CT Health Reform
August CT Health Reform Dashboard – Medicaid concerns grow but continuing hope for drug costs
CT’s August Health Reform Dashboardremains mixed. Medicaid policy development and implementation remains mired in mistrust, rushing ahead without data, quality problems, and a lack of transparency while state officials refuse to answer questions. The new state HIT plan is travelling the same troubled path from the past but thankfully physicians and others are just getting…
Read MorePervasive uncertainty affects CT Health Reform Dashboard
July’s CT Health Reform Dashboard reflects growing uncertainty at the state and federal levels. If passed, Congressional proposals to replace the ACA will shift massive costs onto CT and result in a sharp drop in coverage. State budget cuts threaten current services and coverage. Nevertheless, DSS is doggedly forging ahead with a questionable payment experiment…
Read MoreNew data finds CT leads nation in lowering Medicaid costs
New data from CMS actuaries finds that Medicaid per capita health care spending dropped 5.7% from 2010 to 2014, better than any other state. Of note, in 2012 CT Medicaid shifted away from capitated managed care organizations to run Medicaid. Unfortunately, the rest of the CT’s market is not performing as well as Medicaid –…
Read MoreJune CT Health Reform Dashboard – concerns remain but some hope for drug costs
CT’s June Health Reform Dashboard remains unsettled. Mistrust remains at the core of problems in CT. The new state HIT environmental scan mentions the need for trust a dozen times. Medicaid policy development and implementation remains mired in mistrust, rushing ahead without data, and a lack of transparency. The state budget remains dreary and signals…
Read MoreHealth Care Cabinet tackles drug costs
At yesterday’s meeting, CT’s Health Care Cabinet agreed to create four working groups to develop recommendations and options to control drug spending in the state. We also reviewed a report from CT’s APCD on the Top 50 Highest Total Cost Drugs in CT. The Cabinet has been taking a deep dive into rising prescription drug…
Read MoreMay CT Health Reform Dashboard – Medicaid U turn, federal relief premature
CT’s May Health Reform Dashboard is unsettled again. Mistrust remains at the core of problems in CT. Medicaid policy development and implementation have taken a very disappointing turn away from collaboration, transparency, and data for reasons that don’t make any sense (there are a few theories). Just a few of the persistent problems in PCMH+,…
Read MoreCTNJ: CT health policy has trust issues
An OP-ED today in CT News Junkie describes the sorry level of mistrust in CT health policymaking. “Mistrust is pervasive in Connecticut policymaking and it’s blocking progress.” Luckily we know how to fix it – if only we have the sense.Read the piece
Read MoreApril CT Health Reform Dashboard – temporary relief at federal level but troubling payment model returns (again and again and again)
CT’s April Health Reform Dashboard is somewhat more settled than last month – but that’s not a good thing. Efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, plus cap Medicaid spending, were temporarily suspended, but are moving again at the federal level in the House. Despite the repeated lessons of history in CT, proponents…
Read MoreAnalysts predict CT would lose $7 billion under the American Health Care Act
A new analysis by the Urban Institute finds that per capita caps on federal Medicaid spending under the American Health Care Act (AHCA) would reduce federal Medicaid funding to states by $457 billion or 9.8% from 2019 through 2028. If the bill passes, Connecticut stands to lose $7 billion or 10.9% of federal Medicaid funds.…
Read MoreMedicaid Council update – PCMH + and national Medicaid proposals
Friday’s MAPOC meeting started with an update about the shared savings experiment that covers 137,037 members and started January 1st. Contracts have been finalized with nine ACOs. enrollment % of total NEMG/Yale 7,509 5.5% St. Vincent’s 18,086 13.2% Fairhaven HC 7,811 5.7% Cornell Scott-Hill HC 13,781 10.1% Generations Family HC 8,000 5.8% Southwest CHC…
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