What My Annual Physical Says About Rhode Island’s Healthcare Crisis

This morning I went in for my annual physical.

It’s something I take seriously and something I assume most Rhode Islanders take seriously, too, but instead of sitting down with my primary care physician, as I’ve done for years, I found myself scheduled with a nurse practitioner.

Let me start by saying this: the nurse practitioner was fantastic.

He was friendly, thorough, and laser-focused on preventive care. He spent the time needed to walk through everything, and the quality of care was excellent.

But the bigger story isn’t the appointment itself. The bigger story is why it happened.

This change was made without my consent for a simple reason: my primary care doctor is booked out until May of next year.

Not because he’s overwhelmed with new patients, but because several physicians in the practice recently retired and younger doctors are simply not choosing to practice in Rhode Island.

And that’s not by accident.

A System Under Strain: Why Doctors Are Leaving and Not Being Replaced

Rhode Island is in the middle of a quiet healthcare crisis. We are losing primary care physicians faster than we can replace them, and the next generation of doctors is choosing to practice in Massachusetts and Connecticut instead of here.

Why is that?

It’s because the environment in those states allows them to practice medicine without reimbursement challenges, regulatory burdens, and administrative obstacles that exist in Rhode Island.

So what happens?

• Practices shrink as older physicians retire,

• Appointment wait times stretch into months,

• Patients don’t always see their own doctor,

• Continuity of care disappears,

• Nurse practitioners and PAs end up filling in because of the shortage.

Again, this isn’t about NPs or PAs. They’re essential, talented professionals, and my NP today proved that.

The bigger issue is when an entire primary care practice can’t replace retiring doctors, and that’s a different problem altogether.

How We Got Here

This didn’t happen overnight. It’s the result of years of failing to support the foundation of our healthcare system.

• Reimbursement rates haven’t kept up, making RI one of the least attractive states for primary care practices.

• Administrative burdens are heavy, pushing experienced doctors into early retirement.

• Insurance rules dictate visit lengths and limit what can be covered in one appointment, forcing doctors to practice medicine on a stopwatch.

• Meanwhile, our neighboring states offer better pay, lighter regulatory pressure, and more support for team-based care, making it easy for new physicians to choose anywhere but here.

The result?

Patients wait… Providers burn out… And preventive care, the least expensive, most effective kind, gets squeezed.

Why This Matters for Every Family in District 36

What happened at my appointment today is happening everywhere in District 36, from Narragansett to North Kingstown to Block Island.

Primary care is where:

• health problems are caught early,

• questions get answered,

• long-term plans are made,

• and trust is built over years, not minutes.

When that system breaks down, everything downstream from specialist care to emergency care to chronic care gets worse and more expensive.

And it shouldn’t be this hard to get basic, preventive care in the first place.

What I Would Push for in the Senate

We can fix this, but it requires acknowledging the problem, something Rhode Island hasn’t done well.

Here’s where we need to start:

1. Competitive reimbursement rates for primary care

We will keep losing doctors until we make it financially viable to stay and practice here.

2. Reducing unnecessary administrative burdens

Doctors should spend time with patients, not insurance paperwork.

3. Strengthening team-based care without sidelining physicians

NPs and PAs play a critical role, but they cannot be the default substitute for a shrinking physician workforce.

4. Expanding physician training pipelines and offering incentives to stay in RI

We train talented medical students and residents here then watch them leave.

5. Enforcing network adequacy and transparency for patients

If your insurance card claims you have access to a doctor, you shouldn’t be waiting until next spring.

My Personal Takeaway

I left my appointment today with two very clear feelings:

Gratitude because the nurse practitioner provided excellent, preventive-focused care.

And concern because my own primary care physician is unavailable for six months, not due to demand, but due to retirements and a lack of new physicians choosing to practice in Rhode Island.

This isn’t an isolated scheduling issue.

It’s a clear sign that our healthcare system is under stress and state policy has played a role in creating that stress. On the other hand, state policy can also play a role in solving this problem.

Rhode Islanders deserve a system where:

• preventive care is accessible,

• doctors want to practice here,

• nurses and NPs are supported, not overburdened,

• and patients aren’t waiting half a year to be seen.

My experience today didn’t discourage me. It reaffirmed why I’m running.

This is the kind of problem elected officials should be focused on.

It’s affecting families right now, and it’s fixable with the right priorities.

And District 36 deserves nothing less.