health disparities
One in three CT residents reported anxiety or depressive symptoms in June
Since the pandemic started, more people are reporting symptoms of mental illness. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 19% of Connecticut residents are experiencing mental illness and 36.6% report depressive or anxiety symptoms last month. Connecticut adolescents are twice as likely to report a major depressive episode as adults but adults are three times more…
Read MoreHalf of current COVID hospital admissions are Medicaid members
Connecticut Medicaid has taken a serious hit from COVID. At Friday’s Medical Assistance Program Oversight Council meeting, we learned that while hospitalizations went up, outpatient and physician care went down. In May outpatient care spending was down 51% from last year and physician care was down 36%. Those numbers have risen somewhat but are still…
Read MoreUnique 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 MoreRacial bias is pervasive in medical guidelines for care
A new study has found that racial inequities are unintentionally baked into algorithms, flowcharts of decision points that assess patient risks, used by providers to determine who will benefit from what care. A previous study found that a widely-used algorithm that predicts which patients will benefit from care management was unintentionally biased against black patients.…
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 MoreCOVID hitting CT minorities hard, but in different ways
Evidence of disparities in the proportion of COVID-19 cases and deaths is growing in the US and in Connecticut. A state-by-state analysis by NPR of data from the COVID Racial Tracker finds African American Connecticut residents are more likely to contract the virus than other state residents and somewhat more likely to die of COVID.…
Read MoreCost Cap project could reduce access to care, stifle efficiency and innovation, and increase disparities
Download the Summary or Full Report Healthcare costs a lot in Connecticut, especially for middle and lower income residents. Primary care is the foundation of a healthy health system. Lowering costs and supporting primary care are important goals, however the Office of Health Strategy’s (OHS) new plan to limit costs is ill-conceived and likely to…
Read MoreAdvocates, providers send Governor, legislators letter about cost cap impact and unintended consequences
Yesterday, twenty advocates and providers sent letters to the Governor and legislative leaders objecting to the rush to develop a cap on healthcare cost increases during a pandemic, and to use the time to incorporate input from diverse stakeholders and for thoughtful design with a broad group chosen democratically. “This controversial proposal, if rushed ahead…
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…
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