Posts by Ellen Andrews
Medicaid Council meeting update
Friday’s Medicaid Assistance Program Oversight Council meeting was very productive and mainly positive. The main area of discussion was DSS’ implementation of new asset limits required by budget negotiations (bad news) and new spend down tracking processes (good news). This August the enrollment brokers (Xerox, formerly ACS) will handle tracking and evaluation of medical bills…
Read MoreHHS awards HealthyCT $75.8 million loan to develop new statewide nonprofit insurer
Today HHS announced approval of HealthyCT’s CO-OP application to develop a new non-profit insurance company for CT consumers. The federal $75.8 million loan is meant to cover start up costs and reserve funds for the new insurer. The CO-OP opportunity (Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan)was created in the national health reform Affordable Care Act, to…
Read MoreTwelve CT hospitals rate just a “C” on patient safety
Over 400 people die every day in a US hospital due to a preventable error, according to the Hospital Safety Score website. The site gives twelve CT hospitals a “C” or average rating on patient safety including Waterbury, Stamford, Bridgeport, Charlotte Hungerford, New Milford, St. Mary’s, Milford, Yale-New Haven, Backus, Manchester Memorial, and John Dempsey…
Read MoreCT hospital info scarce on new rating site
The Leapfrog Group, a national leader in improving the quality and value of health care, has released a new web tool comparing hospitals on patient safety performance. Unfortunately, only two CT hospitals responded to the Leapfrog survey – Sharon and Backus Hospitals. Both did very well in two areas including managing serious errors; both needed…
Read MoreAG will not block YNHH-St. Raph’s purchase
The CT Attorney General’s office has concluded their analysis of anti-trust implications of Yale-New Haven Hospital’s proposal to purchase The Hospital of St. Raphael and will not seek to block the sale. The sale would leave New Haven with only one hospital raising concerns about higher prices for services, less care and higher medical debt…
Read MoreCEPAC meeting focuses on ADHD treatments
The spring CEPAC meeting last Friday at the University of New Hampshire was a deep dive into research comparing treatments for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). CEPAC is a New England regional public advisory group convened to consider the clinical and cost effectiveness of competing treatments. CEPAC includes clinicians, academics, patient advocates and (nonvoting) payer…
Read MoreCT Health Reform Dashboard – CT up to 13.8%
CT has jumped ahead in progress in health reform to 13.8% of the tasks completed, according to the June CT Health Reform Dashboard. This is up from 12.1% last month. While we are closing in on the major January 1, 2014 deadline for many reforms, much remains to be done. At this rate, it will…
Read MoreHITE CT considering scaling back to secure messaging, easing privacy concerns
CT’s quasi-public entity charged with building a health information exchange for the state is considering scaling back from an overly ambitious agenda to focus on more feasible goals. At HITE-CT’s May meeting, the Board discussed focusing on secure messaging for now. As secure messaging essentially replaces the current FAXes of health information shared between individual…
Read MoreComments on dual eligible proposal center on behavioral health co-lead
Comments at Friday’s Complex Care Committee meeting focused on the late addition of requiring a behavioral health co-lead to DSS’s proposal to manage care for CT’s dual eligible. The pilot proposal would create five health neighborhoods, a collection of local providers across the care continuum, working as a team to coordinate care for about 5,000…
Read MoreCT Health Insurance Exchange unknown in CT
The most important job of the CT Health Insurance Exchange is educating the public and gaining their trust. Read Kevin Galvin’s blog post at www.ctexchangewatch.org to see just how big that challenge is.
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