CTNJ: A recession is coming and it could hit Connecticut healthcare hard

While President Trump disagrees, a recent survey found that three in four economists expect the US economy to enter a recession by 2021. Recessions are a natural part of the economic cycle – it’s not a question of whether it will happen, but when. The last recession, in 2008, hit Connecticut especially hard, and in…

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Join us: Governor Lamont headlining CT affordable housing conference Sept. 19th

Governor Lamont, a host of Commissioners, legislators, and funders will speak at Housing 2019, the 30th annual CT conference on affordable housing. Among other things, join us to hear about two CT collaborations between housing and community health programs, from each side, that are improving both, with more tools and resources to support collaborations. Other…

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2020 insurance premium requests increase lower for individuals on AccessHealthCT, most of whom are subsidized, older and higher risk

Connecticut insurers have filed their requests for individual and small group premium increases for 2020 with the CT Insurance Dept. Requests vary from an average reduction of 9.8% for CTCare individual plans outside AccessHealthCT, our state’s insurance exchange, to 22% average increases for Aetna small group plans also outside AccessHealthCT. Six in ten people in…

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Join webinar for patients on leading methodology to evaluate the value of costly treatments

September 4th all patients and groups are invited to a webinar to give input on ICER’s Value Assessment Framework methods. The non-profit Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) is the nation’s leading independent analyst of evidence on the effectiveness and value of drugs and other treatments. ICER produces public reports used by Medicare, Medicaid,…

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State approves controversial New Haven primary care move

Friday, the state Office of Health Strategy gave final approval Yale-New Haven’s application to move primary care for over 25,000 low income consumers out of neighborhoods and shift them to the Cornell Scott and Fairhaven health centers for payment purposes. Under the final agreement patients would still be cared for by the same YNHH primary…

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CT eighth highest in unaffordable rents, impacts health

In 2017 almost half (48.5%) of renters in Connecticut spend over 30% of their household income on rent, more than renters in all but seven other states. The analysis by SHADAC found that Connecticut has been in the top ten states for most unaffordable rents in five of the last six years and the rate…

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PCMH + risk scores suggest possible gaming or worse; Advocates call on DSS to delay expansion to protect members and taxpayers

A new analysis of PCMH + members’ risk scores finds unexplained increases compared to the control/comparison group that could signal ACO gaming of the system for financial gain and/or, far worse, a decline in the health of members in the program. PCMH Plus, a controversial new payment model, allows ACO (large health systems) to share…

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CTNJ: CT doesn’t score well on healthcare – prices are to blame

A new state health ranking is out, and Connecticut trails the rest of New England. Connecticut’s big problem is the cost of our care. Our performance in health outcomes and access to care are passable, but we are 44th among states in the cost of care. Read more

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Motorcycle helmets save Connecticut lives; could save $207 million more

In a new analysis, researchers from CT Children’s Medical Center found that Connecticut motorcycle riders who crash are one and a half times less likely to be seriously injured or die in a crash if they are wearing a helmet but only about half are. The new report published in CT Medicine studied the 4,021…

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Join us: CT affordable housing conference features health/housing connection

Join us at Housing 2019, the 30th annual CT conference on affordable housing, to hear about collaborations in CT between housing and community health programs that are improving both. The conference is sponsored by the Affordable Housing Alliance of CT (formerly the CT Housing Coalition). At “Health and Housing: Learning from Each Other”, attendees will…

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