Posts by Ellen Andrews
It’s official – 2010’s biggest lie of the year . . . .
PolitiFact, the Pulitzer-prize winning antidote to deliberate misinformation, has named the assertion that national health reform is a “government takeover” of health care as the biggest lie of the year. If only it were true — no public option, consumers required by law to purchase a costly product from private companies, reliance on weak state…
Read MoreNew estimates of savings needed for medical care in retirement
Too many people assume that Medicare will cover their medical costs after age 65 and fail to save. While Medicare does pay almost two thirds of seniors’ health costs, a new analysis by EBRI finds that an average American 65 year old man retiring this year without employer-sponsored premium assistance needs $109,000 in savings just…
Read MoreVote for the most influential health policy articles of 2010
For all the wonky types, RWJ is taking votes online for this year’s most influential research articles. You may have missed one or two (I did) so it’s also a chance to catch up.
Read MoreA constituent who made a difference
Eva Bunnell was a mother whose husband was about to lose his job because he was spending time with their daughter with complex medical problems when she spoke to Sen. Christopher Dodd. Out of that conversation came the Family and Medical Leave Act. Eva told that story to advocates assembled to honor Sen. Dodd’s service…
Read MoreCost cutting commission final proposals
The state Commission on Enhancing Agency Outcomes issued its final recommendations to save money in the state budget including over $145 million from health care spending. Proposals include more efficient Medicaid drug purchasing, drug recycling, preventing falls, and reducing the number of nursing home beds in the state and re-balancing long term care to emphasize…
Read MoreAlmost half of CT physicians are using electronic medical records
A new survey from the CDC finds that 48% of office-based physicians in CT are using some form of an electronic medical record/health record (EMR, EHR) this year, just under the national average (50.7%). State rates varied from 38% (KY) to 80% (MN). But only 10% of US physicians have fully functional EMRs; most are…
Read MoreMedicaid Council update
Financial numbers released at Friday’s Medicaid Care Management Oversight Council meeting highlighted the need for more sophisticated accountability or, even better, moving the program to a self-insured ASO model and removing any HMO incentives to game the system. The Council first heard about Aetna’s underwhelming and vague performance improvement programs; Aetna’s quality performance for members…
Read MoreNew journalism focusing on CT health
The CT Health I Team, led by veteran CT journalists Lisa Chedekel and Lynn DeLucia, will publish original investigative reports on health and safety in Connecticut and surrounding states. Top stories include Disciplined Docs Practice Freely in State and PTSD Cases in State Up. C-HIT is sponsored by the Online Journalism Project.
Read MoreCT fourth healthiest state
America’s Health Ranking has placed CT as the fourth healthiest state in the nation, behind only VT, MA and NH. Since 1993 CT has been in the top ten healthiest states. However performance on specific indicators varied widely. CT was the top state in recent dental visits, but 27th in air pollution and 31st in…
Read MoreRally for SustiNet December 14th
The Interfaith Fellowship for Universal Health Care is holding a rally for SustiNet December 14th from 5:30 to 6:30 pm at the Emmanuel Lutheran Church, 311 Capitol Avenue, Hartford. Governor-elect Malloy will join the Rally. For more information, go to http://www.ctneweconomy.org/
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