consumer info
Unique hospital ranking includes community and value of care with traditional quality metrics
The Lown Institute now ranks hospitals on 53 metrics that impact both individuals and communities. Typical hospital rankings consider only care for individual patients, not how hospitals serve their communities. Backus does best among 26 Connecticut hospitals at 84th of 3,282 US hospitals; Greenwich ranks lowest in the state and 2,635th in the nation. There…
Read MoreImprove health policymaking — Nominate a claim for fact checking
In Connecticut state policymaking committee meetings, advocates routinely hear questionable claims stated as facts. Often very important caveats and context are left out. As non-members, we have no opportunity to question the claim or correct the misinformation. Too often policy is made based on these un-challenged claims. For twenty years, the CT Health Policy Project…
Read MoreCTNJ: For a better post-COVID policy process, CT needs to abolish all committees
I couldn’t agree more with my advocacy friends who called on the legislature to open public hearings to online participation. But legislative hearings are only part of the problem. Connecticut policymakers need to abolish all taskforces, boards, workgroups, design groups, consortia, advisory and steering committees, teams, councils, and similar committees. These insular groups, run with…
Read MoreCTNJ: COVID Response Offers Opportunities for Connecticut’s Future Healthcare System
The pandemic has been tragic in both lives lost and economic damage, especially to low wage workers. Our already flawed healthcare system has been seriously disrupted. Insurer profits are up, hospitals are losing money, and Connecticut healthcare jobs in April were down 28,400 from the year before. As the pandemic winds down, the recovery offers…
Read MoreHelp for CT’s uninsured
With the recent spike in unemployment, many more Connecticut residents will be joining the thousands that were uninsured pre-COVID looking for healthcare coverage. The state has some new options to help. Check AccessHealthCT. You may be surprised to find that you qualify for HUSKY which is comprehensive, free, and includes most Connecticut providers. You may…
Read MoreCT Medical Society signs on with state HIE that plans to sell medical records
The state’s controversial HIE signed up its first participating provider network. Thursday the Office of Health Strategy (OHS) announced that CT Health Link, run by the CT State Medical Society (CSMS), will “immediately begin the technical connections necessary” to allow access into their system. Advocates have been concerned about OHS’s plans to sell access to…
Read MoreCOVID hits hospital bottom lines but boosts insurer profits
Contrary to earlier concerns, it appears that health insurers are doing pretty well through the COVID pandemic. It appears the costs of treating people with the virus are more than offset by a 60% reduction in other medical care including elective surgeries, routine outpatient care and lower ED visits. The six largest insurers reported $8.6…
Read MoreOpportunity to inform CT community public health priorities
The State Health Improvement Coalition is seeking community members from Northeast, Southeast, and Southwest Connecticut for input on prioritizing the most pressing public health needs for our state. Every five years, DPH creates a new plan to improve the health of our state in a model of inclusive, data-driven policymaking. The latest version will be…
Read MoreHow CT can ensure everyone gets help for COVID-19
People of color are dying of COVID-19 at higher rates than other Connecticut residents. While researchers work on why that is, the CT Health Foundation has given us four concrete, feasible recommendations to improve access in these trying times. The first is to expand testing to everyone who needs one. The to-do list includes offering…
Read MoreBook Club: Everything you need to know to understand, and fact check, data claims
The pandemic has placed us all in a crash course on health claims, science and data – what we know and what we don’t know. It can be confusing and scary. The Art of Statistics: How to Learn from Data by David Spiegelhalter is here to help. The book describes how statistics and probability can…
Read More