Posts by Ellen Andrews
Study finds PCMHs cost less, fewer ED visits than ACOs
A new analysis finds that total healthcare costs and ED visits are significantly lower for adult patients of Patient-Centered Medical Homes (PCMHs) than for Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), hybrids (both PCMHs and ACOs), or standard care (from facilities that are neither). PCMH patients had the lowest average total cost of care, 23% lower than standard…
Read MoreHalf of current COVID hospital admissions are Medicaid members
Connecticut Medicaid has taken a serious hit from COVID. At Friday’s Medical Assistance Program Oversight Council meeting, we learned that while hospitalizations went up, outpatient and physician care went down. In May outpatient care spending was down 51% from last year and physician care was down 36%. Those numbers have risen somewhat but are still…
Read MoreFact Check: Are primary care doctors underpaid?
Download the Fact Check A statement was made in a recent Connecticut state public meeting that primary care physicians are paid less than specialists. The statement was made a recent Technical Team meeting for the Office of Health Strategy’s cost cap project considering a substantial increase in spending on primary care. The facts, however, are…
Read MoreUnique hospital ranking includes community and value of care with traditional quality metrics
The Lown Institute now ranks hospitals on 53 metrics that impact both individuals and communities. Typical hospital rankings consider only care for individual patients, not how hospitals serve their communities. Backus does best among 26 Connecticut hospitals at 84th of 3,282 US hospitals; Greenwich ranks lowest in the state and 2,635th in the nation. There…
Read MoreImprove health policymaking — Nominate a claim for fact checking
In Connecticut state policymaking committee meetings, advocates routinely hear questionable claims stated as facts. Often very important caveats and context are left out. As non-members, we have no opportunity to question the claim or correct the misinformation. Too often policy is made based on these un-challenged claims. For twenty years, the CT Health Policy Project…
Read MoreCTNJ: For a better post-COVID policy process, CT needs to abolish all committees
I couldn’t agree more with my advocacy friends who called on the legislature to open public hearings to online participation. But legislative hearings are only part of the problem. Connecticut policymakers need to abolish all taskforces, boards, workgroups, design groups, consortia, advisory and steering committees, teams, councils, and similar committees. These insular groups, run with…
Read MoreCost cap project sets limits on healthcare spending without public input, ignoring pandemic impact
In meetings of the committee setting limits on healthcare spending for all Connecticut residents, it appears the advocates’ sign on letter and detailed concerns about the Office of Health Strategy’s (OHS’s) Cost Cap project were not heard. The plan is being developed by a Technical Advisory Team, with members chosen only by OHS, including some…
Read MoreRacial bias is pervasive in medical guidelines for care
A new study has found that racial inequities are unintentionally baked into algorithms, flowcharts of decision points that assess patient risks, used by providers to determine who will benefit from what care. A previous study found that a widely-used algorithm that predicts which patients will benefit from care management was unintentionally biased against black patients.…
Read MoreOHS committee chooses unrealistic cap for CT healthcare costs
The Office of Health Strategy’s (OHS) Technical Team choosing the cap for future Connecticut healthcare costs has decided on a 3.1% allowed increase for next year, dropping over time to 2.7% by 2025. To illustrate the impact of the cost cap, consider the significant variability in Connecticut’s per capita all-payer total healthcare cost increases from…
Read MoreSurprisingly, Medicaid applications are down sharply with the pandemic
At Friday’s MAPOC meeting, DSS reported that HUSKY applications were down 40% in May from a year before. This was unexpected given massive increases in unemployment and predictions of over 100,000 new Connecticut Medicaid members because of the pandemic. In January, February and March, applications ran 15% to 20% higher than last year. But a…
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