RI House Minority Caucus Demanding Accountability
with UHIP/RIBridges Fiasco
State House, Providence, RI – The debacle surrounding Rhode Island’s Unified Health Infrastructure Project (UHIP), later rebranded as RIBridges which is a custom computer system, has once again highlighted the failure of state leadership and their ill-advised reliance on the contractor Deloitte. This latest catastrophe – a cyberattack compromising the personal information of 630,000 Rhode Islanders – demands immediate accountability and swift corrective action.
Since Rhode Island initially contracted with Deloitte to in 2013, UHIP has brought nothing but a string of failures. Initially projected to cost up to $135 million, the system’s price tag has ballooned to an astronomical $794 million. Despite these staggering costs, the system has been plagued by operational disruptions, including a disastrous 2016 launch that left thousands of residents without essential services and created a backlog of over 20,000 cases, while also giving benefits to people who weren’t even eligible to receive benefits. All of those ineligible benefits paid out were never able to be recovered.
The federal government issued warnings and even levied fines against Rhode Island, including an $805,000 penalty for unauthorized contract modifications. These funds, which could have been used to help families in need, were squandered to address Deloitte’s inadequacies.
Yet, despite these complete failures, state officials continued to contract with Deloitte. In 2021, the company was awarded a three-year, $99.4 million contract extension to manage RIBridges. This decision defied all logic, given Deloitte’s well-documented history of inefficiency and failure, and locked Rhode Island into further dependency on an outdated, unreliable system that never properly functioned to begin with.
The December 2024 cyberattack is the most egregious consequence of this negligence. The attack resulted in the exposure of Social Security numbers, bank details, and addresses of Rhode Islanders who have relied on the system for programs like Medicaid, SNAP, and TANF since 2016. This massive data breach has left 63% of all Rhode Island citizens at risk of identity theft and financial harm. Deloitte, the vendor entrusted to safeguard this information, failed catastrophically.
Incredibly – Rhode Island’s experience is not unique. Other states have also suffered under Deloitte’s mismanagement. Florida has filed class-action lawsuits for Medicaid coverage failures, Illinois has dealt with breaches in its unemployment systems, and Texas has lodged federal complaints over errors leading to wrongful Medicaid terminations. This pattern of failure underscores that Deloitte is fundamentally incapable of delivering secure, reliable systems for managing public programs.
The fact that Rhode Island will not sever this abusive relationship with this failed company is a further head-scratcher. This mismanagement of taxpayer resources is irresponsible and must end immediately.
RIBridges is an irredeemable system, wholly incompatible with modern technological advancements such as artificial intelligence. While other states and private-sector organizations are leveraging AI to enhance efficiency, scalability, and data security, Rhode Island is shackled to an outdated, monolithic platform. Continued investment in this system is a waste of taxpayer dollars and an insult to the taxpayers of Rhode Island.
To be clear – the system must be scrapped, and we must contract with a competent company to create a modern system that will grow with technology. And then we must sue Deloitte for negligence, professional malpractice, security failures, fraud or misrepresentation regarding their performance on the original contract, and Federal compliance failures. We must attempt to reclaim as much wasted taxpayer money as possible.
The time for action is now. RI House Minority Caucus members sat through every single Oversight Hearing on UHIP and Deloitte since 2016 – and the ineptitude of that company has only grown since the system went live 8 years ago. Rhode Island leaders must demand a full audit of all contracts and expenditures related to UHIP and RIBridges and Rhode Island must immediately terminate its relationship with Deloitte and transition to a modular, AI-ready system from a trusted vendor with a track record of success, unlike Deloitte.
Our residents deserve a platform that prioritizes data security, operational efficiency, and adaptability to future needs.
The responsibility for this ongoing disaster lies squarely with those who ignored warnings, renewed failing contracts, and prioritized vendor relationships over the welfare of our residents. Rhode Islanders deserve a government that puts their interests first, not one that excuses incompetence and failure. The people of this state demand accountability, and failure of our state leaders to pursue accountability is failure of those leaders to be responsible to the citizens they represent.
Rhode Island still lacks an Independent Office of Inspector General, leaving the state with inadequate oversight mechanisms. To address this gap, the House Minority Caucus is urging the Joint Committee on Legislative Services (JCLS) to convene an emergency meeting and order a comprehensive audit under the authority of RIGL 22-13-4(e).
The proposed audit, to be conducted by the Auditor General, must thoroughly examine Rhode Island’s contracts with Deloitte from 2013 to the present. It should include a detailed review of all state departments, employees, and contractors involved in awarding, extending, or executing contracts tied to the UHIP/RIBridges project since its inception.
Given that a partial review of UHIP was conducted by the Attorney General seven years ago, JCLS could alternatively choose to invoke its authority under RIGL 22-13-4(d) to facilitate this process. To ensure transparency, the JCLS should direct the Auditor General to use statutory subpoena powers to compel witnesses and gather all relevant testimony and documentation. This audit must uncover the full scope of failures and financial costs associated with this unacceptable misuse of taxpayer funds.
Minority Leader Michael W. Chippendale
The Rhode Island House Minority (Republican) Caucus is comprised of the following elected members: Minority Leader Michael W. Chippendale, District 40 (Foster/Glocester/Coventry); Minority Whip David J. Place, District 47 (Burrillville/Glocester); Representative George Nardone, District 28 (Coventry); Representative Brian Newberry, District 48 (North Smithfield/Burrillville); Representative Robert Quattrocchi, District 41 (Scituate/Cranston); Representative Sherry Roberts, District 29 (Coventry/West Greenwich); Representative Brian Rea, District 53 (Smithfield/Glocester); Representative-elect Richard Fascia, District 42 (Johnston/Cranston); Representative-elect Marie Hopkins, District 21 (Warwick); Representative-elect Chris Paplauskas, District 15 (Cranston); Representative-elect Paul Santucci, District 53 (Smithfield/Glocester).