healthcare markets
CTNJ: CT doesn’t score well on healthcare – prices are to blame
A new state health ranking is out, and Connecticut trails the rest of New England. Connecticut’s big problem is the cost of our care. Our performance in health outcomes and access to care are passable, but we are 44th among states in the cost of care. Read more
Read MoreProposed federal rule would require hospitals to post negotiated rates
A new proposed federal regulation (called a “rule”) would allow consumers to compare negotiated service prices by hospital and by payer. These would be the real prices paid by insurers, both hospital and payer-specific prices, as well as gross prices. This information could be extremely helpful for consumers without insurance and those with high deductibles…
Read MoreAs provider shortages grow, salaries are up, Eastern physicians lag behind rest of US
From 2017 to 2018 total compensation rose 3.4% for primary care physicians and 4.4% for specialists across the nation, according to Physicians Practice. Total provider compensation rose between 7 and 11% over the last five years. The highest increasing specialty from 2017 to 2018 was 7.71% for diagnostic radiology. Physician assistants’ and nurse practitioners’ total…
Read MoreACA @10: Conference on the Affordable Care Act’s status and future
Join leaders who helped pass and implement the Affordable Care Act, September 26th and 27th at the Yale Law School for The ACA at Ten, a conference to reflect on the Affordable Care Act. Speakers include Rahm Emanuel, Kathleen Sebelius, and 22 other scholars and policymakers. Speakers will examine the ACA’s successes, shortcomings, and future.…
Read MoreLarge study finds selection bias in Medicare shared savings erases savings and quality improvements – advocates saw this coming
Researchers from the University of Michigan found that the modest savings and quality improvements reported by Medicare’s extensive shared savings program (MSSP) are likely due to adverse selection. High cost clinicians and beneficiaries were far more likely than others to exit the program. When adjusted for the selective bias in MSSP exit, reported savings and…
Read MoreNew PCMH + plans overlook past problems
Wednesday DSS and Mercer unveiled their thinking about plans for Wave 3 of PCMH Plus, Medicaid’s controversial shared savings program. Results from PCMH Plus’s first year, Wave 1, were disappointing with increased state costs and little evidence of improvement in quality. Based on the problems identified in Wave 1, advocates made recommendations to fix those…
Read More2019 Connecticut legislative session – what happened and what didn’t happen
Download the full report Connecticut’s General Assembly debated an unusually large number of health-related proposals this year. Some were new and some have been debated for years. Some passed, some were rejected, and some are on hold for next year. As of this writing, only the minimum wage increase bill has been signed into law…
Read MorePublic option gone but good pieces remain
Negotiations over a public health insurance option in CT have broken down but other good parts of the deal remain. Reportedly, there is a budget agreement to restore HUSKY eligibility for some of the 11,000 working parents cut in 2016. DSS reports found that the large majority of the low-income parents cut from HUSKY were…
Read MoreYNHH transportation plan for controversial primary care shift troubling, concerns remain
Monday, Yale-New Haven Health System answered the state’s eighth set of questions about their controversial application with the Hill Health and Fairhaven Health Centers to move primary care for 25,000 mainly low-income New Haven area residents out of the current neighborhood sites to Long Wharf. Among many concerns voiced by patients, advocates and community leaders…
Read MoreCTNJ: Better Public Option Bill Looks to Bigger Picture
Rising health insurance costs are crushing Connecticut families and small businesses. From 2008 to 2014 deductibles in our state rose 67% for families and 50% for small businesses. The Connecticut Option, Democrats’ newest public health insurance option bill, not only improves feasibility of the concept but also begins to address the foundations of rising health…
Read More