ICER seeking nominations for New England evidence review council

The Institute for Economic and Clinical Review (ICER) is seeking nominations for new members to the New England Comparative Effectiveness Public Advisory Council (New England CEPAC). In my time on the New England CEPAC, it was an exciting dive into learning new things with a team of exceptional experts and colleagues from across the region.…

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CT health systems ranked poorly by their nurses

Connecticut health systems underperform in an analysis of nurses’ satisfaction with their employers by MIT’s Sloan School of Management. Only four health systems covering Connecticut had enough data to be included in the study – Hartford Healthcare, Yale-New Haven Health, Trinity, and the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Nurses working at Yale-New Haven and…

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ICER fair access report finds improvements but problems with transparency

ICER’s third annual Barriers to Fair Access report found that most prescription drug coverage policies met fair rules for patient access. This is an improvement over previous years suggesting that transparency and public sunlight works. But the report also found that policies needed more transparency and are too complex. Policies on which patients are eligible…

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Op-Ed: The Charts That Scare Health Insurance Watchdogs

Self-insured small group plans sound innocuous but they’re not – and they are growing quickly. The plans save money for some small businesses, but they have serious risks. It’s kind of complicated but stay with me. I’ll walk you through it; there will be no numbers. Read more

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Speaker Series #4 — Healthcare for people with developmental disabilities — Reports from other states

Following up on the first webinars  on healthcare access for people with developmental disabilities, the fourth webinar in the Fall Series will focus on Reports From Other States including Colorado, Maine, and Rhode Island. It will be Tuesday, October 31st. The Fall speaker series is sponsored by the CT Council on Developmental Disabilities and UCEDD.…

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CT commercial insurance enrollment down 5%; several possible explanations

Download the report Last year, total enrollment in Connecticut’s commercial managed care plans was 1,666,972. That was down by 85,019 from 2021 at 1,750,904, according to the this year’s Consumer Report Card from the CT Insurance Department. The drop in enrollment was almost entirely from large group plans with over 50 members and spread across…

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CT Medicaid primary care redesign: Payment reform

Download the full report with sources Connecticut Medicaid is considering reforms to primary care delivery and payment. The CT Health Policy Project is collecting evidence from other states and programs to help inform that planning. Part 1 focused on Connecting with community services to improve health. A major part of DSS’s planning for reform is…

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Healthcare for CT residents with developmental disabilities — Webinar #3

Following up on the first webinars  on healthcare access for people with developmental disabilities, the third webinar in the Fall Series will focus on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Access to Healthcare. It will be Tuesday, October 17th. The Fall speaker series is sponsored by the CT Council on Developmental Disabilities and UCEDD. Register here for…

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Healthcare for CT residents with developmental disabilities speaker series – Webinar #2

Following up on the first webinar  with national experts on healthcare access for people with developmental disabilities, the second webinar in the Fall Series will focus on Connecticut. It will be Tuesday, October 3rd at 1:00pm and include results of a survey of state residents with lived experience and their experience of accessing healthcare and…

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CT Healthcare Explained — what’s next?

Hopefully, you’ve found our short Sunday Health Policy Minute emails informative and helpful. This is just the beginning of CT Healthcare Explained’s efforts to help make sense of our state’s unreasonably complex system. Hopefully, you’ve accessed the site resources including explainer videos, Basics, and Deeper Dives on the current seventeen topics. Consumers, policymakers, clinicians, students,…

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