Posts by Ellen Andrews
Legal aid suing over Medicaid delays
Yesterday New Haven Legal Assistance Association filed a federal class action lawsuit against DSS over extreme delays in processing Medicaid applications. The application for one plaintiff, a 27-year old man with a seizure disorder, has been in process for almost six months. He has provided all the information requested and was told by the Department…
Read MoreUpcoming health policy meetings
CT’s health policy community is making up for the holiday lull in meetings. Next week’s meetings include: Patrick Hollander, former CFO of the MA Health Connector will speak at the Speaker’s Working Group on Small Business Health Care Monday Jan. 9th at 3pm in Room 1D of the LOB. Also Monday, the Complex Care Model…
Read MoreSen. Blumenthal’s survey finds hospital drug shortages harming care
Yesterday, Sen. Blumenthal released a survey documenting serious drug shortages at CT hospitals. The number of drug shortages grew by 76% from 2009 to 2010. Some of the drugs in short supply are used for anesthesia, pain management, treating cancer, and acute asthma attacks. Shortages have led to drug hoarding and price gouging, according to…
Read MoreCT consumers can’t get prices for health care; CT hospital costs for the same treatment vary widely
A pair of articles from CT Health I-Team highlights problems with CT’s health care market. Unlike in other states, CT consumers trying to comparison shop have difficulty finding prices for health care services. Consumers in states, like NH and ME, can go online to get prices by payer for most treatments because those states have…
Read MoreHealth IT privacy meeting
The first meeting of the HITE-CT privacy committee will be January 11th from 12:30 to 2pm at the LOB. This committee was created in response to legislative proposals to ensure consumers agree to protect their private health information on CT’s new electronic health information exchange. HITE-CT is the quasi-public entity federally funded to create an…
Read MoreOvertreatment webinar slides and video posted
Slides and video from Rosemary Gibson’s webinar on What States Can Do About Health Care Overuse are posted. Rosemary Gibson has authored several books on the overuse of medical care, how it is harming our health, fueling health costs, and what we can do about it. The next webinar is The Promise of Shared Decision-Making…
Read MoreCER Webinars
Join us for two upcoming webinars on similar themes. The first is next Wednesday, December 28th at 10am with Rosemary Gibson, author of The Treatment Trap. Rosemary will describe the Overuse of Medical Care and what can be Done to Prevent It. To register, go to https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/828589337. The second is the Promise of Shared Decision-Making…
Read MoreElectronic health record breaches up 32% this year over last
As more patient records move to electronic formats, the number of breaches, or losses, of that information is also up sharply rising 32% this year over last, according to the NY Times. Lost or stolen laptops and phones make up almost half the breaches. Nationally, 57% of office-based physicians use electronic health records. Breaches cost…
Read MoreCT Insurance Exchange News
New on the CT Exchange Watch Blog – www.ctexchangewatch.org – Mercer finishes report to exchange board, more press and more calls for consumer voices in the exchange.
Read MoreCEPAC meeting – comparing treatment resistant depression treatments
Friday’s CEPAC meeting in Providence was fascinating. We spent the day comparing the clinical and cost effectiveness of some common and some new treatments for people with treatment resistant depression (TRD). Between 13 and 14 million Americans experience clinical depression each year, but only about half seek treatment and only 20% of those get adequate…
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