Capacity Building
Book Club — Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgement
Noise – A Flaw in Human Judgement by Daniel Kahneman, Oliver Sibony, and Cass Sunstein, is long, so it sat on my bookshelf for awhile. But it’s worth the time. Noise is the variation in judgements that shouldn’t vary. Judges should give similar sentences in similar cases, underwriters should find the same expected risks from…
Read MoreCT hospitals losing ground on social responsibility
Eight Connecticut hospitals received A grades this year for social responsibility from the Lown Institute, down from twelve last year. No Connecticut hospitals were in Lown’s or US News’ top 20 hospitals in the US. Griffin Hospital ranked #157 in Lown’s composite ranking this year among 3606 US hospitals, the best in Connecticut. Last year…
Read MoreCT ranks 3rd in health system performance, but there’s lots of work to do
Connecticut’s health system performance is the third best in the nation, according to the latest Commonwealth Fund State Scorecard. COVID strongly influenced state’s performance; Connecticut ranked tenth among states on seven measures including COVID mortality, health system stress, and vaccination rates. There is a lot of room for improvement in Connecticut’s health system. Sadly, Connecticut…
Read MoreBook Club: Think Again
You have to read Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know by Adam Grant. We all think our minds are open, but we’re wrong. Intelligence is nice, but the critical skills are rethinking, relearning, and the courage to dump baggage. The Dunning-Kruger effect is real – the people with the most confidence…
Read MoreWhy is healthcare like this?
Healthcare is complicated. It often doesn’t make sense – to consumers, patients, students, policymakers, providers, administrators, and everyone else. The lack of understanding has discouraged people from engaging and slowed progress toward real reform. We’ve heard from people across the continuum that there is no place to find balanced, comprehensive answers that is understandable and…
Read MoreCOVID’s lessons — and what we can do about them
COVID exposed Connecticut’s underlying health disparities to new audiences, receiving a lot of public attention. But what have we learned? A new report from the CT Health Foundation looks at what went wrong, what went right, and what we can build on to fix this long-standing problem. Going back to the old-normal of inequities isn’t…
Read MoreCTNJ Op-ED: How much do CT hospitals spend on administration? No one knows
There’s a growing consensus that hospital prices are the main driver of rising healthcare costs and insurance premiums in Connecticut. The research lays the blame on consolidation in the market. Read more
Read MoreBook Club — How Charts Lie: Getting Smarter about Visual Information
Data visualization is trendy for a reason. How Charts Lie by Alberto Cairo describes how well-designed charts and graphs can help make numbers clear, especially as competition for readers’ attention grows. But badly designed charts can confuse or even lie to the reader. Healthcare is more confusing than most areas so deceptive charts are more…
Read MoreGuest Blog: Why Advocacy Tools Matter by Haley Magnetta
You want to make a difference, but advocacy can be confusing, frustrating, and time-consuming. We can help. Sign up for Today’s Advocacy Tool – a month of inspiration, tips, and practical tools starting January 10. As a practicing Emergency Medicine Physician Assistant throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, I could not help but notice many areas where…
Read MoreBook Club — You Have More Influence Than You Think
By Vanessa Bohns I want to send every advocate a copy of this book. You Have More Influence Than You Think: How We Underestimate our Power of Persuasion, and Why it Matters uses research to make the counter-intuitive case that people are hearing us, even if they don’t seem to be. Well-documented, including much of…
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