Posts by Ellen Andrews
Patient-centered medical home committee meeting
Yesterday’s meeting of the SustiNet patient-centered medical home (PCMH) committee was full of energy. The discussion highlighted the tension between all the stakeholder groups who want to make sure their issue area or profession is included with the need to keep PCMHs feasible. If there are too many bells and whistles, it will be impossible…
Read MoreNew report finds CT will gain 225,000 new insured if national health reform passes
A new report by Families USA finds that in ten years CT will have 225,000 more insured residents than we do now if the Senate Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is passed. Without it, our uninsured numbers will grow by 58,000 to almost 400,000. The number of uninsured residents in our state is already…
Read MoreMedicaid Managed Care Council update
Friday’s meeting was depressing. The Community Health Centers reported on their large increases in patient volume made possible by investments in infrastructure. In 2008, CT’s clinics provided 263,043 patients with over 1.2 million encounters. Unfortunately, the Governor’s proposed cuts will undermine those gains just as demand for clinic services are up sharply. DSS outlined the…
Read MoreCT 28th in nation in tobacco prevention spending, and that’s the good news
CT is up to 28th among states in spending on tobacco prevention, according to a new report from the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids. The bad news is that we will spend only $7.2 million this year on prevention, 16 % of what CDC recommends. However we bring in $494 million from the tobacco settlement…
Read MoreHow reducing health care costs could work
Many pundits have criticized the national health reform bills because they don’t do enough to reduce costs – to “bend the cost curve” – and deride the pilot programs to test cost cutting innovations. But an article by Atul Gawande in the latest New Yorker magazine describes how government sponsored pilot programs reduced skyrocketing food…
Read MoreObesity and tobacco forum
The CT Public Health Policy Institute will hold a breakfast forum on overweight and obesity in CT and tobacco use and smoking in CT Tuesday Jan. 19th from 8 am to noon in Room 2A of the Legislative Office Building. The forum will include presentations with background, cost analysis and consequences of the problems followed…
Read MoreInsurance Dept. approves United-Health Net acquisition
Not surprisingly, the CT Insurance Dept. (CID) has approved United Health’s proposal to purchase information on all Health Net members, past and present. Advocates and providers have raised grave concerns about the merger including privacy of sensitive health information, consolidation in CT’s already anti-competitive insurance market, and large increases in premiums for consumers and small…
Read MoreWay too much fun
The pink glove dance to raise breast cancer awareness from the Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland, OR.
Read MoreDecember web quiz – CT managed care plan performance
Test your knowledge about the performance of CT’s managed care plans. Take the December CT Health Policy web quiz.
Read MoreThe upside of rising unemployment and rising health costs
An article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal found the silver lining in our current economic crisis. As incomes for many dropped this year and health care costs for virtually everyone went up, more Americans will be able to qualify for the end of year tax deduction for medical expenses. Because the rules do not allow…
Read More