Capacity Building

The CT Health Policy Project’s Advocate’s Toolbox has been updated with hints on chairing a legislative task force or committee. Advice includes organizing the issues, protocols of Co-Chairing, and how to handle bomb-throwers.

This morning was the third in a series of conferences on housing in CT, but with a twist. The organizers emphasized the need to collaborate across issue areas – to include people who care about transportation, education, workforce, the economy, government, the environment, and health care. The conference was a collaborative effort of non-profits with…

The latest health policy update from CSG/ERC the Northeastern US states and Canadian provinces is online. The CT Health Policy Project has worked with CSG/ERC on health policy issues for over four years – providing policy analysis and support while shamelessly stealing great ideas to bring back to CT.

Building on the idea of running an airline the way we run the US health care system, yesterday’s NY Times column by Nicholas Kritof, I Cost More But I’m a Specialist, envisions news delivery like health care delivery. Very funny.

Most days I have no trouble figuring out what to write about here, but today I searched and searched. Believe it or not I considered Martha Stewart’s blog on family caregivers (did you know that America has three times as many plastic surgeons as geriatricians). The blogosphere is full of obituaries for national health care…

A researcher has found that people who are politically active are happier than disengaged citizens who can’t name the Vice-President. Protesters are more optimistic and socially connected. And there is some evidence that it isn’t just an association; that getting people to think like activists makes score higher on “vitality.” Aristotle apparently stated the same…

Yesterday was our last day of classroom federal health policy training. Our “classroom” has been the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Barbara Jordan conference center in downtown DC – a fantastic facility. We had an intriguing breakfast discussion with a registered lobbyist who has worked for Academy Health, the health research think tank that is running the…

Yesterday we heard about polling, federal budgeting, the role of the judiciary in health policy and a capstone panel with an overview of policymaking from beginning to end using regulation and rule making for electronic health information breach notification in the federal stimulus bill as a case study. The panel on the role of the…

This week I am learning about how health policy gets made at the federal level, thanks to funding from the Council of State Governments/Eastern Region. Yesterday we heard the basics – White House offices and staff dynamics, how Congress works, then how it really works, agencies and their roles in developing policy, and how it…

How much do you know about the CT Health Policy Project? To celebrate our Tenth Anniversary, this month’s online web quiz, the CT Health Policy Project By the Numbers, marks our accomplishments.