Posts by Ellen Andrews
Health First/Primary Care Authority updates
Today’s joint meeting of the two Authorities was interesting. Mitch Katz, MD, MPH, San Francisco’s health director presented on their Healthy San Francisco program. The city isn’t waiting for the state or the fed.s to do something — they created their own program to cover everyone. The crux of the model is a medical home…
Read MoreHUSKY, Charter Oak and other session updates
The General Assembly acted on very few health proposals this year. Some things that did pass: HB 5536 — Rep. Donovan’s bill to allow municipalities and small business to buy directly into the state employee plan pool – the Courant says “Rell’s signature is iffy”. Even if she does approve it, the plan may not…
Read MoreBook Club: Better
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the Annual Meeting of the Donoughue Foundation. The keynote speaker at the event was Atul Gawande, a general surgeon, writer for the New Yorker and author of two books, Complications and Better. Gawande spoke about the small things that can be done to make the healthcare system…
Read MoreCharter Oak update
Last night, the House passed a stripped down version of the Charter Oak fix bill, 5617, leaving only mental health parity. The House version removed critical provisions including dental and vision care, removing limits on prescriptions, medical equipment and lifetime limits on care, independent grievance and accountability options, sustainability provisions, prohibition against contracting with unlicensed…
Read MoreDPH launches on-line health personal health assessment tool
DPH has launched a very useful Protective Health Assessment Tool on their website. The site takes you through a variety of questions about health risks, behaviors, medical history, clinical and lifestyle factors and gives you a list of recommendations and resources to improve your health. The assessment takes about 10 or 15 minutes and is…
Read MoreHealth First Authority Update
After eight months, the Health First Authority is getting to consider some options to cover CT’s uninsured. Five options to be specific. And while most of the conversation was predictable, it did get interesting near the end. The five options include single payer universal coverage, a bolstered employment based system (employer mandate, state subsidies for…
Read MoreMay Web Quiz
Test your knowledge of the quality of CT’s health care. Take the May CT Health Policy Project Web Quiz.
Read MoreA Haven in the City
An article in the Yale Journal of Public Health describes HAVEN, a Saturday morning free primary care clinic providing care to residents of the Fairhaven neighborhood in New Haven. HAVEN was conceived by and is staffed by students from Yale’s medical, public health, physician assistant and nursing schools and is held at the Fair Haven…
Read MoreCT family premiums grew by 21% from 2001 to 2005; median income grew by 2.4%
A new report explains why CT families are feeling like they are moving backward. “Squeezed: How Costs for Insuring Families are Outpacing Income” by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found while the percent of premium that CT families pay dropped slightly from 2001 to 2005, total average family premium payments increased 6.4%. In more bad…
Read MoreHighlights from CT Health Notes
Thursday’s issue of CT Health Notes, our biweekly list serv, includesAging baby boomers intensify looming health care workforce shortage — a new report from the Institute of Medicine finds that the growing number of older patients with more complex health care needs will overwhelm an already stressed health care workforce.Health care becoming “employer of last…
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