Posts by Ellen Andrews
Medicaid update – HUSKY parents’ time running out, home health and dental get different cuts, autism services moving
Friday’s Medicaid Council touched on several critical issues. We got an update, of sorts, on the fate of HUSKY parents facing the loss of coverage in three weeks. 20% of the 13,811 at-risk parents have either re-qualified for Medicaid (the large majority) or signed up for an AccessHealthCT plan. 3,877 parents from the original number…
Read MoreJuly CT Health Policy Webquiz: Medicare cost variation
Test your knowledge of Medicare cost variation. Take the July CT Health Policy Webquiz.
Read MoreCT Health Reform Dashboard – SIM ethics problems grow, an insurer lost, HUSKY parents losing coverage
July’s CT Health Reform Dashboard update is very active. SIM ethics problems are back in the news, with the death of a bill that would have closed the legal loophole that exempts SIM appointees. The state insurance department has suspended HealthyCT, our state’s only non-profit, homegrown insurer. This is troubling on many levels including reducing…
Read MoreNew HUSKY parents numbers show a lot of work needed before July 31st
No one knows why, but the number of HUSKY parents expected to lose coverage at the end of this month dropped from 17,688 to 13,811. That’s probably good news (depending on whether those four thousand already lost coverage and why), but as of late last week, only 15% had either been able to re-enroll in…
Read MoreState policymakers hear about successes and challenges in Medicaid reform
Wednesday’s Medicaid Reform meeting hosted by CSG-ERC Health Policy Committeehighlighted the variety of approaches states are taking to address their unique challenges. All states are committed to move away from volume-based payment models toward building value. All states were also committed, and have devoted significant resources, to quality improvement and delivery reform to build programs…
Read MoreCT teaching hospitals received $8.3 million from drug and device manufacturers last year
New data shows that nineteen teaching hospitals and 11,016 physicians in CT received payments from drug and device manufacturers last year. Open Payments, the searchable federal data source, was created by the Affordable Care Act which requires that drug and device manufacturers disclose payments to physicians and teaching hospitals. While every CT hospital received some…
Read MoreHartford Courant highlights SIM conflicts of interest impact, ethics law loophole
Today’s Hartford Courant includes a deep dive into instances of steering committee members getting grants and changing policies to benefit their interests. Unfortunately SIM falls into a loophole in CT law that exempts its members from the state Code of Ethics for Public Officials. A bill to close that loophole cruised through legislative committees but…
Read MorePractical info for HUSKY parents losing coverage you won’t get anywhere else
Statewide Legal Services of Connecticut has posted practical advice for the 17,688 working parents about to lose HUSKY coverage at the end of next month. Budget issues forced state lawmakers to cut parents’ eligibility. Preparing for the likelihood that many of them will become uninsured, SLSCT has drafted very consumer-friendly fact sheets in Englishand Spanish…
Read MoreCSG-ERC offers Medicaid reform resources for state policymakers, including underservice protections
Medicaid is now the largest coverage program in the nation, consuming over a quarter of state budgets, and that share is rising at an unsustainable rate. State Medicaid programs are working on reforms to shift from a system that rewards volume with no regard to quality to a better system that builds value. Next week…
Read MoreMedicaid reform application released – good interest at bidder’s conference
CT Medicaid’s plan for payment reform marked a milestone last week with release of the RFPfor provider networks and community health centers to participate. Most of the independent consumer advocates’ Medicaid Study Group recommendations are included, but not all. Pros include protective attribution, no downside risk, smart quality incentives to reward improvement, re-investing savings in…
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