; H-2026 8389, Rep. Kathleen A. Fogarty), which commits initial resources needed for the creation of a medical school at the University of Rhode Island, as recommended earlier this year by a special legislative commission, was included in the FY2027 state budget.
Establish a primary care commission to support workforce retention and explore graduate medical education, or GME, programs: This legislation (2026-S 3346, Senator Pamela J. Lauria) fulfills another of the recommendations made in the final report of the special legislative commission charged with studying the creation of a medical school at the University of Rhode Island.
Five additional measures won Senate approval but did not clear the full Assembly. They include:
Codify 988, BH Link: This legislation (2026-S 3058A, Senate Health & Human Services Committee Chair Melissa Murray; 2026-H 8177, Rep. Mary Ann Shallcross Smith) would have amended statute to codify the 988 and BH Link programs in state law, while additionally requiring the state to fully fund both programs in the event the current federal funding lapses. While the legislation was not enacted, $5.6 million in funding (all funds) is provided in the budget to ensure continued operations of the 988 program. The budget also includes a requirement that the Department of Behavioral Health, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals consult with the Department of Children, Youth and Families regarding rules and regulations specific to 988 services for children, youth, and their families.
PBMs: One of the three bills to improve oversight of PBMs did not clear the Assembly. This bill, (2026-S 2563, Senator Linda L. Ujifusa; 2026-H 8172, Rep. Teresa A. Tanzi) would have created the Prescription Drug Savings and Transparency Act of 2026, which would direct the Auditor General to conduct a study of the performance and cost-effectiveness of the state’s current prescription drug management for the Medicaid Program, including the utilization of PBMs by Medicaid managed care organizations, with a report of findings and recommendations issued to the General Assembly no later than March 31, 2027.
Address prior authorization requirements for post-acute care: This bill (2026-S 3061, Senator Brian J. Thompson; 2026-H 8367, Rep. Susan R. Donovan) would have required that insurers cover a minimum of seven days of post-acute care without a prior authorization requirement.
Invest in scholarship programs for primary care providers: This bill (2026 S-2101, Senator Pamela J. Lauria; 2026-H 7503, Kathleen A. Fogarty) would have established a scholarship program for students willing to commit to work as a primary care providers in Rhode Island. Eligible applicants would need to be studying and enrolled in a medical school, nursing school, or a physician assistant program.
While this legislation did not pass, the budget provides $1.6 million in additional funding for the Stay Invested in Rhode Island Wavemaker Fellowship Program, a competitive student loan repayment program run through the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation. These funds will support 85 slots to accommodate recent expansion to include primary care healthcare practitioners and providers who operate as sole proprietors of L.L.C.s.
Allow medical professionals to express sympathy to patients and families without risk of legal reprisal: This legislation (2026-S 2054A, Senator Pamela J. Lauria; 2026-H 7548, Rep. Kathleen A. Fogarty), which was also passed by the Senate in 2024 and 2025, would have provided that any statement of apology or concern by a healthcare provider to a patient, a patient’s relative, or representative is inadmissible as evidence of liability or admission of fault by the healthcare provider in any legal or arbitration action against a healthcare provider or facility. Rhode Island would join 39 other states with similar provisions.
While this bill, commonly called the “I’m Sorry” bill, did not pass, the Senate created a new commission to review medical malpractice, and this provision would fall under the scope of the new commission’s review.
“Stabilizing and strengthening Rhode Island’s system of care is critical for the future health of our communities and our state. The Senate’s commitment to this goal will not waver, and in the months ahead, we will continue our work with all stakeholders to confront our state’s healthcare challenges. When the General Assembly reconvenes in January, we will be prepared to reintroduce the measures that did not advance this year, as well as other proposals that will help make care more affordable and accessible for all Rhode Islanders,” said Chairwoman Murray.
For more information, contact:
Greg Pare, Director of Communications for the Senate
State House Room 112
Providence, RI 02903
(401) 276-5558
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