health disparities
Opportunity 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 MoreNew, confusing twist on state’s HIE plans to sell insurers access to personal medical records
In new information, the Office of Health Strategy says their Health Information Exchange (HIE) will not provide insurers or large health systems — Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) – access to individual patients’ data. Advocates and providers have raised concerns that access to personal medical records could allow insurers and ACOs to inappropriately limit care and…
Read MoreCT Free Dental Clinic postponed
Updated 3/9/2020 This year’s CT Mission of Mercy Free Dental Clinic, originally scheduled for Saturday March 20 and Sunday March 21st in Danbury has been postponed due to concerns surrounding the COVID-19 Coronavirus outbreak. Click here for more information on when it will be rescheduled.
Read MorePublic comment to OHS opposing selling/monetizing personal medical records
Download the comments PUBLIC COMMENT to the Connecticut Office of Health Strategy, HITO@ct.gov March 4, 2020 Re: Public comment on Draft Consent Design Guiding Principles Ellen Andrews, PhD, Board Chair Thank you for this opportunity to provide comment on the Office of Health Strategy’s (OHS) proposed guiding principles on the Final Report and Recommendations of the…
Read MoreAffordable Housing Alliance legislative breakfast highlights housing-health connection
At today’s well-attended Affordable Housing Alliance of CT legislative breakfast, Sen. Saud Anwar, Housing Committee Co-Chair and a physician, emphasized the strong connection between health status and housing. People with insecure housing are more likely to be in poor health. Homeless youth have higher rates of teen pregnancy, early drug use, and depression. Unstable housing…
Read MoreCongressional move to rein in innovations that harm people, Connecticut advocates’ SIM concerns addressed in DC
A new bill in Congress, proposed by both Democrats and Republicans, would place controls on federal grants for payment and delivery reform projects. The Strengthening Innovation in Medicare and Medicaid Act was introduced last week to “increase transparency and accountability within the federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI)”. CMMI is the federal agency…
Read MoreEvidence that children with private or Medicaid coverage both at risk of low-value care
A new study finds that both Medicaid and privately insured children frequently receive healthcare services that do not improve health. There has been an assumption that because providers are paid less by Medicaid, they have no incentive to provide unnecessary services. The study, published in Pediatrics, analyzed records from almost 7 million American children in…
Read MoreNew report explains CT health disparities
Babies of black mothers in Connecticut are over four times more likely to die in their first year than babies born to white mothers, according to a new report from the CT Health Foundation. Black state residents die at 1.2 times the rate of whites. Overall Connecticut residents are among the healthiest in the nation,…
Read MorePCMH (no Plus) program continues to grow and improve care
At MAPOC’s Care Management Committee meeting Wednesday, the state provided the latest numbers from the successful Person-Centered Medical Home program. PCMHs are primary care practices that coordinate care for patients, offer expanded hours, and address population health needs. The program continues to grow, adding 52 primary care providers and seven new sites of care in…
Read More