About Us

Since 2018, the Roosevelt Benton Center has operated as a unit within Eleanor Slater Hospital (ESH), providing services for court-ordered forensic patients. As State leaders have contemplated changes for ESH, it became clear that the Benton Center, which underwent an extensive $8 million renovation in 2018 and serves up to 52 patients, should operate as a standalone state forensic psychiatric hospital. The RI Department of Health approved a license for the RI State Psychiatric Hospital (RISPH) in late October 2022. 

By operating RISPH under a separate license, it reduces the number of psychiatric patients at ESH, better positioning the State to seek federal reimbursements for patient care at ESH. Unlike most patients at ESH, forensic patients are not eligible for federal reimbursements. However, before RISPH became a separate hospital, forensic patients were counted as psychiatric patients in the semi-annual census that determines ESH’s eligibility for federal Medicaid reimbursements for patients under age 65. This made it difficult for the hospital to qualify for the federal reimbursements, because federal Medicaid rules prevent the hospital from seeking those funds for patients under the age of 65 when more than 50 percent of its patients are psychiatric. As a standalone psychiatric hospital, patients at RISPH are no longer included in ESH's semi-annual census for Medicaid.

CONTACT US 

Irina Beyder, PhD
Chief Executive Officer
Phone: (401) 462-4040
Email: Irina.Beyder@bhddh.ri.gov

Pedro Tactacan, MD
Interim Chief Medical Officer
Phone: (401) 462-1560
Email: Vanessa.Contreras@bhddh.ri.gov

Matthew Wiley, RN
Chief Nursing Officer
Phone: (401) 462-1005
Email: Matthew.Wiley@bhddh.ri.gov

Jason Alexandre, MA, MS
Chief Quality Officer
Phone: (401) 462-2780
Email: Jason.Alexandre@bhddh.ri.gov